Photo Caption: Judson and his Kyrgyz friends having fun at a cross-cultural dinner party. One of many such events he hosts in his home to share American culture and Louisiana cuisine.” %}

Greetings Tiger Nation,

As beautiful summer days become a distant memory from this dark and cold Kyrgyzstani winter, I wrap myself in the warm knowledge that though my time here is quickly coming to a close, I have indeed made a difference. My accomplishments here have been diverse: development of rural community radio stations throughout the country, summer camps developing students’ decision-making skills regarding healthy lifestyle choices, English clubs and now the development of the first original news internet radio broadcast from Central Asia.

What else could I hope to accomplish in my last six months? Lots!

Though I have been working on the business and sustainability model of the internet radio broadcast at https://kloop.kg/online-radio/, we still have to begin the actual broadcast. This should happen sometime in January. Once we begin with our broadcast, we will have a lot of further development to do: writing new programs, scheduling in-studio programs and developing the syndication pipeline of programs originating from the rural regions of Kyrgyzstan.

In addition to the development work I am doing, there are many important cross-cultural activities I participate in. My favorite activity has been hosting dinner parties at my apartment so that I can share Louisiana-style food with my Kyrgyz friends. Usually this means red beans and rice because the ingredients are available here and it is cheap and easy to cook for large groups. Spicy food is not so common in Kjyrgyzstan so I go easy on the spices but I haven’t had anyone complain yet. As would be expected, the food has convinced a few people that Louisiana is a place they need to visit one day. Mission accomplished!

I have 6-months of service remaining in the Peace Corps and it seems that my options for continuing development work in the region are quite good. Which is exactly what I want to do. I am excited about these future opportunities but my focus now is to finish strong and to not miss any steps in the homestretch. I also have some more travel to do in the area. I still need to visit some regions of Kyrgyzstan and hopefully I can also make a visit to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. This is a beautiful part of the world and very far from home so I hope to really experience as much of it as possible in my final months.

The overwhelming support from Tiger Nation has been such a help to my making it through this wonderful but challenging time. The numerous messages and packages I have received from many of you have shown me how truly blessed I am to be a part of such a great group of people! A million thanks for all of that and special thanks to Erica Leigh Martin, Aeslya Fuqua, Alia Rezek and Jenny & Jason Marze (among others!) for the multitude of mail they have sent me!

You may continue to follow my adventure at https://www.judsonlmoore.com and @JudsonLMoore.

Yours In Service & GEAUX TIGERS!

Judson L Moore US Peace Corps 2011-13 Volunteer, Bishkek Kyrgyzstan