Global conversations
The following is a post by Alice Harrison, who recently visited Tajikistan with regional Defence Attaché David Harrison May appeared to be a wonderful month to visit the Pamirs for those interested in flowers. Every village passed had banks of shaggy, bearded irises planted in its gardens and along the road. The first of the eremus were opening, covering the grey screes with tall spikes of yellow and white, and poppies, what … Read more »An Unforgettable Central Asian Experience
The following is a post by Nigel Peters, Leader of the First Ever UK Trade Mission to Tajikistan. My first experience of Central Asia was when I was seconded to what is now UK Trade & Investment from 1993-95 as Export Promoter for Central Asia, helping UK companies understand the business opportunities in the newly independent countries, working with our first resident Ambassadors, and organising the first trade missions. My … Read more »My First Ever Trade Mission to Tajikistan
The following is a post by Tojiniso Olimnazarova, Chevening Scholar for Tajikistan 2011-2012. In 2011, I succeeded in receiving the Chevening scholarship funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in the UK to do my master’s degree in Education (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) at the University of Birmingham. My one year in Birmingham was an exciting and unforgettable experience in my life. I had been abroad before that, but this … Read more »A Chevening Scholar Writes…
The following is a post by Bahodur Sheraliev, Communications Manager In the extremely beautiful spot where the Vakhsh and Pyanj rivers flow together and give birth to the Amu Darya lie the ruins of the Takhti Sangin temple. Once a crossroads of the old silk routes, this previously dynamic and developed settlement is nowadays a place where shepherds stop to rest and occasional visitors come to explore. The sun rises … Read more »In Search of Oxus Treasure – Trip to Takhti Sangin
The following is a post by HM Ambassador Robin Ord-Smith For a foreigner this is a very special time to be in Tajikistan. Yesterday, the Spring equinox, marked the festival of Navruz, the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in the Iranian calendar. Navruz is a an ancient festival, believed to date as far back as the Zoroastrians – and elements of their fire rituals remain … Read more »The Festival of Navruz – Spring Equinox
I have just returned to the UK from a three-day visit to Dushanbe. I first visited Tajikistan In 2010 and I visited again in 2011. So this was my third opportunity to spend some time in this beautiful country. All my visits were organised by the British Embassy. As I am a member of the Upper House (the House of Lords) in the British parliament one purpose of the visits … Read more »My Visit to Tajikistan by Baroness Vivien Stern
In February 2013, in the sunny mountains of northern Tajikistan, in the city of Khujand, a group of pioneering female leaders came together to elaborate a curriculum to raise awareness among mothers for their role in confronting violent extremism and radicalization. Together with Tajik NGO ASTI, Women without Borders/SAVE developed the innovative concept of the “Mothers Schools” which aims at actively preventing the emergence of radical ideologies in the region. … Read more »Mothers Schools – by Lea von Martius
The following is a post by Will Schomburg, a member of DFID’s Graduate Scheme. It takes imagination to picture what ancient Panjakent once looked like. While it might now be little more than a sprawl of ruins in western Tajikistan, the city was once a thriving trading point along the Silk Route. Like famous Samarkand, just across the border in Uzbekistan, this remote town is one of the oldest continuously inhabited … Read more »Looking for evidence in Central Asia
The following is a post by Robert Price, a Philosophy and Politics undergraduate at the University of Exeter who has recently completed an internship at the Embassy. Give Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Tajikistan, Robin Ord-Smith, a karaoke machine, and he will show you that he has the voice of an angel. This is just one of the things I learnt during my two week internship with the British Embassy in … Read more »Parties, Plov and Perseverance
Our Embassy often assists the British Defence School of Languages in arranging in-country Language and Cultural Training for students of Farsi and Pashto. The latest trip of three weeks included five students of Dari and two of Pashto. The following is a guest post by Fiona MacFarlane, one of the language students. We arrived in the early hours of Monday morning after a long and hot flight wearing as many layers … Read more »Learning Dari and Pashto in Tajikistan