The roof and the ropes

New readers sometimes ask about our name. The uuk are the long poles that rise from the lattice wall of a yurt to the crown and hold up its roof. The boo are the woven bands and ropes that tie the poles to the wall and the felt to the frame. Poles without ropes fall in the first wind; ropes without poles are only rope. When we began this bulletin in 2004 there were eleven of us; now there are sixty-three member associations, and this little paper is still one of the ropes. — Cholpon Mamyr, director

The reporting season: what to expect

Reports on Form IA-21 for money received from abroad in 2026 are due by 31 March 2027. Last spring 38 of our members filed; two received warning letters because the bank statements were missing, and both filed again in time. The Registration Department has said it will check the attachments more carefully this year. Three things to do now, not in March: open a separate bank account or sub-account for foreign grants; keep each grant agreement with its translation; ask diaspora donors which passport they hold. Our clinics start on 5 November. See the guide.

Three years of Saturdays

Taza Suu's volunteers have now tested more than 3,000 samples of tap water in the outer districts of Talas. «The numbers themselves are not the news,» one of the nurses told us. «The news is when they change.» In Kök-Terek, where the main was replaced in 2024, most taps now have chlorine. In Tash-Döbö, at the end of the oldest line, most still do not. The group's results are on its page, kopuro.org/tazasuu.

Eleven volunteers and a winter store

Every Wednesday and Saturday from November to March the Sisters of the Cross open a free clothing store in a parish basement in Talas. Eleven volunteers sort, wash and mend what people bring. «We do not ask anyone why they need a coat,» says one of them. Associations that want to send families there can ask us for the address; the Sisters prefer it not to be printed.

Briefly

• Green Talas planted 300 trees along the Semiz road with a Köpürö small grant. 41 have already been replaced after goats.
• Chess for Children held its autumn tournament in the House of Pioneers: 86 players, the youngest six years old.
• The Talas Deaf Society has finished a sign-language video course for parents. Copies on discs at the Society and at Köpürö.
• Umut thanks everyone who answered last issue's request: they now have 23 wheelchairs to lend.
• The Semiz Mexican Community Association invites members to its Day of the Dead altar on 1-2 November at the Church of St. Yusup the Worker.

From the office

The office is closed on 31 December and 1-2 January. Membership fees for 2027 (600 som; 120 som for associations with no income) may be paid from 1 December. Uuk-Boo No. 4 (82) will appear in January. Articles and photographs from members are welcome by 10 December.