Wednesday September 13 (Day Fourteen)
Registration Process
I have a great interest in institutional legacy in the explanation of policies but the material I have tried to analyse was mostly very much abstract one which you can hardly trace the influence and effects of institutions. But in Aralsk, you can see the real institutional legacy of communist regime. The first thing in the morning we did in Arask was to register ourselves as visitors in Aralsk. Mr Askarov warned us several times that we might be arrested without proper registration and we knew already it could happen. The registration process itself was quite complex and you never know whether you could successfully register yourself within a day. From 8*30 AM we were waiting in his car parked in front of immigration police which was heard a local branch of KGB and the process was not going smoothly.
After spending several hours in front of the police station, I asked Mr Askarov to guide us to the city hall, the Mayor`s office. We have been told that Mr Bota had called Mayor to inform him of our visit, I thought it would be much easier to settle the problem with Mayor. We went to Mayor`s office with Mr Askarov with a bit worried face.
Meeting with Mayor of Aralsk and Photocalls by the Local Newspaper
After 20 minutes of waiting in the city hall, we could meet Mayor of Aralsk city. I still don:t know whether it is because of Mr Askarov`s wise introduction or Ms. Bota`s call. Anyway Mr Askarov introduced us as visitors from Japan and had some relationship with JBIC (of course it is true since I was involved in JBIC project, in Malaysia though) and attracted interest of Mayor.
Mayor met us with a long list of requests for the grants from Japan. He clearly knew the difference between the loan and the grant and explained what kind of things they needed. He seemed to have understood that we might have a relationship with JICA as well. Reporters of local newspaper attended that meeting too and took several photos. I wonder whether those photos were on the newspapers or not. But we were visitors from Japan which has a potential to help them out from various difficulties to them.
Meeting with the Chief of the Police Station
After meeting with Mayor, everything was smoothly going. Even we were guided by local civil servant to show us around the hospitals and schools which they wanted to have grants from foreign countries for. We went to immigration police station and met the chief of the station in his office and get the permit to do research.
Visit School
After getting a permit and having a lunch, the first place we were guided to was primary school without playground and heating facilities. School children had to stand the freezing coldness without heating in the winter. The building itself was not that bad but the problem was maintenance.
Visit Hospital
The hospital did not look like hospital. Old building and the sanitation was not good at all. The grave yard just near the hospital made the atmosphere much more eerie. The equipments were mostly of the 1950s and 1960s. The child born in disfigured form just breathe on the bed without anybody. Who should have the responsibility for this? Kazakhstan produces oil.
Meeting with the President of the NGO, Aral Tenizi
Aral Tenizi is the NGO working for the people living near the Aral Sea. They were trying to revive the fishing industry which almost disappeared due to the desertifified Aral Sea. We had interview with the President but we felt that she did not seem to have an interest in our research. She had been already promised for the investment for her factory and I think it surely gave her some confidence. Anyway, from my experience, the industrialists and politicians don`t like researchers with two hands! (You know the story about the US president looking for an economist with one hand, don:t you?)
Hello, Cambala Glossa!
The central figure of this fishing industry project was Cambala Glossa, the newcomers from Norway, which had a strength in the water with high level of salt. Please refer to my forthcoming article for this wonderful story.
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