Mirlan Berimkulov was born in the city of Bishkek. He is 41 years old. In 1985 after the ninth grade, he entered the rural professional technical school to study tractor operations. Three years after he finished school, he was conscripted into the Soviet military. In 1990 after finishing his service, he moved from the city of Bishkek to the village Jany-Alysh. There was no work in Bishkek after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, but on the collective farms, tractor operators were needed. The wages were good, and he even managed to save money and buy a small house in Orlovka where he was able to bring his young wife.
For more than ten years, Mirlan worked as a day laborer working with tractors and combines, and he looked after and repaired them himself. It was not possible for him to save money to buy his own machine. So, Mirlan began to buy a tractor in parts: first the tractor body, then the engine and then the tractor parts. Gradually over two years, his family’s dream came true. The day came when a tractor collected and built by the husband’s hands drove off for the field for the first time. For more than ten years now, Mirlan has rendered services to peasants by plowing land, harrowing, and loosening the soil. Because spring is coming, Mirlan must prepare the old tractor for the season, making large repairs on the engine and replacing the oil. Mirlan has asked for a loan of 1,700 USD from Bai-Tushum and Partners for the third time.
The most important thing to Mirlan is his family: his wife and three school-aged sons. He wants to give the children a good foundation, to send them to study in Bishkek (the capital), and to further improve their living conditions by constructing a bigger house for his large and friendly family.
