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LISA BARSON

Special to The Jewish News

magine this: you live in a place
where you don't speak the lan-
guage or understand the cus-
toms. Your dour neighbors
regard cheerfulness as suspect.
You force yourself to frown, because
"if you walk down the street with a
smile on your face, you're a freak."
Now, imagine you selected this
lifestyle on purpose. That's what 25-
year-old Southfield native Meredith
Perish did. At age 22, the Michigan
State University international studies
major put her career goals on hold
and joined the Peace Corps.
Perish decided she wanted to trav-
el, to learn a new language and to
experience a different culture. She was
able to select the region of the world
in which she wanted to work, and
chose the former Soviet Union.
After her training, she was sent to
the village of Nebit Dag in
Turkmenistan, on the eastern shore of
the Caspian Sea. Turkmenistan is bor-
dered by Iran to the south, Afghanistan
to the east and Uzbekistan to the north.
It gained its independence in October
1991, but maintains an authoritarian
government that, according to Perish,
isn't looking out for the best interests
of the people. "
The country's economy is based on
two major commodities, "white and
black gold" — cotton and oil.
There are many ethnic groups in
Turkmenistan, but the Turkmen
account for nearly three-fourths of
the population. Another 10 percent
are Russian, 9 percent are Uzbek and
the remainder are from other former
Soviet republics.
Some 87 percent of Turkemistan's
population are Muslim and 11 per-
cent are Eastern Orthodox. The
remaining fraction are classified as
unknown.
Most of the Jews who once lived in
Turkmenistan have already left for Israel
or the United States; very few remain.

Some friends show Meredith Perish the local transporta-
tion.

Meredith Perish displays some of her souvenirs.

Summer season with friends at the teacher center.

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08 Detroit Jewish News

The Turkmen prefer a basic,
nomadic lifestyle, while the Russians
are pushing the country to modern-
ize. Perish feels fortunate to have lived
with the unusually high-spirited
Akhmedov family, who are
Azerbaijani, because the Turkmen
have "a very dark culture. The people
dwell in sadness — even the movies
all have sad endings."
The Akhmedovs, by contrast, were
upbeat, always laughing, smiling and
making jokes. Perish's host brother
said it best in an essay he wrote for
school: "We are a really happy family.
Every day we have so much fun.

Helping A Friend

Meredith Perish is trying to repay her host family by finding a host in
metro Detroit for her 15-year-old Turkmen host brother, Rauf He was
selected by the Nacel Open Door program to study in the United States
for a year.
Rauf is one of 25 teenagers from Turkmenistan selected after completing a
two-part written examination in English, passing an oral interview, and
completing documents and essays.
He hopes his experiences in the United States will give him the skills neces-
sary to advance his future career and help him become the breadwinner for
his family.
Anyone interested in hosting Rauf or any other exchange student can call
the Nacel Open Door office, (800) 622-3553.

Meredith Perish's future goals took her to Turkmenistan for three years,