Learning to Give Back

After one of the Youth Impact classes, 19 year old Moldir said, “I know that you go to the orphanages and play with the little children, is it possible for me to join you sometime?” This is the first time we have seen an orphanage graduate wanting to volunteer and give back to children in the orphanages. The concept of volunteering is very new here but these kids who survived life in orphanages know from their own experience what they lacked and want to give children the love and attention that they missed themselves. Starting the second week of January, she will be joining us once a week to play with young children at an orphanage here in Taraz!

Starting Over

Zarema (18 years old) has recently become part of the Youth Impact program. She has a sad, but hopeful story. Having no father or mother, Zarema and her two younger sisters moved to Taraz from the village. Zarema’s 16 year old sister was sold into prostitution. The police recently found out and her case has gone to court. The pimp’s lawyer offered Zarema a bribe so she would not testify against him, which she refused. She is wanting to start a new life here in Taraz. Zarema has asked us to help her find a job or get back into school so that she may continue living at the Youth House. During one of our Youth Impact classes, we talked about happiness. Zarema was asked “What will make you happy” and she responded, with tears in her eyes, “To see my little sister who is in the orphanage that I can’t find by myself.” She asked us to help her get there since she knew that we worked with orphanages. We are excited about helping Zarema start a new life here in Taraz.

Welcome to the Interlink Blog!

We are looking forward to being able to use this blog to keep you updated on the work that Interlink Resources is doing in Kazakhstan. Thanks for taking the time to read it. We hope you enjoy the stories.