2019 Youth Camp at Kyrgyzstan

HIS Foundation has been conducting education ministries in China for about 20 years. They are very welcome by education authorities, teachers, parents, and students. The program included rebuilt of 12 rural elementary schools, annual children summer program, hundreds of high school scholarships every year, annual youth camps for scholarship students, and twice a year English teacher training courses. Since the change of laws about 3 years ago, the government increased control of foreign non-profit organizations especially those with religious background. Nowadays all programs have to be approved by Department of National Security instead of education authorities. We were told to stop the programs without given reasons. The only program remains is the high school scholarship. 

Since early this year, HIS Foundation had been seeking opportunities to run education programs overseas. Teams were sent to Southeast Asia, Middle Asia, and Middle East. Finally, Kyrgyzstan was picked. Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked mountainous country in Central Asia. It is bordered by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China. It became independent from USSR in 1991. Both Kyrgyz and Russian are official languages, however, English is getting more and more popular. The 2018 census shows a population of 6.22 million with 78% Muslim. Ethnic Kyrgyz is the majority group followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks, Russians, and Tungan. Unemployment and divorce rate are high. Poverty, corruption, and ethnic conflicts are serious social issues.