The wife of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Great Britain to Kyrgyzstan, Charles Garrett, actively helped Kyrgyz doctors during the quarantine — she cooked meals and delivered them to hospitals and temporary hospitals. This act of Veronique Garrett left nobody indifferent.
«One of my children is disabled. It opened many doors for me and made me who I am now,» Veronique Garrett told.
She has been living in Kyrgyzstan for just over a year. During this time, she managed not only to get to know the country, but also visited orphanages, crisis centers. Veronique Garrett shared her impressions with 24.kg news agency.
— Share your first impressions of Kyrgyzstan. What did you think when you arrived in the country?
— Arrival at a new post is an exciting time, especially if you have never visited the country before. Landing in Bishkek was no exception. The view from the plane during landing impresses with the mountains surrounding you. This is our first post without our kids, and that makes it completely different and special in some way. As a diplomatic family, we traveled from one country to another throughout Charles’ 32-year career, staying not more than four years in one place. I feel a strong attachment to your nomadic culture.
— Why did you decide to help doctors?
— During the July coronavirus outbreak, I felt a real injustice towards very many Kyrgyzstanis.
I was especially impressed by the youth who fought a merciless and seemingly endless battle to save lives.
Veronique Garrett
They were poorly equipped, overworked and the volunteers were often underestimated. It was difficult for me to sit at home and do nothing. I wanted to help with something. I found a volunteer organization on the Internet that works throughout Kyrgyzstan. They were preparing meals for medical workers and needed help.
I decided to help. Not to make a statement or for any political reason, but simply because it was in my power. My son helped me when he was still here, blind students and my husband. It was pretty fun.
— I heard that the Federation was looking for a volunteer English teacher, wrote to the project director and began to work with students three times a week. I am developing a curriculum translated from English into Braille.
Many of these young people did not receive an education due to their disability and lived at home without being able to go out into society.
Veronique Garrett
It’s great to see how these smart and capable people develop. They have a motivation to go out into the world and achieve something.
— Earlier, in your interview, you have mentioned that you are an early intervention specialist. Please, tell about it.
— I am an English teacher by profession. But after the birth of my daughter, I retrained as an early intervention specialist. It is the work of informing and educating families how to support their child with a disability in the best way. It provides strategies and programs to help a child grow, develop and reach their full potential, and is carried out through trained practitioners.
When my daughter Florence with Down syndrome was born, we did not believe that she would not achieve anything, that she would not go to school, would not read and write, and would not leave home. We couldn’t understand why she shouldn’t swim, ski, ride a bike like her brothers and sisters. However, we quickly realized that she would not do it alone, without support. She needed early intervention and I needed help.
— As in any country, people with disabilities live in Kyrgyzstan. Many of them were discriminated, isolated, were unable to go to school or send their children to school, who could not find work because of their disabilities.
Meeting people and talking to them, I see that there is a feeling of shame, disrespect due to the fact that the family has a disabled child or when the person himself or herself is such a person.
Veronique Garrett
There are many children with disabilities in the orphanages in Tokmak and Belovodskoye, who were handed over to the state; their families felt unable to cope with this due to lack of support. This needs to be changed. People need to accept the fact that this group of society exists here, they struggle and often cannot integrate and be included in the wider community due to lack of awareness. They are discriminated.
Doctors, professionals, politicians, representatives of the business community, everyone who lives here must understand that hiding people with disabilities and not providing them with education and social support is wrong.
— I firmly believe that if a child can be included in mainstream education, he or she should be included. If this requires additional support, adapted Braille materials, they should be provided.
Society needs to adapt to disability, not disability to society.
Veronique Garrett
But I understand that this is not always the best solution for all children. It is better for some of them to live in specialized institutions.
— How developed is inclusive education in the UK?
— 27 years ago, when Florence was born, it was unusual for children with Down syndrome to go to primary and secondary schools, not to mention college. People with this syndrome were rarely seen in the workplace. This is not at all uncommon now. Be that as it may, things are not perfect, we still have a long way to go to create a truly diverse and accepting society.
— We can see on social media how you collect garbage in nature. Do you always do this?
— I have a special bag with me every time I go for a walk in the hills or mountains. I take an empty one, and go down with full of garbage. We learned this trick when we were in North Macedonia. It’s very easy to do and doesn’t take long. I sort the collected waste and leave it by the trash cans. After that, people who collect it come, get a few soms per kilogram of plastic, but at least it is recycled. I try to do this early in the morning, before city trucks come, because they don’t sort the garbage and it ends up in a landfill.
Kyrgyzstan is the most beautiful country in which we lived, and it is a pity that nature is damaged by people who leave their trash.
Veronique Garrett
Every time my husband and I see this, we ask ourselves the same question: how can people who appreciate such beauty (and it is obvious that they do, otherwise they would not have climbed the mountain) leave the trash?
I believe that a public campaign and educational program on waste recycling is needed. Starting from childhood, you need to teach how to sort garbage. This is the future of the country.
— What are your plans for the future?
— I will return to the orphanage in Tokmak, which will open after a long isolation. I will continue to work to protect and raise awareness about people with disabilities and their rights. I will continue teaching English to vulnerable groups, developing and implementing early development principles.
