Founder-Director of Fund Orozbay, A Public Charity In the Kyrgyz Republic

I am celebrating seven decades of existence. I came into the world in a rush on July 2, 1942, at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Austin, Texas. At 18 years of age I left the womb of Austin again. This time pushed out by a lack of academic rigor, a lot of bridge and gin in the student union at the University of Texas. My father's reaction to my loss of status at the university was to require a job if I wanted to continue to eat at his table and sleep under his roof. It was 1961, jobs were scarce for young men with little to recommend them other than a sketchy academic record. The option for me turned out to be government work. I joined the US Air Force. Since then I have had many adventures. Lots more education (I did better the second time around), some long and some short periods of fascinating employment, and now, here I am in the smallest of the independent states of the former Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan, the most beautiful place in Central Asia.

Five million people live here. Land mass is 85% mountainous. There are four eco-regions and the most incredibly welcoming people I have ever met.

Join me here from time to time and discover the wonders of Kyrgystan and its people. Also learn about my charitable work here with Orozbay Fund.

A misty day at Lake Sary-Chelek, a bio-reserve, in Jalalabad Province. One of the Natural wonders of Kyrgyzstan.