Hay paises de los que uno se despide con ganas de volver y uno de ellos definitivamente es Kirgizstan!!!

Con un 90% de su territorio repartido entre monstruosas montanas, glaciares, angostos valles y espeluznantes barrancos es un paraiso para las actividades al aire libre, especialmente senderismo, caballos y escalada (para los mas valientes). Kirgizstan continua siendo un pais con un marcado caracter nomada, de ancestrales costumbres.

Countries we are traveling through

 
Nosotros llegamos un poco pronto, ya que la mejor epoca es a partir de Mayo cuando los pasos de alta montana se deshielan y es posible acceder a los “jailoos”, pastos a gran altitud de las zonas alpinas, por lo que nos hemos centrado en el sur-este del pais.
 
Una de las partes mas gratificantes de nuestro paso por Kirgizstan ha sido el poder alojarnos en casa particulares, a traves de la red de turismo local (CBT – Community Based Tourism)… toda una experiencia!!!
 
Desde Osh fuimos direccion a Arslanbob… el disfrute empezo en el momento en que nos subimos al coche y empezamos a descubrir el paisaje. A unos 2,000 metros de altura el pueblo se encuetra arropado por montanas de hasta 4.500 m y por uno de los bosques de nogales mas extensos del mundo. Un lugar para hacer senderismo y montar a caballo; y a eso nos dedicamos!!!
 
Despues de dos dias en Arslanbob volvimos a Osh para preparar nuestro viaje hacia China a traves del paso de Irkestam.
 

Irkeshtam Pass

 
El rapto de las sabinas
 
Cuando nuestro guia termino de contarnos su historia mis primeras palabras fueron:
 
- “En mi pais si pasara eso correria la sangre”. A mi mente venian imagenes de familias enfrentadas, escopeta en mano paseando las calles empredradas del pueblo para limpiar la afrenta.
 
Talant, nuestro guia venia de contarnos la costumbre en Kirgizstan de “raptar novias”. Costumbre que todavia esta bastante arraigada en el pais. Y como testimonio de ello nos ofrecio dos ejemplos. Uno el de su hemana, raptada hace un ano y otro mas reciente el mes pasado cuando fue a ayudar a un amigo a raptar una novia, y al no encontrarla raptaron a la hermana.
 
El procedimiento es sencillo; se identifica una novia en potencia; se habla con ella un dia o dos y en caso de estar interesado (el novio, ya que la opinion de ella no entra en la ecuacion) a los pocos dias se la rapta. Pasados dos o tres dias se informa a los padres de la novia y finalmente los padres del raptor (“novio”) van a visitar a la familia para ultimar los detalles.
 
- “Y los padres, no se enfurencen? normalmente acceden?”
 
Segun nos contaron es la tradicion y en la mayoria de los casos la familia de la noiva acepta porque sino existe la creencia de que la mujer nunca podra se feliz.

La Russie ne fait pas encore partie du plan mondial contre la crise d’1,1 trillon de dollars  américains approuvé au sommet du G20 à Londres, a déclaré le  ministre russe des Finances Alexei Kudrin.

                   le  ministre russe des Finances Alexei Kudrin.

 ”La Russe ne fait pas encore partie de ce plan. Nous n’avons  pris aucun engagement,” a déclaré le ministre Kudrin.  Les dirigeants du G20 se sont accordés  au Sommet de  Londres sur un ensemble de mesures, dont l’octroi d’1,1 trillions  de dollars américains au Fonds monetaire international (FMI) et à  d’autres institutions financières, pour lutter contre la crise  financière et économique.  En tant que principal contributeur du fonds de 10 milliards de  dollars anti-crise de la Communauté économique eurasiatique ( EurAsECCommunauté économique eurasiatique ), la Russie fournit actuellement une aide significative  aux Etats voisins, a déclaré le ministre des Finances.   ”Nous croyons que nous jouons le rôle d’un grand-frère pour  notre région,” a-t-il déclaré.   La Russie a contribué à hauteur de 7,5 milliards de dollars au  fonds de l’ EurAsEC mis sur pied en février, destiné à soutenir  les Etats membres faisant face à de graves problèmes socio- économiques.  L’EurAsEC, un bloc économique créé en mai 2001, comprend la  Russie, la Bélarussie, le Kazakhstan, le Kirgizstan et le  Tadjikistan.

Un studiu al unei companii suedeze a scos la iveala ca Mosul ar trebuie sa se stabileasca in Kirgizstan ca sa parcurga toate distantele pamantului in cel mai scurt timp.

