Texas NGO Leads Series of Seminars Addressing Mental Health for US Central Asian Communities
Houston-based nongovernmental organization Perzent recently gave a series of seminars and roundtable in California and Texas that addresses the trauma of Soviet-based childbearing.
Perzent, a new nongovernmental organization based in Houston, founded by Zafarzhan Kalanov (fourth from left), Farzana Saidakbarova and Nurgul Moldabaiqyzy (to Kalanov’s left, respectively), aims to develop and support mental well-being for individuals and communities from Central Asia in the United States. Photo courtesy of Perzent: Central Asian Development and Support Center
From Thursday, September 26th through Sunday, September 29th, the nongovernmental organization Perzent: Central Asian Development and Support Center gave a series of roundtable discussions at Stanford University in California, as well as the Noor Institute and Raindrop Turkish House, both Houston. Texas
The seminars, led by founders of Perzent (Kazakh, from Middle Persian, meaning child), Nurgul Moldabaiqyzy, Zafarzhan Kalanov and Farzana Saidakbarova, discussed the consequences of Soviet childrearing and some of the trauma immigrants from Central Asia to the United States still face as a result.
Guests from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan, as well as representatives of Houston-based nonprofit Ibn Sina Foundation and Noor Institute participated in round-table discussions on some of the challenges born from Soviet upbringing.
Aida Kazakh, lead advocate serving Turkish and Central Asian communities in the US for the nonprofit Asians Against Domestic Abuse, attended one of the seminar events in Houston. She appreciated the focus of Perzent on mental well-being. “I believe that those who lack a strong mental health foundation in their early years,” she said, “often face the long-term effects of it in adulthood.”
The seminar series also introduced some of the services Perzent provides to expats from Central Asia residing in the United States. According to Kalanov, a father of two, “This is a public fund to provide psychological assistance to citizens from Central Asian countries in America and the impact of historical and cultural events that took place in these countries.”
Other services at the core of the organization’s mission are to support newcomers adjust to their new lives in the US, overcome language barriers, to guide them in positive childrearing and to help them express cultural identity and an improved sense of belonging.