End of the Line for Kyrgyz Town's Homeless

The reporter interviewed an 85-year-old Kyrgyz woman who has been living at the station for the last two years after she was abandoned by her grown-up children.



Residents help her out with food and clothes, and attempts are being made to replace her personal documents so she can claim some state assistance.



Bubusara Ryskulova heads Sezim, a crisis centre for women and families, and says her group only has the resources to give legal aid to some of the older homeless people.



She says the municipal authorities in Tokmok should provide some kind of shelter for them.



Mayor Talant Isaev says, “The only people living on the street are alcoholics. Nevertheless, we would like to open a special centre where we’d be able to help them. But the introduction of the new version of the tax code has meant that revenues are sharply down, so to be honest we don’t have the resources.”