Bishkek's Peculiar Cleanliness

Waking earlier than usual one fall morning, I decided to make my way down to the American University of Central Asia ahead of schedule.




The air was crisp and cold and the mountains to the south had a golden luster under the rising sun.


Nearing the university, a multitude of older women in reflective vests appeared.





























Nearly everday, particularly in the mornings, the street sweepers are at work clearing the streets, alleys, and sidewalks with broad brooms. The entire phenomenon is, to the American eye, unfamiliar and the brooms used seem unusual, sometime rudimentary. The streetsweeping women radiate outwards from a parked truck labelled 'Tazalyk', Kyrgyz for 'cleanliness'.

Though the city may be senisitive to hygiene, individual busniness owners may not be so proactive.
Here we can see a flock of wasps descending upon a vendor's cotton candy.

The fact that the city of Bishkek provides such services to improve its aesthetic profile likely comes as a surprise to Westerners, as it did to me. Having travelled to other parts of the developing world, I must say that Bishkek is particularly clean and comfortable. Litter is far less ubiquitous and efforts towards sanitation more noticeable than in Egypt, for instance, despite the fact that Egypt's GDP per capita is significantly greater than that of Kyrgyzstan.






Off Prospekt Chui I was lucky to spot this bold but very simple public service announcement imploring parents to 'teach [their] children good manners'. Bishkek's administration clearly knows that create a beautiful, modern city they will need to influence the city's culture so as to ensure that littering and poluting are scorned. In the West we often take this granted, but a trip into the developing world, outside of Kyrgyzstan, should shock Westerners as it is there that our collective apathy towards the environment is most abrasive. Perhaps Bishkek's peculiar cleanliness and the efforts its people exert to preserve it are vestiges of the long European influence via Russia on the country. Indeed, the city has done a better job of discouraging, even shaming, disregard for the environment than American cities with which I am familiar.