She was born on January 10, 1956, in the village of Pioneer, located in the Ak-Talinsky district of Naryn region. In her family, she raised five children: four sons and one daughter, and she takes pride in having 12 grandchildren.
“I started my education at the school in the village of Pioneer, and then continued at the M. Lomonosov Secondary School in the village of Bayetov from grades 8 to 10. From 1973 to 1975, I worked at a sewing factory in Naryn, and then at the V. I. Lenin factory in Frunze. From 1975 to 1981, I studied at the Frunze Polytechnic College, where I received a degree in hydraulic engineering,” recalls Surabubu.
She got married in her second year of study: “My cousin's friends decided to organize a traditional ‘ala kachuu’ ceremony and took me away. I had never been to the Kemin district before and didn’t even know it existed. But, as they say, may God bless the new place — the people turned out to be very kind. My husband was a calm, polite, and reliable person. I was always ready to take on any job: I worked as a land surveyor, an accountant, and a census taker,” she shares.
Over the years, Surabubu worked in various institutions and organizations in the district, holding positions as a senior technician in water supply, a kindergarten teacher, the head of the House of Culture, and a librarian.
She also actively participated in public life, working in the electoral commission and the elders' court, as well as leading the women's committee. Surabubu was involved in the distribution of arable land, the collection of land taxes, and the census. Since 2022, she has been retired and was elected as the leader of the “Aiyldyn korku apalar” (“The Decoration of the Village — Mothers”) association.
Recalling the life of villagers before 2000, she speaks of the difficulties of that time: “My husband and I spent 12 years in Kemin. After my father-in-law passed away, we returned to the village of Beysheke. During the collapse of the Soviet Union, all three of my children were studying, and to provide for their education, we took on any job. Salaries were not paid, but since I worked in electricity supply, I was entitled to 150 kilowatts of electricity for free. We survived on gardens and vegetables; neighbors and colleagues always helped each other, even when they had nothing — they brought food for funerals, whatever they could. Everyone was struggling, but there was no theft. People had big hearts,” she recounts.
Surabubu also shared memories of her family life and how rare items at that time — a color television and a telephone — appeared in their home.
“Last year we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. Young people ask me about the secret of such a long and happy union. I was the only daughter in the family, spoiled by my parents. My husband lost his mother early, and then his father passed away. But he turned out to be a patient and calm person, and we became each other's support,” she adds.
Surabubu emphasizes that harmony and prosperity in the home largely depend on the woman. “The husband brings the bread, but maintaining well-being is a woman's job. It is important to respect the husband's relatives. We are Kyrgyz and Muslims, and I hope that the youth will have iman (piety),” she believes.
Her husband worked as a driver during the Soviet era, and then the family moved to the city of Kemin, where he worked in a construction organization and served as a deputy in the district kenesh for five years. In 1981, for good work, they received one of the first color televisions in the district, which cost 600 rubles — a huge amount of money at that time. For comparison, a doctor's salary was about 100 rubles a month. Later, the family purchased a three-room apartment in a multi-story building.
In 1992, after the death of her father-in-law, they returned to Beysheke. Neighbors gathered in their home to watch television and series: “Everyone said, ‘Apy has a color TV.’ We freed up a separate room for convenience, and since we had the only telephone in the village, neighbors also came to make calls. No one turned anyone away; we shared everything — it was that kind of time,” Surabubu recalls.
Surabubu's work has been recognized with various awards, including Honorary Certificates from the presidential representative in the Chuy region, the Kemin district state administration, the Kara-Bulak rural council, and the Kemin territorial electoral commission.