Guvernul kirgizstanez a ordonat o ancheta si s-a stabilit ca Mosul chiar locuieste in tarisoara asiatica, mai ales ca acest lucru este o reclama buna pentru turismul tarii.

 „Agentia de stat pentru turism a fost intotdeauna convinsa ca Mos Craciun locuieste in aceasta zona si, in sfirsit, cercetatorii suedezi au demonstrat ca este adevarat“, a declarat anchetatorul-sef al Agentiei de stat pentru turism, Akbar Djigitov.

Deci acum stiu ce adresa sa pun pe scrisoarea pentru Mos Craciun.

sursa: http://www.cotidianul.ro/

Disclaimer: The following was written as a personal essay and reflects the author’s views and beliefs. The author hopes her audience will reflect on the thoughts presented here and test them in their own hearts, or speak to their home church pastors, (or other spiritual leaders) before embracing or rejecting them.

Civilizations have been built on dreams; some of the greatest (and most terrible) acts known to man were the result of the vision of a man or woman, or a collective group of individuals. In the 21st century, the stories of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, the merchant’s daughter who made good, and the story of Adolph Hilter, the painter and architect who was responsible for the mass killing of his own race, the Jews, are well known. Dreams have the power to change the world and even the best dreams call fall short into corruption and madness when man relies on his own power, instead of God’s. The author’s definition of a dream here is, “an unusual discernment or perception (foresight) of a desirable end”.

In this post-modernistic world, there are two possible sources of this discernment which the author believes are at the heart of every religion:

a) knowledge and improvement comes from within (Man-centered)

b) knowledge and improvement comes from God (God-centered)

While this essay could break down the nuiances of hundreds of religions, the author’s purpose is merely to demonstrate an example of each of those views, related to two distinct belief systems. For an example of a man-centered spirituality, you could look at the rise of Scientology which Hollywood seems to have embraced as their own. Scientology has also increased 22n the past decade, 1990-2000 (see Top Twenty Religions in the United States, 2001, published by ARIS.) Scientology, a religion founded in 1955 by the science-fiction author, L Ron Hubbard, is usually associated with a belief that a person can heal themselves of painful experiences of the past by looking within themselves for wisdom and fulfillment in the spiritual realm.

An obvious example of a God-centered spirituality would be Christianity, a religion started over 2000 years ago by Jesus Christ. Between 1990-2000, Christianty has also increased, by 5see Top Twenty Religions in the United States, 2001, published by ARIS). Christianity is usually associated with the belief that all mankind are born inheritantly evil (sinful) and apart from God, a breach that can only be crossed by confession of sin, a belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Messiah, and embracing him as a personal Lord and Saviour of their lives.

You can choose to believe that your aspirations come from yourself, or from an external force, such as God. That is, if you feel you even have dreams, many people feel they don’t, including Christians. It is the author’s belief that there is a dream and a purpose for every person born on this Earth and it is as unique to that individual, as their own DNA. This dream (or plan if you will) is designed to fulfill the needs of the world, as well as your own greatest desires, such as prosperity and happiness, the lasting kind that lingers through the years, the kind that comes from knowing your purpose in life.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”‘. (Jeremiah 29:11). God has plans and purposes for each of us which may be contrary to the ones which seem right to our carnal natures. “Many are the plans in a human heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” (Proverbs 19:21). Make no mistake, no matter what we do, there is a divine objective, a plan to be accomplished in the world. While God desires each of us to take part in His plan, it is the author’s belief that God will not force anyone to do His will. We are all given the choice to follow God, or follow our own plans, but it is to our benefit to seek after God’s plan and follow Him, and potentially disastrous to ignore His will in our lives.

From the author’s experience, there are tactics used to distract or dissuade us from the dream God calls on each of our lives:

a) We don’t recognize the dream

b) We doubt the dream

c) We lose the dream

Do you Recognize the Dream?

The world’s earliest recorded beauty pageant may well of taken place 485-456 BC. During the reign of Emperor Xerxes of Persia, the Jewish nation was living in exile from Jerusalem and intermingling their blood with the Persians citizens in an empire that stretched over southwest Asia. Hadassah (later called Esther) was a young, unmarried Jewish woman living with her cousin, Mordecai, during that period. Esther, who was loyal to her God. Had external circumstances not changed, she would probably of married whomever her nearest relative chose for her, and that’d of been the end of the story.

