Sonunbu is a 57 year old guest house owner in Osh. Her story with
CBT took off in 2005 when a group of local volunteers suggested that she
and other women in the neighbourhood receive tourists and capitalise on
their homes by using them as guesthouses. While it sounded like a lucrative
idea, Sonunbu had a lot of thinking to do as this line of work would clash
with the lifestyle that came with her husband’s career as a policeman, which
required the family to move often. Rather than encouraging her to continue
shouldering the hectic unstable lifestyle involved with frequent travel, her
husband welcomed the idea that she stay home, look after their three
children and run the CBT guest house.
A retired kindergarten nanny, Sonunbu has a nurturing spirit that
contributed to her successful running of a guesthouse, building her reputation
as a welcoming host. In 2011, the family needed to move to a bigger house
to accommodate a greater number of tourists. With income she generated
through CBT, Sonunbu was able to make a sizeable contribution in purchasing
a new house to accommodate up to 30 guests. The courtyard style house
came with a beautiful indoor garden that attracted many tourists staying
in neighbouring guest houses on hot summer afternoons. The following 5
years' earnings would renovate the house further to preserve its traditional
Uzbek wooden ceilings, making the house all the more attractive.
The family environment at Sonunbu’s guest house proved infectious.
During the day the house is flled with the laughter of her grandchildren who
swim in the pool and play with young guests. Sonunbu says that during
busy days relatives send their children to help her and earn pocket money.
They help with chores, cleaning and setting tables for guests. Work was
going so well that Sonunbu’s nephew was entrusted in her care. It was not
long before his shy, introverted personality caught on to Sonunbu’s culture
and fourished with the confdence to not only cook and clean, but to also
help her run the guest house. Sonunbu proudly boasts of the reverence her
protege nephews have for her, “Last year they came from Moscow for a
month, they did not live with their mother, but with me.”