Kazakh language and culture course free of distractions of modern civilizations

“Ulytau” language and culture camp has been set up on the shores of the Bolshoye Chebachye Lake in the Burabai resort, Tengrinews.kz reports. The project is a joint initiative of the Almaty-based International Academy of Business (IAB), Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund and the local authorities. The initiative is designed to promote the Kazakh language and culture in the young nation that has recently seen its abandoned traditions rediscovered. A person willing to pick up the Kazakh language signs up for a 10-day-long course. All the campers stay in yurts, folding dwellings of the nomad Kazakhs. There is no Internet, no mobile telephones, no TV, no amenities of the modern civilization. Each day starts with singing the national anthem, performing Kazakh national dance Kara Zhorga and drinking kumys, a national drink made of fermented camel milk. National craftsmen come to the camp every day to teach the campers the basics of national sewing, embroidery and weaving. “I didn’t expect of myself to enjoy staying away from the modern amenities, living in a yurt. To learn the language one must love the people. I need the Kazakh language: I was born here and I don’t think of relocating. I want to speak with the Kazakhs in their mother tongue”, Elena Eroshkina, one of the campers, says. This year the camp is accommodating 100 people, ¼ up against last year. Many of the language instructors are not ethnic Kazakhs. “Every year we have three shifts of campers. Each shift lasts 10 days. This time we are hosting those coming from Temirtau, Ekibastuz, Petropavlovsk, Kokshetau, Astana and Almaty”, IAB President Assylbek Kozhakhmetov said. According to him, “the program only consists language and culture sections, no religious issues are broached”. To sign up for the course" will cost you about $1000. Last year the camp was set up in Karaganda oblast. The plan is there to launch a camp in Pavlodar oblast.