This project aims to highlight the importance of family values and showcase the talents of married women.
Aktilek Bakytbekova, born in 2002 and living in the Suusamyr Valley of the Chui region, is engaged in dairy production. She actively maintains a blog dedicated to her life, agriculture, and milk production in the highlands.
After finishing the 11th grade, Aktilek got married, so she was unable to enroll in university. However, this year she hopes to fill that gap. She met her future husband through social media, dated for a year, and then they got married. "When I first got married, I quickly adapted because my father-in-law and mother-in-law are very kind people. One day, when my husband was not home, I was sitting with them over tea. At some point, I got lost in thought and poured tea only for myself, forgetting about them. When I finished, I realized they were left without tea. I felt very awkward," Aktilek recalls.
Having grown up in the highlands, she believes that her life there may be interesting to many, so she decided to share it through her blog. "Life in the highlands is amazing: the air is clean, and the food is natural. Since I grew up in these conditions, it wasn't particularly hard for me, but of course, there are challenges," she says.
There is almost no free time in the pasture. "Every hour we milk the mares and cows. I know how to butcher a sheep, but I don't know how to process the carcass," she shares.
They have 12 mares and 6 cows. The cows are milked together with her mother-in-law, and for milking the mares, her husband brings the foal, and then Aktilek continues on her own.
From cow's milk, they make kurut, kaymak, and melted butter, and from mare's milk, they make kumys. "Now, while running the blog, I immediately publish everything we produce on social media and sell it. I send the products with passing taxis, and customers pick them up," Aktilek adds.
She is currently working on creating her own brand. "I want everything to be of high quality, so we use only pure ingredients without additives. I developed the logo 'Aktilek Ethno Dairy Products.' I pack the kurut in special bags, trying to do everything with care," she explains.
Kurut is sold at a price of 600 soms per kg.
Kumys — 200 soms per liter.
Melted butter — 1000 soms per liter.
Aktilek dreams of traveling, wants to see the world, and learn new languages. "I have two daughters, and I want to give them a good upbringing and the opportunity to study at the best foreign universities," Aktilek emphasizes.
