Picnic Organized by Houston Kyrgyzstan Koomu Brings Growing Community Together
Local Houston-based Kyrgyz community gather for a day full of events and fellowship.
Over 200 Kyrgyz living in and around the Houston area gathered together for its annual picnic on October 13, 2024, organized by Houston Kyrgyzstan Koomu, a local nonprofit organization serving the Texas-based Kyrgyz.
While women worked together to prepare traditional boorsok, a beignet-like pastry, young men prepared traditional Central Asian plov, a rice-based dish filled carrots and mutton.
On Sunday, October 13, 2024, the Kyrgyz community of Houston came together for its annual fall picnic at George Bush Park. Organized and hosted by Houston Kyrgyzstan Koomu (society), the event drew upwards of 200 people from and around the Houston area.
For the picnic to occur, 20-25 volunteers dedicated their time and energy to welcoming guests from Houston’s Kyrgyz growing Kyrgyz community. Everything from providing transportation for students and families without rides to bringing about equipment for games and sports, and preparing food served at the all-day picnic was planned and executed by volunteers.
While groups of people enjoyed volleyball and football games, others took to karaoke and socialization. Running between tables and around the park, children engaged in water gun battles. Attendees even had the chance to win free cake giveaways made by mysugarland.sweets.
Attendees savored traditional boorsok, a beignet-looking pastry, mutton-filled samsa, kazan-prepared plov and kurdak, a dish of roasted beef, potatoes and onions.
Aktan Ruslanov, wearing blue, poses with a friend. A freshman at North American University, Ruslanov, says such events are important “because it makes connections stronger.”
But the real treat came through fellowship with friends and acquaintances.
Volunteer and fellow organizer Sadirbek Saliev, who had helped put together such events two times before since COVID, views the day’s success through its ability to bring people together, highlighting the challenge most communities face—communication. “The biggest challenge is to come together to discuss the whole event,” he says, adding the whole event was worth it “because these efforts brought people together.”
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At the heart of the event, Kyrgyz family and friends made the picnic all the more meaningful. According to Gulzat Kasymbekova, at such events, Kyrgyz “can feel at home. It’s like a family get-together, a family reunion.”
Gulzat Kasymbekova, who attended the picnic, resounded Saliev’s words. Kasymbekova, a fellow Kyrgyz has lived the past 10 years in the United States. For her, she values the opportunity the organizers have created to spend time with her fellow compatriots from Kyrgyzstan. “This kind of picnic is about bringing all the community together. … So, we can feel at home. It’s like a family get-together.”
Aktan Ruslanov, a freshman student at North American University in Houston from Kyrgyzstan, just arrived in August of this year to the United States. For him, the picnic allows everyone to build long-lasting friendships with other Kyrgyz.
“It’s really interesting. I really like it because there are a lot of Kyrgyz people,” he says, adding, “Its really important because it makes connections stronger.”