Koysun Atieva, a resident of the village of Mikhailovka in the Tyup district of the Issyk-Kul region, has been working in the field of education for 35 years.
In an interview with a Turmush correspondent, she spoke about how her name often surprised people and how they frequently inquired about its meaning.
Koysun, born in 1966, shared that her name was chosen as a result of a misunderstanding. Her grandfather, who lived in the village of Sary-Tologoy in the Tyup district, chose the name based on omens, as her parents, who had 12 children, did not always have smooth sailing. Ultimately, only seven of the seven children survived. “My mother gave birth to me as the fourth daughter, and my grandfather named me Koysun, hoping that this would stop the birth of girls. After me, two boys were born, but they, unfortunately, passed away. Then my parents had two more daughters and the only son in the family, who became the seventh child. When he was born, tragic events occurred in the family, and he was named Tölöndü, which means that the Almighty took and gave in return. I studied in primary school in Ken-Suu, then in Sary-Tologoy until the eighth grade, and finished the tenth in a boarding school in Taldy-Suu. In my childhood, I had an aversion to my name and dreamed of changing it. Later, I entered the pedagogical institute in Karakol and have been working in education ever since,” she said.
Gallery: Koysun Atieva
Atieva began her career in the town of Shaartuz in the Khatlon region of Tajikistan. “In my youth, when I met other students, I was shy to say my name and introduced myself as Kunduz. After graduating from the USSR, students were often sent to remote villages. I went to Shaartuz with three classmates to teach in Kyrgyz classes. In 1988, we went to a neighboring country where there was a shortage of teachers who spoke Kyrgyz. I taught in high school. Time flew by quickly, and over five years, I met my future husband, whom I later married,” she added.
The couple became parents to three children: two sons and a daughter.
When meeting her future husband, Atieva did not hide her name. “I met him while being a teacher in a Kyrgyz language school, and our destinies intertwined. His relatives are Kyrgyz living in Tajikistan. He also has an interesting name—Tagdyr, which means fate. His parents chose this name hoping that he would become their future. When the USSR collapsed, we moved to Kyrgyzstan, and I continued my teaching career. In 1993-1994, the government delayed salaries, and sometimes we did not receive them for 7-8 months. We were offered alternatives—boxes of alcoholic beverages or bread makers that we could sell. Despite the difficulties, we managed to survive. After we settled in Mikhailovka, my husband was an imam for several years, and I continue to raise a new generation,” she concluded.
