Scientific Technology and Language Institute

ATIK (Appropriate Technology Introduction in Kyrgyzstan) works in the south of Kyrgyzstan in Osh.  ATIK works with local communities around Osh implementing various needs within the communities.  ATIK has developed heat conserving brick ovens used in homes to cook as well as insulate and heat homes.  They have helped locals build river-powered water pumps to provide water to homes.  ATIK also helps local schools and homes in the villages build improved pit toilets that are sanitary and reduce the risk of hep A.  ATIK is working to develop biogas and river-powered electrical generators.  In Talas, testing is being done to determine the feasibility of wind power.

This project links workers in the agricultural fields and animal sciences to improve both fields.  They are a group of local development volunteers working in Karakol and Osh.  The volunteers work with farmers in Batken and the Oasis Agro business in Osh.  They are working to improve crop production and improve production in poultry farms.

CD (Community Development) North works in villages around Bishkek.  The volunteers with this program work with high school students to teach Russian in order for them to find gainful employment.  The volunteers also work in the communities to help locals improve their living conditions

Babywell is an STLI project in an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where STLI medical doctors work in a medical clinic. STLI's OB/GYN heard a recurring story of mothers with young babies in the refugee camp, supplementing with formula because they believe their milk is of poor quality due to life stress. (Who isn’t stressed living in a refugee camp?) From there it becomes predictable — declining milk supply, abandonment of breastfeeding, no money for additional formula, and threatened infant health. In 2018, a lactation consultant came out to help for two weeks and from that visit our breastfeeding project was born. Serving our camp population of approximately 30,000, the “Baby Well Project” focuses on identifying lactation-risk pregnant women and new mothers, providing classes and ongoing support to keep women exclusively breastfeeding until at least an infant age of 6 months. Four local women have been trained to teach, address specific breastfeeding problems, and monitor infant nutritional health. They work at the medical clinic and also regularly visit women in their tent homes in the camp, making a world of difference one baby at a time.

Since 2019, STLI has been reengaging with the main medical education institutions of Kyrgyzstan to assist them in their efforts to train family medicine residents in smaller towns and to expand the role of rural family practice nurses. The goal is to help our local partners equip a new generation of interdisciplinary rural health teams from the rural areas, who complete their training in those areas and then remain there to teach others.

The STLI medical section has been involved in providing medical care to the Yezidi IDP’s (internally displaced people) in Kurdistan Iraq since 2015. The Familywell Project opened in a new clinic space in Khanke IDP Camp in July 2021 and seeks to provide both basic primary medical care as well as a focus on women's health for the Khanke IDP Community residing both inside and outside the camp. We aim to improve individual and family health and well-being by providing medical care as well as addressing whole-person health needs (body, mind, and soul) through preventative care and health education.

After three and a half years of translation work, STLI is currently piloting the Kyrgyz translation and the revised Russian translation of the book “Disabled Village Children” by David Werner. Our current goal is to gather feedback regarding the book, its use, and the translations. Printed and digital copies are available.