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Confused on the Path to Development Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by Shavkatjon Muhammadjonov, Tajikistan Jul 6, 2004
Child & Youth Rights   Opinions

  

The city of Khujand, in the Northern part of Tajikistan, was established some 2500 years ago. In that time, the city was able to build its solid ground, to form popular tourist sites, and for birds and other beings adapt to their environment. The city once provided an inspiring platform for brilliant minds to come to life and explore their inner callings and share their talents with the rest of the world. People used to live in no rush, making peaceful slow steps towards the reaching point of their destination of life. Families were friendly and connected to each other just by natural order and instinct.

Young people were well bred with intrinsic life values like human compassion towards another being either man, animal or plant. They burst out expressions of love towards life through poems, songs, dances and many other expressive forms.

Khujand has opened doors to people from around the world to establish Silk Road, to travel its roads, to share poetry, to discover new science and health issues, to trade goods and, most importantly, to leave their mark on this wonderful city.

Reading my own words now, I cant help but let small drops of tears roll over my whole being, drops of regret, drops of the past and present. Because now is not like then, things are different.

Things like development and urbanization have turned my city in a different direction. Money is valued more than a person, economic growth drives towards the blindness of young people. Many young people are losing the values of caring and brotherhood, more crimes are being committed, and young girls are coming to the city to work but cannot find employment and end up getting into prostitution. Many people are depressed, families are falling apart. The education system is getting worse and worse. Young people today are less aware of their own culture, history and life values.

Once we claimed ourselves to be a democratic and sovereign state heading towards development for the wellbeing of our society, things started to go downhill. This term ‘development’ confuses me.

International organizations come claiming "We are here to help you. To assist you in your development, to make you a civilised, developed civil society". I find it so disappointing that they don’t believe in what they say, for example, we have an organization called PSI (Population Service International) that works towards the decrease of HIV, by proving seminars among school children on how to have safe sex, how to use condoms and so on. In my culture we have our own way of solving problems that occur on a community level, a family level. Instead of help and proper development, many programs become a distraction of culture, leading to a loss of values, ethics and social disturbances in many communities.

I don’t want you to get down or depressed; these black facts are always serving as an inspiration for me to keep going and create new opportunities to prevent anything worse from happening. I am very optimistic that at the end of the dark tunnel there is light.





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Shavkatjon Muhammadjonov


Human Doings and Human Beings; I was so excited to learn this thought and to go profoundly into it. It gave and opened the endless doors to the ocean of values and thoughts.
Sometimes I am a dreamer, I am a naive dreamer to neglect the evil, negative parts of the world, sometimes living is hard struggling with the hurtful truth.
I talk abstract for I think abstract now. I write of a moment. I write about Now....hard to follow the red threat but sometimes going into the mess of thoughts helps me to rest. Strange, ha?
I wonder to share, I am thirsty to learn, I search the meaning and ways to realize that. I believe that way I am in the process and situation that I am now creating.
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