The Guyana-Kazakhstan connection…Living a world apart, a Guyanese and a Kazakh man share their stories

May 26, 2014 News

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By Neil Marks
If you ever want to indulge Dmitriy Shipulin in a healthy dose of local hospitality, you might want to spare him the suggestive moves associated with dancehall or soca music. It’s a bit too much for this Kazakh man to handle.

“Dances common to Guyana – dances you would see in ordinary places of gathering or at some Guyana-style party – would seem confusing to most and even shocking to some Kazakhstani,” he says.
Walter Moore, a Guyanese professional football player who has settled in Kazakhstan, knows exactly what Dmitriy means, and so he settles for entertainment less risqué.
“I enjoy karaoke and going to the mall,” says Moore, who now lives in Ust-kamenogorsk, the administrative capital of Eastern Kazakhstan, where Dmitriy was born and raised.
With Kazakhstan being a multicultural country there is a variety of traditional dances belonging to different nations living in Kazakhstan such as Russian, Tatar, Armenian, etc., and so Dmitriy understands why things in Guyana are as different as they are to him.
You could say Walter and Dmitriy have a fair understanding of what the phrase “culture shock” means.
After all, Guyana and Kazakhstan are miles apart, geographically and in culture and lifestyle as well.
Situated between Asia and Europe, Kazakhstan was once the second largest Republic in the former Soviet Union. It gained independence in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, and since then it has set about its own development path.
The country’s economic frontier centres on its abundant natural resources, particularly oil and gas, and it has been busy trying to woo investors.
In fact, Guyana hopes it can benefit from Kazakhstan in these areas.
“Kazakhstan has a lot of experience in oil exploration and natural resources which are areas that may be tapped into and which we will pursue if so determined,” Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Minister of Foreign Affairs told Kaieteur News.
Dmitriy is fond of his hometown in Eastern Kazakhstan, and so he is quick to boast of its high mountains, green valleys, mighty rivers and deep forests.
“It is also very rich with minerals and industrially developed,” he says, speaking during an interview with Kaieteur News.
Dmitriy has been in Guyana since 2008, working with the local subsidiary of Russian bauxite giant RUSAL. His family moved with him here but it was time for his little boy to head off to nursery school, so they returned to Kazakhstan.
Though what he speaks of about Kazakhstan are familiar to Guyanese –forests, rivers, and high mountains – he says the landscape is much different and has a distinct charm.
“I haven’t been everywhere in Guyana, but those places I’ve been are nothing similar to what there is in Kazakhstan.
“I think that it would be a great experience for Guyanese to visit Kazakhstan and find how different and how spectacular the land of Kazakhstan is,” Dmiriy says.
In fact, it is this tourism potential Dimitriy speaks of, and other interests, including natural resources as mentioned by the Foreign affairs Minister, which prompted the government here to establish diplomatic relations with Kazakhstan, with who it shares mutual interests.
In January 2013, Guyana and Kazakhstan formally established diplomatic relations.
A communique towards this end was signed at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan by Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador George Talbot and the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan, Ambassador Byrganym Aitimova
The two countries both look forward to the same thing – the promotion of trade, culture and friendship between the two countries.
In the past, the two countries cooperated in several multilateral fora such as the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on issues of common interest.
The establishment of formal diplomatic relations marked another step in the strengthening of the relations between the two countries and is expected to lead to enhanced bilateral cooperation.
“As part of our foreign policy, Guyana continues to establish diplomatic relations with as many countries as possible with which we share common interests.
“This is what motivated the establishment of diplomatic relations with Kazakhstan,” Minister Rodrigues-Birkett stated.
While Guyana and Kazakhstan are different in many ways, there are similarities which both Walter and Dmitiry can testify to – Guyana and Kazakhstani people are friendly and hospitable.
Of the two, Walter can perhaps talk about this best, and it goes back to why he doesn’t mind going to the mall as a form of recreation – it’s in one of those malls that he met his wife Dillyara.
She was curious to know what a Black man was doing in Kazakhstan. Of course, Walter, originally from Agricola, East Bank Demerara, explained that he was there playing professional football for FC Vostok, the celebrated football club of Eastern Kazakhstan.
From that conversation, one thing led to the next and they decided to get married.
As most Kazakh people speak English well, or at least some of it, Walter has found no difficulty communicating; and the same goes for Dmitriy, who is thankful to be working in Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America.
As for food, Walter has been adjusting well. Restaurants serve up a range of home-styled meals with influences from the former Soviet Union countries and from all around the world.
A big relief for Dmitriy and Walter was that fact that major products are the same.
“If you put aside products specific for a region then you could see that it is the same rice, potato, peas, chicken, beef, pork, fish, etc. The main difference is the way of cooking and use of ingredients,” says Dmitriy.
Walter likes pasta, so Kazakh food has not been a problem for him. His favourite is lagman, a lamb and vegetable noodle dish,
When it comes to Guyanese culture, Dmitriy has only been able to see the Diwali celebration, which he rightly describes as “very bright and colorful.” For him, it was “impressive and memorable.”
Now he has his eyes set on the annual costume and float parade to celebrate Guyana’s Republic anniversary. The annual street party happens every year on February 23, and though it would be another culture shock, Dmitriy would like to get a firsthand experience of the festival he has heard so much about and seen countless photos of.
“The costumes made by participants and the whole arrangement of celebration is something you would never see in my home country,” Dmitriy says.
Both Walter and Dmitriy see the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries as a step in the right direction.
Dmitriy sums it up this way: “It shows that both Guyana and Kazakhstan internally reached a certain level at which both countries understand that there is a need to have a wider look, and make a bigger steps in order to improve and develop.
“I personally find this establishment very positive as it will enlarge our outlook and allow us to better understand the world.”

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