Wanaka resident and former Mackenzie Basin farmer Derek Kirke launched the Kyrgyzstan New Zealand Rural Trust (KNZRT) at a fund-raising dinner and auction held twelve months ago at the Lake Wanaka Centre.
Kyrgyzstani woman Umit Ukaeva said the trust had given villagers new hope and confidence.
More importantly the initiatives provided by KNZRT had given the local communities back their ‘‘sense of self and independence,'' she said.
The Kyrgyzstan nation had been left destitute and impoverished since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The former communist-style farm collectives had often meant agricultural knowledge was confined to one person, usually Russian, and this had been lost when independence from the Soviet Union was reclaimed.
The various schemes and programmes offered by the trust gave ‘‘empowerment'' back to the local farming communities, who endured hardships in the extreme climate and harsh environment of the country, Ms Ukaeva said.
Many of the schemes involved the establishment of simple agricultural business structures such as establishing goat herds, milking practices and breeding programmes.
Any profits from the schemes went back into the business model, Ms Ukaeva said.
KNZRT was the brainchild of Canterbury farmer Tony Ryan, who along with Mr Kirke is one of six founding trustees.
The pair returned to Wanaka this week along with Kyrgyzstani trustee adviser Ms Ukaeva.
Mr Ryan and Mr Kirke said New Zealanders had supported the KNZRT initiative despite many people not knowing anything, including the whereabouts, of Kyrgyzstan.
They had raised more than $250,000 since the trust's launch last year and hoped to be able to repeat their success at a similar event in Queenstown on April 4, Mr Kirke said.
