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Vrang

Garis Batas 13: Negeri Para Penganggur

Jalanan Vrang yang lengang, di mana mayoritas penduduknya adalah pengangguran. (Agustinus Wibowo) Berjalan-jalan di Tajikistan memang tidak mudah. Angkutan umum sangkat jarang, karena harga BBM sudah tidak terjangkau lagi oleh penduduk. Di sini hukumnya, semakin tinggi tempatnya, semakin mahal harga bensinnya. Tidak ada yang tahu kapan angkutan akan lewat. Sehari penuh mungkin hanya dua saja yang melintasi desa ini. Itu pun biasanya sudah penuh sesak. Hari ini saya berencana pergi ke desa Vrang, 5 kilometer jauhnya dari Tughoz. Tetapi sudah tiga jam lebih menunggu, tidak ada juga yang lewat. Sambil menunggu, saya mengunjungi rumah sakit di desa itu. Dokter Akhmed yang bekerja sebagai dokter kepala mempersilakan saya masuk. Bahkan desa terpencil seperti ini punya rumah sakit yang bagus. Infrastruktur di Tajikistan memang lebih bagus daripada di Indonesia. Tetapi gaji dokter Akhmed hanya 50 Somoni saja, sekitar 15 dolar, per bulan. Di Jakarta pengemis pun pendapatannya lebih besar dari ini. Dengan uang segitu di Tajikistan memang tidak akan membawanya ke mana-mana. Tetapi ia bangga dengan pekerjaannya, yang jauh lebih terhormat daripada mengemis. Dokter Akhmed bahkan menjerang teh untuk saya, tetapi belum sempat saya minum, saya sudah harus melompat ke angkutan desa yang baru saja melintas. Vrang hanya 5 kilometer saja, tetapi [...]

June 6, 2013 // 1 Comment

Murgab – 100 Questions and Answers about Tajik Presidential Election

Browsing through the list of candidates A friend of mine, Rosalina Tobing, works in social political section of the Embassy of Republic of Indonesia in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She often gets assignments to make reports about political moments in Central Asia. These days, the thing which people in Tajikistan like to talk about was the presidential election which is going to happen on November 6, 2006. Besides of this, people in GBAO also like to know more about the spiritual leader Aga Khan who visit the area together with the president. Rosalina asked me to get a book for our embassy’s reference, entitled ‘100 Questions and Answers about Tajikistan Presidential Election”. The book is as mythical as the 1001 Nights. I couldn’t find anywhere in Tajikistan (maybe because I always bumped into wrong places all time) but in election booths in the villages in GBAO. First I saw the book in the community hall , which was magically turned to be an election booth, in Vrang. I tried to ask permission to photocopy it, but the chief of election committee said there was no photocopy machine at all in the village. When I started to take photos of the book with [...]

October 30, 2006 // 0 Comments

Vrang – Life in Vrang

Green, peaceful, and lazy … Vrang Travelling in Tajikistan side of the Wakhan Corridor was as difficult as in Afghanistan side. Public transport was rare, the oil price got higher as the altitude got higher. It was 3.50 Somoni per liter of petrol here. No one was sure when the coming transport would come. And even when it came, it was often full, no space to share. It was indeed luck to be able to travel according to what one has planned. I was patient enough even though I worried about my short visa. Dr Akhmed was a doctor in Tughoz. I was waiting for transport to Vrang, 5 km away from tughoz, in his hospital. As the main doctor in this village, he earned only 50 Somoni per month. You would go nowhere with that amount of money in Tajikistan. But everybody was optimistic with his life. Working with little income was still better rather than begging on the streets. I have heard beggars in Jakarta could earn at least 60 dollars per month, about 280 Somoni, or 4 times higher than Dr Akhmed’s income. You need a lot of money and bunch of patience to travel in Tajikistan. [...]

October 25, 2006 // 0 Comments