“Keremet Koch” sparks life and joy in Keremet
Two minibuses bearing characters of a famous Kyrgyz cartoon “Keremet Koch” travelled hundreds of kilometres to the mountainous remote border area of Batken region, Kyrgyzstan to meet more than 1000 children in 13 villages which were affected by conflict.
In April 2021, border clashes on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border escalated. The altercation started with stone-pelting, and community confrontations and quickly escalated into armed clashes, with security forces from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan engaging along with several border posts. The Government of Kyrgyzstan reported about 51,000 displaced people, primarily women and children who were evacuated from their homes, as more than 143 houses were burned, and 49 buildings destroyed.
To support children and families, UNICEF with local partners opened 13 child-friendly spaces in affected villages in Batken and Leilek districts. Each site is designed for up to 150 children. Professional psychologists and animators are trained to work with traumatised children.
The Republican Musa Zhangaziev Puppet Theater also wanted to contribute their support to traumatised children, and with the support of UNICEF traveled to perform the play “Happy birthday”, based on the famous animated series "Keremet Koch" ("Magic Journey").
Children come to the performance with their parents. Since there is no puppet theatre in the region, the theatre has become a rare experience of levity for children and their parents who can also plunge into the magical world of childhood with pleasure. Among those engaged viewers was Keremet.
Children come to the performance with their parents. Since there is no puppet theatre in the region, the theatre has become a rare experience of levity for children and their parents who can also plunge into the magical world of childhood with pleasure. Among those engaged viewers was Keremet.
Little Keremet, 4 years old, came to the performance together with her mother Aigul Toichieva and her younger sister Sezim, who is just two years old.
Aigul is raising five daughters, the oldest is 15 years old, and the youngest is two years old. The father of her children does not live with them.
When the child-friendly space opened in Keremet’s village, the animator Bazarkul Muratova, invited the children to come and play there.
“I have experience working with children for more than 20 years, mainly as a kindergarten teacher. Now I have been working as an animator at the child-friendly space for three months. We like to engage children who have experienced trauma due to the cross-border conflict, such as Keremet. After visiting this place for three months, Keremet has become calmer and started to make new friends”.
Keremet enjoyed spending time at the CFS, in a safe and caring environment where she could play. She gradually began to relax, join the games, draw and speak slowly. She is a very diligent and kind girl. She loves the child-friendly space and is looking forward to her favourite animators coming and chatting with her and teaching her new skills.
Keremet’s mother, Aigul, holding her youngest daughter in her arms, is watching the children play based on their favourite cartoon with great interest, and sees all the children from the village, from all ethnic backgrounds making friends. On the stage, children including those with a disability dance and sing, enjoying friendship in the joyful world of childhood. Keremet got very inspired by the characters of “Keremet Koch”.
UNICEF supports the government with the longer-term recovery and resilience plan for the affected population in the border areas of Batken Region. This includes strengthening primary health care services, procurement of essential supplies for management of childhood diseases and prevention and treatment of diarrhoea, preschool learning and play materials to kindergartens, identification of children at risk of dropping out of school or those who dropped out due to the emergency, capacity building activities to strengthen local school staff in emergency preparedness, response, and recovery, including post-conflict recovery.
