EHIO ICA Tajikistan volunteer project helps the needy and inspires youth

ICA Tajikistan85 is officially known as EHIO – Farhang va Tarakkiyot, the last three words meaning culture and development in Russian. We are a non-governmental, non-profit and non-political voluntary organization based in Khujand city in the north of the country. We have a branch in the south in Kurgan-Tube. We work with the vulnerable sectors of population and are involved in the development of communities and organizations, and the provision of social services.

One recent project was to get volunteers involved in acts of kindness. Our staff members Alimova Gulnora, who heads program development, and Yakubova Nodira, who supervises volunteers, recruited a team of youth under the slogan of “Make your life and that of others brighter”.

One recruit, Burieva Kamila, said: “After I became a volunteer and created a volunteer team, I understood that there are people who will do kind things with joy, pleasure, hospitability and good will, without asking for anything in return.

84The team worked with an orphanage in Khujand, organised a concert at an old folk’s home, and a sports competition for hard-of-hearing children at a boarding school. They taught children at the orphanage origami and how to make pictures using coloured beads. The experience made the children happy and inspired the volunteers. “We can change and expand the world, to make it healthy and beautiful,” said one of them, Sattorzoda Akhmadjon. Added another volunteer, Saidova Aziza: “Our activities make us kinder and stronger. With our team, we can do something that brings benefit to needy people.”

The project was funded by USAID through our partner IREX, an international nonprofit organization.


This post was first published in Winds & Waves, December 2015.