When I was twelve years old, I was sent from the orphanage in Bishkek to an orphanage in the south of Kyrgyzstan. It is very far from the capital, about 800 km. In this orphanage there were children from three to sixteen years old. I lived in the orphanage for two years. When I think back to my time there, they were the worst years of my life.
There were about seventy teenagers living in this institution, which was housed in an old Soviet-style building. It was clean enough, but now that I think back on it, I feel it was like a prison. On the third day I got into a serious fight. It was painful and difficult for me, but I showed them that I was brave. Afterwards, I was in bed for several days. When I started to feel better, I had to go to school. The children from the orphanage went to the local primary school, which was close by. The teenagers from the regular families didn't like us and we were always fighting each other - the orphanage kids against the school kids.
At the orphanage, there was an unwritten law among the children that you don't tell or write anything to the police or the orphanage management. If you did, you lost all your authority and your life became hell. The director of the orphanage was an alcoholic woman. I saw her many times dead drunk, staggering around and trying to teach in that state. The staff didn't pay much attention to what the children were doing and most of the time you were left to your own devices. After bedtime, a completely different life began. The big teenagers would gather the smaller kids and start beating them up - especially those who had done something wrong.
There was no division between the girls' area and the boys' area, so you could easily move from one area to the other. At night the big boys would get drunk and often sexually abuse some of the girls. I can still remember what it was like to be there and not be able to do anything because I was too small. I ran away from the orphanage several times for a week or ten days. It was completely normal. They were used to it, and when I came back, the staff didn't care and didn't even ask about it.
The last time I heard news from the orphanage, I was told that the situation has changed for the better. There is a new manager who is committed and who loves children.
