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Excited and eager to share the experience, Jules Sowder and Johna Campbell, two women business owners from Botetourt County sipped coffee and recalled their recent trip to Kyrgyzstan as part of the two year “Kyrgyz Women’s Initiative.” Both have lived in Botetourt County over 10 years and have teens at Lord Botetourt High School. They know each other well, and Campbell had been planning the trip since spring. Sowder came aboard about six weeks prior to the trip.

Last month the duo were among the delegation from Legacy International located in Bedford County, that traveled to Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet Republic in Central Asia. The mission? To assist women in the country that underwent a revolution last year. Particularly women in non profit organizations referred to as NGO’s . They, along with Shanna Flowers, Amy Pendleton, Roger Matthews, Joe Robinson, and the Hon. Karan L English, spent two and a half weeks traveling in the country. While there they visited Bishkek, Osh, and Jalalabad. Two of the Legacy trip organizers are Marlene Ginsberg in Bedford and Khaled Hassouna, PhD from Virginia Tech and Blacksburg.

Legacy International is a non profit group that says its mission is dedicated to promoting peace by strengthening civil society and fostering a culture of participation worldwide. “We train and mentor community leaders, youth, professionals, and governmental and non-governmental administrators, helping them to develop and implement practical, community-based solutions to critical issues.”

Sowder runs an online marketing company, explained, “We trained 140 women leaders of nonprofit organizations (NGO’s) in Kyrgyzstan. Their NGOs focused on a wide range of causes including environmental awareness and protection, pluralism, multi-ethnicities, extremism, trafficking, domestic violence, child labor, teachers’ standards and training, heritage protection, and people with disabilities. In addition to conducting training, the U.S. delegation met with nonprofits and businesses in each of the cities to provide counsel and support.”

Campbell has been involved with the organization since 2001 serving as a host to delegates who have traveled from other countries to this area. “When I worked at Hanover Direct, we brought Russian interns over, that is when I connected to Legacy International.” She has hosted others– both adults and students since 2001. “People all over the world call me “Mom,” she said of her hosting foreign visitors. Campbell is a principal consultant with Cogent Management Resources in the Cloverdale area.

Marlene Ginsberg, of Legacy International,  Project Director and Vice President of Professional programs said, “Certainly the 70 year Soviet influence in the region had an effect. But women face the same glass ceiling all over the world. The current interim president is a woman, but elections are occurring this month and she has promised not to run. Yet, the country is moving to parliamentary government and democracy.”

When asked what they brought back from the experience? “The women we worked with, in usually two day training sessions would come up after the meeting with jump drives asking if they could download the presentation. They were motivated,” said Sowder. Campbell said she learned cultural nuances, “Little things –when you spend time with people you begin to understand, language barrier or not. Every one was so nice on every level. I was shocked they didn’t have WiFi at the university in Osh, but every where and every one was reasonably connected to the internet by the hook ups. I learned we are not right, they are not right—we are just different. And every one has a cell phone they are not afraid to answer even during the seminar lectures!”

Conversations were three way. They had a Russian interpreter who was told not to summarize but to speak and reply word for word. An agricultural country, they saw the herds coming down from the mountains to winter in the valleys. Apples and Walnuts originated in the area, Campbell said. A little girl with her dress filled with apples came to them to offer them welcome. “Kyrgyz are going from being told what to do as part of the former Soviet Union, to making choices for themselves,” said Campbell.

Kyrgyzstan in 2011 is a place in transition, one where women can dress in traditional garb or show up in high heels and make-up. One thing every one had in common? Said Campbell, “Everyone we met was an entrepreneur.”