The Bible never says whether she had dreams of her own but as she belonged to a race that believed in not dealing with or marrying non-Jews, being a contestant in a beauty pageant to contend for the title Queen of Persia probably wasn’t on her list. She may or may not have recognized the dream when she saw it, but she remained faithful to God and trusted in His timing to wait for His plan to be revealed to her. While such dramatic events don’t happen all the time today, the Bible does say that we can ask God about our dreams and He will reveal them to us. “For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8)

While in the harem, the women spent an entire year preparing with beauty treatments for their encounter with the judge, the King himself. Throughout all this, the bible talks about how Esther continued to follow her cousin’s intructions (as he was her closest male relative), even though they were apart, and she won favor from the guards of the harem. “Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hagai, who had charge of the harem. She pleased him and won his favor…Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. Every day he walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.” (Esther 2:8-11)

Do you Doubt the Dream?

Esther was still untouched at this point but she had plenty of time to reflect on her situation and doubt God’s will for her life. Even if she won this pageant, she would be married to an outsider. If she lost, she would lose her freedom, a concubine of the King. Esther chose a different route however, one in which we all can learn from. She followed the words echoed in Proverbs 3:3-4, “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and humankind.” She trusted in God, just as the Bible instructs us to do today. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

While Esther did win the King’s favour (temporarily), other obstacles arose that gave her an opportunity where she could choose to doubt God, or remain steadfast. During that period of the Persian Empire, the dislocated body of Jewish settlers in Persia are threatened with genocide by Haman, an ambitious, and jealous, advisor to the Emperor. “…King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor…When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead, Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, througout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.” (Esther 3:1-2, 5-6) “Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews–young and old, women and children–on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.” (Esther 3:13)

Under any modern definition, Haman was going overboard. Disrespect from a single man might merit punishment of the individual, but to punish his entire race? During the reign of Xerxes, the Persian empire extended from the upper Nile region (Egypt area) in the Mediterranean area, through Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kirgizstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and northwestern India. In modern-day terms, Haman’s actions might be comparable to Hilter’s terrorizing of Western Europe during WWII (at the height of the Third Reich).

Courtesy of Iran Chamber Society. History of Iran: Achaemenid Empire http://www.iranchamber.com/history/achaemenids/achaemenids.php (02 May 2006).

Courtesy of Jewish Virtual Library. Ghettos in Occupied Europe 1939-1944. http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/images/ghettomap.jpg (20 November 2002).

In all this chaos of Haman’s vision (his own), there was a crucial piece of knowledge which might of been his salvation. He might of abandoned the whole plan, seen Mordecai the Jew as a man of God, and not sealed his family’s death warrants. His ambitions were of his own making and would fail because he did not trust in God. The Queen of the Persians, Esther, was a Jew. When Haman’s dispatches became known to Mordecai, Mordecai sent messages to the Queen alerting her of what was going on.

Does the Dream Seem Lost?

Equal rights between men and women, husband and wife, did not exist at that time, in that empire. “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives.” (Esther 4:11).

For Esther to appear and plead for her people, in a political and marital climate where she was out of favour, it would of been risking her position at court, her livelihood, her life, everything that was important to her. She didn’t want to do it. Her kinsman (relative) Mordecai cautioned her, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14) Esther chose to trust God and in His plan above her own, risking everything for a dream she was incapable of fulfilling on her own, and she and her cousin Mordecai were used by God to save the Jewish race and Haman dug his own grave.

Christians today have a hope, when events and circumstances come into our lives which seem out of control or cause us to doubt the dream, we can remember Romans 8:28 which the author feels so so profound, that it’s listed below in three different translations/paraphrases: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. (Today’s New International Version) “We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.” (The Amplified Bible) “That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” (The Message Bible). No matter what comes in the way of our dreams, God can work those situations out for the best, if we let Him! Psalm 34:8 concludes my summary best:

Taste and see that the Lord is good!

Resources:

1) American Religious Identity Survey (ARIS) website: http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/aris_index.htm

2) Verses appear in ( ) and are from Today’s New International Version (TNIV), unless otherwise noted.

For other resources on dreams and personal growth, check out your local Christian bookstore for several books on dreams, including The Dream Giver, by Bruce Wilkinson (Multnomah Publishers, Inc. 2003) and The Purpose-Driven Life, by Rick Warren (Zondervan, 2002). For more about Queen Esther, pick up a copy of Esther: A Woman of Strength and Dignity — Profiles in Character from Charles R. Swindoll (Word Publishing, 1997).