Berlin festival spotlights Kyrgyz migration’s hidden toll on families
A former auto showroom in Berlin-Kreuzberg has become the central cee of a cross-cultural festival exploring migration between Kyrgyzstan and Germany. The Berlin Bishkek Art Weeks event transformed the Moritzplatz space into a hub for art, research, and dialogue. Organisers aimed to shift focus away from Europe, highlighting the human stories behind labour migration in Central Asia instead.
The festival originated from a 2021 research trip to Kyrgyzstan, where the team examined how labour migration reshapes families. Nearly one million Kyrgyz citizens work in Russia, sending back remittances that make up 30% of the country’s GDP. Yet this economic lifeline comes at a cost: around 280,000 children grow up without parents, cared for by relatives or institutions.
The event closed with a broader conversation about migration’s social impact. While remittances sustain Kyrgyzstan’s economy, the festival highlighted the less visible struggles of separated families. By centring Central Asian voices, organisers offered a different perspective on global movement and its consequences.
Read also:
- American teenagers taking up farming roles previously filled by immigrants, a concept revisited from 1965's labor market shift.
- Weekly affairs in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Landslide claims seven lives, injures six individuals while they work to restore a water channel in the northern region of Pakistan
- Escalating conflict in Sudan has prompted the United Nations to announce a critical gender crisis, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the ongoing violence on women and girls.
