Translate: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Note: Surrounding countries have simple names!
There are deep, common roots shared by the seven nations whose formally-recognized name ends with the four letters, stan. For our purposes, these countries will herein be known as the Seven-Stan nations or 7-Stan countries. The end root word, stan, of course, means land or place. Yet, quite unlike England-Ireland-Scotland, or Finland-Greenland-Iceland-Poland, or Swaziland, or Switzerland, or Thailand, the seven-stan nations share a deep history that involves well over 20 centuries of trading routes. The most recent was referred to as the Silk Road.
When we think of silk, we think of elegance and fashion. We think of travel, education, and culture. We think about the finer side of our beingness.
Thinking about some of our shared goals as human beings, we began to consider the very symbolic roles of the First Ladies of our nations. The First Ladies of these Seven-STAN countries have special challenges. On top of their historical, religious, and cultural challenges, we are asking for even more. We want them all to be symbols of the epitome of their culture, education, fashion, and tourism-and-travel.
While the first ladies are working on education, culture, fashion and tourism-and-travel, the presidents of these countries and and the CEOs of the largest businesses might work together to give every country a cooperative seaport. Of course, Pakistan would have to be willing to open an economic development zone along its coastline, perhaps somewhere along the Hub River which separates Balochistan and Sindh provinces and is very close to Karachi’s highways. Perhaps a creative enterprise and focus would give these provinces a reason to begin building relations with everyone, yet especially within the country.
Our STAN First Ladies are:
• Ziroatkhon Mahmudovna Hoshimova of Uzbekistan (ZMH) (on the right)
• Ogulgerek Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan (on the left)
• Azizmo Asadullayeva of Tajikistan (on the right)
• Bushra Khan of Pakistan (BK) (on the left)
• Aigul Jeenbekova of Kyrgyzstan (on the right)
• Sara Alpysqyzy Nazarbayeva of Kazakhstan (SAN) (on the left)
• Since August 31, 2021 women no longer have a formal role in Afghanistan.
Seven-STAN. The letters — S, T, A, N — are being examined to develop a meaningful acronym. For example, to date, Strategic Transnational Alliance of Nations, has emerged. Perhaps, there is a better acronym that will eventually be suggested. Perhaps it will begin with the word, Silk, i.e. Silk Trade-Alliance of Nations.
Project History. Although this project started naively, we have become aware how difficult such an alliance could be. The first attempts to develop such an idea began with just three emails (and tweets) on Saturday, August 18, 2018. A record of that history will be detailed here and within files for each nation.
A Global Voices story from 2014 suggests that the role of women, even a First Lady of a nation, is not to be in the world’s spotlight. If so, this alliance can readily stay out of the spotlight. This alliance could be a very quiet alliance and no spotlight is necessary. Results speak.
Possible Goals and Expectations. The first goal might be to develop a very high-end tourism trade that involves a high-level visit to all of the capitol cities and other key sites for all seven nations.
The seven countries should seek to develop joint economic development projects. Roads and bridges, a shared global port, a 22nd century trucking system (driverless), etc.
Let’s get people talking and sharing their best practices and best insights.
Of course, the best travel specialists of the world would welcome the opportunity to put those packages together.
A second goal could be a focus on education with an emphasis on a vision of the future that places all seven nations on a path that encourages collaborations, diversity, and shared wisdom among all people. How do we understand the meaning and value of life?
To that end, the links to letters (emails and tweets) to current First Ladies of the Seven-Stan Countries can be found in each country’s reference page. All these pages are dynamic and will be updated as time allows and events unfold.
The Seven-Stan Countries:
Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
Resources:
1. An excellent resource to translate a page by its URL:
http://itools.com/tool/google-translate-web-page-translator
2. http://novastan.org is an online periodical that covers:
Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan and the
Uyghur region, a provincial-level, autonomous region in the northwest part of China.
3. This link embedded above within Global Voices, goes to a fascinating story about several of the first ladies within the Seven-Stan countries. Written by Anna Fergana, she captures the problems of leadership when we do not share simple human values, especially respect for others, whereby continuity, symmetry and harmony become the penultimate guides for personal behavior. There is also a 2020 letter about this link!
4. Just a few Seven-STAN numbers: Land Area, Population, GDP, New-Business Starts
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