back to Heinz Homepage 2001 Trip To Jhailow Page 1
8/2001: The Jhailow is the summer pasturage of Kazakh shepherds. It is 3 hours to the edge and extends many hours in every direction. We spent 3 days there in mid August of 2001. We met 3 of the families that spend summers there with their herds. Although this was primarily a short vacation for us, we shared tracts, scripture, and some of our testimony with them.
(At Right) Lucy, Amanda, and Noah sit near the mountain pass that is the entrance to the Jhailow.
For hundred of years Kazakhs of the Great Horde (those who live in southern Kaz) have grazed their flocks in the high pastures of the Tien Shan mountains.
At one time the rolling plain was covered with Kazakh tents (called Yurts.) For the last 20 years the herd has been decreasing as families sell off stock to pay for necessities.
(At Right) The district "mayor" of the Jhailow. His herd, although one of the largest is small by Kazakh standards: 900 sheep, 40 cattle, and 10 horses. We spent two nights camped near his Yurt. It was quite a site to see 900 sheep going out at dawn from the sheep pen (a fenced circle only about 30 feet wide), getting their drink for the day as they crossed the stream, and coming back in at dusk.
This is our campsite near the "mayors" house. The shepherds pay 8 cents per month per animal for grazing plus a small fee for camping for the summer for which they get the right to gather firewood from the nearby forests. We were happy to have a heater in our sleeping area. At night the temps dropped to freezing, but we were in t-shirts in the daytime sun. The elevation here is 14000 feet. By the third day Molly was feeling the effects of altitude sickness!
Though the water was about 45F, our children enjoyed swimming. "Once you get numb, it's really nice" said Amanda. They built a rock wall to create a still area to float in out of the current.
This family lives about 2 miles from the mayor. They raise cattle primarily which is unusual for the Jhailow. No permanent buildings are allowed here. The shepherd families haul everything to their sites in May and haul it all out again in mid September when the herds are driven by mountain roads back to the villages for the winter.
They guy on the left stayed behind while we drove father, mother, and daughter home for a weekend visit with their other younger children who stay in their home in town during the summer.
Kazakhs love horse meat and horse milk (and so do I). The mares are milked every 2 hours. The milk is "Kazakh Coca-Cola" and is shared whenever guests drop by. On the Jhailow guests drop by every few hours. Here Noah gets to try his hand at milking. We felt so welcome during our visit that we plan on renewing our friendships when we return from furlough. In the long term, we hope that people we disciple will be involved in "building the herd" again here in Kazakhstan.
