USAID Delivers Schoolbooks for Uzbek Refugees Sheltered in Romania
On September 2, 2005, 439 Uzbek refugees temporarily housed in Romania received more than 100 Uzbek-language textbooks covering a range of subjects and grade levels.
USAID/Romania staff first visited the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)-supported Accommodation Center in Timisoara on August 4, less than a week after the refugees arrived. The Uzbeks had already started their own English classes at that time, and the eight teachers among the refugees were eager for materials in their subjects – mathematics, history, and languages (Uzbek, Russian, and English). The children, too, had begun to ask UNHCR staff about educational opportunities during their stay in Timisoara.
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| Uzbek textbooks offer displaced children link to home |
After USAID/Romania Director Rodger D. Garner visited the center on August 18, he spoke in glowing terms of the Uzbek refugees’ tenacity and determination to do everything possible to improve their lives while in Romania. He was particularly impressed that one of their only requests was for books—both to help children keep up with their studies and to keep their minds off the uncertain fates of the loved ones they left behind in Uzbekistan
“Because of [the refugees’] honesty, their courage, and their determination to succeed, we hope to provide these textbooks for their children,” Garner pledged.
USAID/Romania immediately contacted USAID/Kazakhstan and USAID/Uzbekistan to collaborate on a solution. With the assistance of the U.S. Embassy GSO in Bucharest and of Romanian customs officers, the three USAID offices worked together to find and deliver the books to the delighted teachers and children. The total cost of the cross-border project was less than $1,000.
“The teachers were clearly elated with the arrival of the books, and the children immediately made a beeline for them, eager to get their hands on their favorite subjects,” reported John Riordan, USAID/Romania Program Office Director. “Children and young adults alike marveled at the selection of native language texts, and from the light in their eyes undoubtedly found comfort in this small slice of home.”
The eastern Uzbek refugees fled to neighboring Kyrgyzstan following an uprising in the town of Andijan, which was quashed by Uzbek troops in May of this year. They arrived in Romania on July 29.
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