Spreading Debates among Youth in Arslanbap

IDEA Editorial Team

Young adults issue
One of the most
common young-adult issues in our society is that older people do not take young
adults seriously. Usually there is not even a space for their opinion; older
people do not let them speak it out in a way.
Muratbek
Kochkorov is one of the young people in Guhmansk village of Arlanbap region, who
faced this issue. He could not even get a chance to be heard at some point of his
life: at school and in the family.
Finding a life changing opportunity
Before attending
the Demilgeluu Jashtar project, Muratbek was interested in videography and
photography. After he became a part of the project, it made a significant change
in his life. The project taught him how to build strong arguments and solid
viewpoints on certain topics, which helped him to overcome stereotypes that the
society shapes.

Muratbek grew
professionally and personally throughout the debate experience. Now he is able
to have real discussions on serious topics with his family members and other
people, and they listen to him. He realized that age does not define anyone. Every
young person’s opinion matters, now Muratbek feels that his ideas and opinions
have a real meaning.
Reaching goals
For the first
time when Muratbek became a part of the Demilgeluu Jashtar project, he could
not even think that something in his life is going to change after. Fortunately,
this project was the first one that brought such a huge impact on his life.
Muratbek notes that he would not be able to open up his hidden talents and
achieve the success that he has now, if not the participation in the project.
“I had no idea, who the activists and volunteers are,
and what kind of projects exist. I was just a regular village school boy”, – Muratbek.

Now Muratbek is
a young conscious citizen of his country. He is an activist and volunteer in
his community, whose parents and siblings think and truly believe that he is able
to change their reality for the better. He found his place.
“I can have a place in any environment, most
importantly at school, in my society and family”, – Muratbek.
Helping his community
The Demilgeluu
Jashatr project gave a huge portion of inspiration to Muratbek. He started
thinking about his community and other young ambitious people just like him.
The project
helped him to realize how important it is to help the community and try to
change things in our society for the better.
Muratbek won
several debate tournaments, also nominated as the best speaker. Currently he is
promoting debates among youth in Guhmansk village, working hard on teaching
other schoolchildren how to debate and build strong communication skills.

Self-growth and maturity
After the project,
a lot had changed in Muratbek’s life. His goal was to grow professionally in
the terms of debates, but he got much more than that. Now he is aware of issues
that are taking place in his society, and he is taking actions to solve them.
Muratbek is a
young leader of his society who can help others to find their place in the society.
He knows how to be a good teacher and mentor, as he mentioned it does not
matter how old this teacher or mentor is.
“It is also important to have personal qualities like
charisma, good sense of humor, communication skills and of course being able to
inspire and motivate others” – Muratbek.

The Demilgeluu Jashtar project is funded by USAID and is focused on increasing civic participation of youth and preparing them for the labor market by creating various opportunities.
Text was prepared by Mariam Sulaimanova.