Last week was the epitome of madness. During the team meeting last Wednesday we made an extensive to-do list, the final countdown, so to speak, of everything we needed to do before the 31st (D-Day). Even though we have all worked so hard for the last 7 weeks, and achieved so much, it was so scary to see that we still needed a stage, tables and chairs. Essentially, we still needed to source all of the things that were imperative to the existence of the festival.
Roisin and Ellie looking serious with The Final Countdown
I won’t lie, there are few things more satisfying than crossing things off a to-do list, so the huge list glaring at us from the office wall was clearly all we needed to motivate us to get shit done. As I write this we now have a stage, we have tables, we have chairs, we even have a bouncy castle. So it’s been a mad few days, but it’s all finally coming together. And thank goodness, because we are all going crazy, and for the sake of everyone’s mental health we need to get this festival out of the way and off our minds for good. (Did someone say bunts per metre?!)
Festival frenzy aside, life goes on, as it tends to do. Sunday was my host sister Shahzoda’s 16th birthday. As I’ve said before, birthdays are great, whether they’re yours or someone else’s. We had caviar and Ferrero rochers for breakfast (this is not how I imagined life in Tajikistan). My family had organised a little surprise lunch party for her at a steakhouse in town. So I spent the afternoon with a group of 16 year olds who really just wanted to talk to me about One Direction and show me photos of the band on their phones so it was an afternoon well-spent. (Although they all thought Louis was the best looking, what’s all that about?!)
Me and Shahzoda at home
Shahzoda with her cake
Shahzoda, Gulchera and myself
Saturday evening was spent cooking some ‘national foods’ from England with Ellie to take to Alisher’s family on Sunday.
Benevolent Baking
Alisher is a disabled 21 year old whose family we met on our first Community Action Day and since then we have gone back a few times because though there’s not really much we can do to help the family, who also have another severely disabled sister, and really struggle financially, Alisher’s mum said he’d love to go out for walks with two pretty (?) English girls. Even though Alisher can’t speak he understands and communicates by laughing and smiling – he smiles all the time when he’s with us and even laughs at how embarrassingly bad we are at navigating his wheelchair along the bumpy road. I just wish we could communicate with the mum and the rest of the family, everything we want to say has to go through Manizha to translate which just isn’t the same. It’s so nice to do something relaxing that’s totally separate to the festival but still meaningful.
Manizha, Ellie and Alisher on Sunday
Eraj, Ellie, Manizha, Alisher’s sister, Manizha’s mum, Alisher and me the first time we met
Other than that, my only ‘news’ is that I have become a bit obsessed with chess. I’m awful at it. I know I am. My host brother taught me this week (fairly certain I knew how to play when I was younger though) and it shames me to say that, on Saturday, beating the smug 11 year old made my night worthwhile. Now that I actually know how to play he doesn’t really want to play with me anymore, and after weeks of him pleading with me to play with him, I’m now the one suggesting we play. It beats watching crap Russian tv (I don’t know how such a large country can churn out such unrelentingly awful programmes) or reading on my own in my room.
Now that we’re in the last month I have definitely got mixed emotions. Part of me cannot wait to land in Heathrow on 21st September. At the same time the thought of having to get back to reality scares me, and makes me think that full-time festival planning in Tajikistan wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Whatever my feelings towards going home, we need to make sure we have the best last month to top off what has so far been an unforgettable experience.
Tajikistan according to Sarah 
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