Cooking up a storm in Kyrgyzstan
Instead of migrating to the capital, like so many of his young peers, Sagynbek stayed put to cook for schoolchildren
Most young people in Kyrgyzstan are eager to move to the capital, Bishkek, where almost a million of their country’s population of six million live. In starting new lives and leaving families behind, however, they deprive their villages and towns of their talents. But not Sagynbek.
The 25 year old is one of few school cooks in Kyrgyzstan with professional education in this field — and one of even fewer men in the job.
He says: “After college, I had several offers from different restaurants and cafes in Bishkek, and after one year of working in the capital with a decent salary, I left the city and came back to my village. I don’t know what exactly, but something was calling me back. Good work is not only about big salary, but it must also bring you joy.”
Sagynbek adds: “When I heard the local school in my home village Dyikan was looking for a cook, I knew immediately I needed to apply for this job.”
Muratbek uulu Sagynbek wakes up every day at 5am. He is the first one to open the school doors. Each new school day begins with him.
“I love waking up in the early morning, coming to work and preparing the food that is going to fuel the minds of children,” he says. “It makes me feel good to know that I contribute to children’s health and wellbeing.
“First things first — I prepare dough for the buns. while that is resting, I start preparing for the main meal. We have 77 students in this school and all of them are hungry, so there is not one minute to waste.”
Sangynbek adds: “I remember clearly my first day at work, and the first meal I cooked for children was lentil soup. I was surprised to see good equipment in the school kitchen, something I did not expect. Small things like that make the job a pleasure.”
In the village of Dyikan, just like in more than 300 other districts across Kyrgyzstan, WFP has supported the renovation of the school kitchen and canteen, and provided equipment for school including electric stoves, ovens, racks, scales and dough mixers.
“Children’s favourite food is, of course, porridge, because it’s sweet,” he adds. “But my favourite thing to cook is plov [dish of rice and meat] because I think is a very balanced meal, with right ratios of proteins, carbohydrates and fibre. It tastes great but is also very good for you. Luckily, I have my trusty book that has all the information I need on nutritious value of dish and the exact amount of ingredients.”
Tailored recipes
To help school cooks like Sagynbek make sure all dishes are cooked correctly and meet the nutritional requirements, WFP developed the School Meals Cookbook. The is a unique collection of tailored recipes that aim to promote a healthy and diverse diet for schoolchildren.
“The menu in our school is never monotonous. When I was creating it, I took into consideration seasonality and local ingredients, and I change menus every two to three weeks. Thus, children have diverse diets, which is very important for their health,” says Sagynbek.
“In Kyrgyz tradition, all meals finish with words of gratitude. The biggest reward I get for my work is when children say: ‘Thank you for cooking!’”
“I finish each day preparing for the next, and cleaning the kitchen. It’s a hard work, but it’s so rewarding to see happy faces of children when they are eating and gratitude in their faces.”
COVID-19 added text
This article was written before the
Prior to the COVID-related closures, through the WFP-supported school meals optimization programme over 184,000 primary school children were receiving hot meals. Almost 1.6 billion children and youth in 197 countries are missing school as classes have been suspended to restrain the spread of COVID-19. Some 370 million among them are no longer receiving school meals — often the only meals they could count on.
Right now Sagynbek is on the break from his work at school as well as all of the children he cooks for. But Sagynbek is not a person to sit without any work. The COVID-19 outbreak made quite an impact on the economy Kyrgyzstan, but especially on residents of remote villages. As a member of the village’s Youth association, he and his peers organized support systems for the poor families of the village that lost sources of their income, in form of first essential foods to keep them during the lockdown.
It was then when Sagynbek heard the wonderful news: wheat flour from schools, which has been supplied for school meals will be redirected for distribution to children from poor families. In May, about 2,000 families with schoolchildren identified as poor will receive 116 tons of fortified wheat flour from WFP’s pilot schools to support children while they take distance learning. He volunteered to help during the distribution of flour to families.
At the request of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic to support the most vulnerable populations of the country, who are the hardest hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, WFP and Ministry of Education decided to redistribute wheat flour allocated for school meals as a take-home ration to the children from poor families.
