Bill Beecher, PVHA volunteer, and his wife, Inez, traveled to Uzbekistan recently. They want to share their experience with us. Here is their story:
Inez and I had been studying the history of the Silk Road and were fascinated by all of it. So, we decided to visit Uzbekistan which was at the center of the Silk Road and this is a condensed version of our travels.
It was all of what we expected and a whole lot more. We were expecting to see an old country; instead, we found the opposite. It is a modern country with happy, friendly, and 100% literate people speaking several languages: Uzbek, Russian, English, Persian, etc.
It is a country about the size of California with 38 million people reflecting the melting pot that is Uzbekistan. For 4,000 years many different people have traveled through there: Arabs, Persians, Mongols, Chinese, Russians and Koreans. They are more a melting pot than the US, with the people getting along. We were astounded by their friendliness. At times when we got lost, they would come up, and in English, asked if they could help us.
The biggest surprise for me was the infrastructure that the Russians had done starting in the 1920’s. Schools, civil service, road ways, an underground Metro, and modern buildings were their legacy. The high literacy rate is due to the school system that they created. If the Russians had done this in occupied Europe after WWII, the world and history would be totally different.
The major exports are metals, materials, oil, gas, cotton, and agriculture. Chevrolet has two assembly plants here which is the reason 80% of their cars are Chevys. They export 40,000 cars each year. This is a country ripe for development.
This is not a tired old country; it is a vibrant country with a rich history. We felt safe and welcomed.
By Bill Beecher