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Welcome to Babushka Adoption Foundation!
Babushka means grandmother or old lady in Russian.
Babushka Adoption Foundation is a Kyrgyz NGO, with charity status, that aims to give hope and restore dignity to the elderly, who have fared particularly badly since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the recent political events.
The transition to independence was a difficult time and, like many post-Soviet countries, Kyrgyzstan found its economy in crisis. Basic social services and the pension system collapsed and Kyrgyzstanis who had given their working life for the country suddenly found that there was no security for their retirement. The pension did not keep up with the rising cost of living and sometimes was delayed. At the same time, many working-age people emigrated in search of employment, leaving behind the old people with inadequate, or no means of support.
Older people are also negatively affected by the recent political perturbations in the Kyrgyz Republic, like the “Tulip Revolution” in 2005, the uprising in April 2010 and the mass interethnic conflict in June 2010, which shook the South of the country. Such political upheavals hinder economic development, so the country is getting poorer and poorer, the state debt to international institutions is increasing There is no money in the state budget to cover the deficit and to rebuild the burnt, ruined Southern cities, like Osh and Jalal-Abad. The social sphere is underfinanced due to the political and economical crisis so older people, dependent on fully inadequate pensions, live beyond the poverty line.
Babushka Adoption Foundation provides financial, moral and social support to some of these vulnerable elderly people. |
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