Uzbekistan

The Aral Desert

Ulman Kalanderova

I used to walk to school each morning with a pocket full of fried sour gum. Grains, fruits and vegetables were easy to come by at that time as they all grew along the irrigation channels that were fed by the Kazak Darya river. There was also a large fishing fleet and factory in town which provided more than enough fish for everyone.

The fishing industry provided work for everyone in this town. My father worked as a captain, I worked in the factory and my husband was a fisherman. Many people from the surrounding villages would also come to this town for work.

My family and I still eat a lot of fish, but we have to get it from a wetland some distance from here. We eat Grass Carp now, which is nowhere near as delicious as the Aral Sturgeon and Swordfish we used to have. The Grass Carp was introduced from eastern Russia and eats sea grasses and reeds. It can survive in conditions that other fish can't.

In the 1940s the sea used to come up almost to the edge of the town. Now my children tell me that it is over 130 kilometres from here to the sea. I find this strange, it feels like it was only yesterday when we would travel out to the islands in the sea to collect wood and reeds for house construction. The people in this community used to be worried about the boats of their fathers and sons capsizing in the storms and dieing at sea, but nowadays they are more concerned about getting access to clean drinking water.