Children starve in Ashgabat’s endless crisis

Many families try to place their children in orphanages, to guarantee them food. But there is also corruption in children's homes. No queues at shops; the shopping must be delivered to homes. Reduced salaries; doctors and nurses look for a second job or emigrate.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The children of Turkmenistan are affected by a profound lack of food and a "high level of poverty" according to the World Health Organization report released on May 13, highlighting the "low level of obesity” among Turkmen children compared to their peers in neighbouring Central Asian states.

The economic crisis in Turkmenistan, which began as early as Soviet times, shows no signs of abating, with the very high unemployment rate and poor average salaries, which are unable to cover even the minimum needs of families.

On May 15 the correspondents of Radio Azatlik published a report on poor Turkmen families, who are unable to feed their children and try to place them in orphanages.

The report shows the situation in various regions of the country, especially in the most populous one of Velayat Marijsk, where the authorities struggle with beggars, especially children. "In recent times - it is stated - the number of parents unable to feed their children has increased, who therefore try to enrol them in auxiliary schools and boarding schools for orphans".

In internship no. 3, located on Parakhatchylyk street in the city of Mari, in recent months there has been a continuous flow of children "handed over" by families. The orphanage is on the verge of collapse, "children sleep two per bed", as one of the attendants tells us. The building itself is dilapidated, built over 60 years ago, with half-crumbling foundations and rotted window frames.

Children's meals are also far below the norm. There is a lack of vitamins and other foods, soups "are so liquid that they are indistinguishable from dirty water". Meat is served once a month, in extremely small portions, and even simpler products such as potatoes, turnips, onions and cabbage appear on the table very rarely. The vegetables that arrive are often inedible.

The corruption that pervades the structures of Turkmenistan also peeps out in children's boarding schools: there is no lack of those who steal food products for children, to resell them in the markets, without even hiding. "They not only steal official supplies, but also the food offered by benefactors", say the people interviewed.

The children sent to these facilities for lack of food at home remain undernourished, and despite attempts to organize games and activities, they always show sad and resigned faces.

In the capital Ashgabad, local authorities organized the distribution of humanitarian food parcels in May, on the occasion of the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of independence and the 140th anniversary of the founding of the city. On 12 May a distribution was carried out in the homes of the poorest citizens of the suburbs. The donated packages contained two kilos of chicken wings, a bottle of seed oil, a kilo of sugar and 2 kilos of rice, for a value of 100 manat (about 30 euros).

The distribution is expected to be repeated within a couple of weeks, but there are no guarantees for this.

Many of the parcels distributed immediately reappeared on the markets, or on the streets, sold from the trunks of cars, despite all the checks. This is making the distribution plan for the next few weeks’ problematic, which however appears to be linked only to the May-June holiday period.

The Ministry of Commerce has issued a directive requiring food shops to deliver products to homes, to avoid long queues on the street, which form in any case from early morning.

A further concern comes from the reduction in average salaries. Despite the Covid-19 emergency, the salaries of medical personnel also went from 1800 to 1400 manat. Many doctors and nurses have to look for a second job in the fields or in the markets, or even emigrate to neighbouring countries.

The only doctors to maintain the previous salary level are stomatologists, which happens to be the profession of the Turkmen president Gurbangul Berdymukhamedov.