'This happens all the time': an American made a film about abducting girls for marriage in Kyrgyzstan
'18.11.2019'
Source: Present Tense
American Eugenia Chang made a film about how women are still abducted in Kyrgyzstan for marriage. When she first came to work as a volunteer, her students began to talk about the so-called Ala Kachuu tradition.
“The first time I heard that brides are being stolen here was in a village. A local woman thought I was Kyrgyz and warned me to be careful. In this village, girls were kidnapped in the evenings. She told me not to go outside. For me it was a shock: is it really done today? - quoted by Eugenia Chang Present Tense.
Over time, there were more girls who shared their secrets. So Eugenia realized that the custom of ala kachuu (translated as “grab and run”) is the real life of many Kyrgyz women.
“I began to meet such girls more often and thought that women were being kidnapped in the regions. At the same time, city dwellers told me that there was no such problem. But girls from the regions explained: there it happens all the time, they just don't talk about it on TV and in the newspapers, ”continues Eugenia.
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Then Eugenia Chang decided to make a movie about ala cacuu. She collected stories for several years and wrote a screenplay. There was no money to shoot the film, but the script really liked the director Chyngyz Narynov, who decided that such a movie should be made.
“Many city dwellers think that this is something outdated, that there are two or three such cases a year in the regions. But when you start traveling and communicating in schools, asking how many of you have your mother stolen in marriage, then almost half of the class raise their hands. It's scary, scary, ”says Chyngyz Narynov.
Everyone raised the money for the film. Small amounts were brought even by students from the university where Eugenia taught. For five years and $ 50 thousands of Eugenia and Chyngyz removed the story of the girl’s abduction. Her father does everything to bring her home. This is an atypical story; this is very rare in Kyrgyz families.
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“In Kyrgyz families, the opinion of others is more important than love for each other. Young people suffer from this. The girl who was abducted must silently agree, otherwise it is a shame. In Korea, too, it used to be like that. People attached great importance to the opinions of others. For parents, it was more important not how their child lives and feels, but what people think about their family, ”says Eugenia Chang.
Ala kachuu means “grab and run”. This usually happens like this:
- The “groom” and his friends grab the girl right on the street, push her into the car and take her to the kidnapper's house;
the girl is forced into a house, where relatives from the “groom” are already waiting; - the kidnapper's relatives persuade the girl to stay, convincing her that this is a Kyrgyz tradition and “it happens to everyone”;
- if a girl is about to leave, often the oldest woman lays on the threshold (to cross over at the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs means to become damned);
- when a girl manages to get through to her parents, it happens that they, too, begin to persuade her to stay - so as “not to disgrace the family”;
- in the early days, the "groom" must deal with the stolen sex - "make her his." If the girl resists, then he rapes her;
- usually the “groom's” relatives wait for the end of the sexual intercourse. After that, they hang a sheet with traces of blood in the yard, demonstrating that the abducted woman was a virgin (although there is not always blood during the first sexual intercourse). If the stolen blood did not have it, then it can be returned to the parents.
According to the UN, in Kyrgyzstan every seventh girl, before 24, married under duress. About 900 people have applied for bride kidnapping over the past five years, and in most cases no criminal cases have been opened. This is not surprising: in some regions of the country up to 40% of men do not see anything wrong with stealing brides.
A real symbol of the fight against bride theft was a young girl named Burulai, who was kidnapped a year ago, and then killed by her friend. The portrait of Burulay today is painted on the wall of the medical school in which she was supposed to study. Her kidnapper was eventually given 20 years in prison. After a year and a half, this high-profile case in the country has already been forgotten. Girls in Kyrgyzstan continue to steal until now.
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“We conducted such a study and found out that there is a very high tolerance for theft [of girls]. And young people take from their parents that this is normal, because it is following traditions, ”says the head of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society Dinara Oshurakhunova.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs could not find out where and when this video was shot. Nobody appealed to the police with a statement about the abduction.
