Symbat, a young MAP participant from Jalal Abad, is trying to address the issue of parental migration through songwriting and music. One of the identified problems in society is that parents, in search of better job opportunities abroad, leave their children without parental care. Recognising the importance of this situation, Symbat has used her artistic skills to depict it in a variety of art forms. Symbat wrote a moving poem about the fate of these abandoned children. Symbat drew inspiration from the acclaimed work of our great writer, Chingiz Aitmatov, to delve deeper into the emotions and complexities of this issue. Aitmatov’s novel “White Steamship” powerfully depicts the feelings of a child in the absence of a father figure. Through the composition of poetry and song played on the traditional Kyrgyz instrument, the Komuz, Symbat shares a deeper awareness of these feelings and sheds light on the issues raised by the migration of parents and its effect on their children. The song was performed during MAP Impact Week 2023.
Life is full of challenges
There is no end to the things you have to do to make your living
People are seeking fortune and luck
They work day and night without resting and think:
“Does my child have clothes to wear?
Does my child have something to eat?
Is he hungry?”
In order to provide their children with everything
Parents are faraway working hard.
Fathers are like on board a white steamship
And children shout “White ship, stop!
They cannot swim like fish and catch up with that ship
They stay on the shore waving their hands.
Some people go wealth seeking
Others go seeking happiness.
Parents go seeking jobs
To ensure their children happy life.
Many children are left with their grandparents
But you can see in their eyes
How much they are missing their parents.
You feel as if you hear their souls crying
Time is a flying bird. It will never come back.
Children miss mother’s care and love
Whatever might be done to divert the kid from his feelings
He will still long for his parents to come back.
Let parents come back to their children
Let them stay with their children.
A poem by Symbat Z. “Let the parents return to their children”
