Sakin Begmatova - The Beginning of the Journey to a Big Life
A journalist from Germany, Siegfried Maiskaier, wrote about Sakin Begmatova: “The elegant, dark-haired Kyrgyz woman in a silver dress radiates femininity, calmness, and an impressive dignity, characteristic of those who possess rich life experience, deep knowledge, and education.”
Sakin Beshatova was born on August 21, 1921, in the village of Koy-Tash in the Alamudun district as the eleventh child of her mother. She was born prematurely, without nails, and without hair. Upon seeing her, the elders said, “adam bolboyt” (she won’t survive). Jumagul apa, who had suffered greatly from the death of nine children, began to pray to God not to take this daughter, naming her Sakin, in rhyme with the name of her eldest daughter, Satin. (Uykash at bolsun dep: Satin, Sakin). Sakin was so tiny that she could fit in her father's fur hat — a tebetey: her cradle was too big for her. Thus, instead of a cradle, she grew up for a year in the tebetey.
Her father died when Sakin was five years old, and her brother Dubash was two. Left with three children, illiterate Jumagul-apa dreamed of successfully marrying off her daughters and saw in her children the future hardworking collective farmers.
Sakin studied well in school, and the teachers convinced her mother that with her slender figure and weak hands, she would be a poor collective farmer. She needed to continue her education. The words of the school mentors turned out to be prophetic. Sakin became a support for her mother and the entire family. Sakin Begmatova, who was born into a poor peasant family, endured all the hardships of orphanhood and poverty. The large family survived only thanks to tireless labor and the assistance of the collective farm.
Dubash Begmatovich recalled that he would always remember the day Sakin left for the city to study. “We walked 30 kilometers in the heat: I, Sakin, Satin eje with her husband. The scorching sand, pebbles, and burnt grass burned our feet, and it seemed there was no end to this road.”
Thus began Sakin's journey into a larger life. It was in 1934. She entered the Frunze Pedagogical College.
One of the best students of the college, an active Komsomol member, she won a republican competition for freelance announcers of the Kyrgyz Radio Committee. In 1938, at the age of 17, she became the first Kyrgyz woman announcer of the republican radio and was awarded
The Honorary Certificate of the Supreme Soviet of the Kyrgyz SSR - the highest award of the republic at that time.
Gulum Malabaeva – a friend of Begmatova (who worked for many years as the Deputy Minister of Light Industry), recalled: "It was not easy for us then; we lacked teachers and textbooks, and food was initially scarce. Sakin and I cut one headscarf in half to share... But these are all details; the most important thing is that we tried to study well. My friend was one of the top students. And later, this became her principle in life – to do everything 'with excellence.'
In 1939, she was sent for a two-year pedagogical internship as a teacher at a secondary school in the village of Uch-Terek in the Toktogul district of the Jalal-Abad region. In 1941, she was promoted to head of the personnel department of the People's Commissariat of Food Industry of the Kyrgyz SSR.
WOMEN OF KYRGYZSTAN
