POSTIMEES IN KAZAKHSTAN «I had never felt pain like that»

Photo: Remo Tõnismäe

Single mother Šolpan Begaidarova (30), raising three kids by herself in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty, can celebrate January 6 as her second birthday after she was hit by four bullets fired from a Kalashnikov assault rifle when on her way to buy fever medicine for her child.

Begaidarova received Postimees journalists in her tenth apartment flat in a suburb of Almaty. Even though she was hit by assault rifle fire just three weeks ago, during unrest in the city, nothing in the young woman’s appearance suggests doctors very recently narrowly saved her life and only discharged her on January 17. Only a slight limp suggests she was injured. However, seeing Begaidarova’s wounds left no doubt that her escape had been a miracle. “One of the bullets passed through here,” she said, drawing a line from her buttock to her thigh.

Begaidarova’s youngest developed a fever on the night of January 6 and she decided to drive to the central pharmacy in Almaty as the city’s best-stocked drugstore. The pharmacy has its own laboratory and Begaidarova planned to get a salve for her child’s sore throat.

While the mother of three had heard about unrest in the city center, because the internet was switched off in the entire country on January 5 and official channels were not reporting on events in Almaty, she knew not to be afraid of the Republic Square area. I had heard rumors, but there was no detailed information. All recent protests had ended peacefully and I saw no reason to take the long way round,” Begaidarova said.

Her Subaru was coming down a hill on Nazarbayev street at around 7.30 p.m. when she realized what was happening was more than a peaceful protest. “There were burning cards overturned on the road. I drove very slowly to maneuver around them,” the woman recalled.

That is when her leg was hit by a bullet from an assault rifle. Begaidarova did not immediately realize where she had been shot. Her leg hurt like hell and she barely felt her back. Next, she felt another three bullets hit her.

Able to drive out of harm’s way

The woman initially though she had been shot with rubber bullets. She stopped the car on the side of the road. A few vehicles went by, but the people inside did not hear her calls for help. Mustering what strength she had left, Begaidarova started the car and took a right onto Satpayev street, stopping near a group of people a few hundred meters later.

“They heard my calls and came closer. No one knew what to do. Everyone was confused, they asked me my name and what had happened. Some people ran to the pharmacy, others to a nearby shop to get me something. I was crying as I had never felt pain like that. I felt the places that hurt with my hand and realized there were holes. I understood that I had been shot with real bullets,” Begaidarova said.

A minivan stopped next to her car and a group of Special Rapid Response Unit or SOBR soldiers jumped out and proceeded to search her car, initially paying Begaidarova no mind. There was nothing in the car except a stroller. The soldiers locked the car and started to guide the woman toward their minivan.

“I yelled that the car was on a lease contract, that I have to make payments on it and do not want to leave it here. The Kazakh people pay for everything in installments. Interest rates are hefty and we are very concerned for our vehicles. One of the SOBR team parked my car away from the street. They put me in their van and took me to the hospital. I was crying and yelling in pain the whole way there. One of the men held my hand,” Begaidarova said.

She only has patchy memories of getting to the hospital. “I remember more people being brought to the waiting room. Some of them had to be placed on the floor as there was no more room. The doors were opening and closing all the time. We could hear gunfire further away,” she described.

Begaidarova had lost a lot of blood and only just held onto her consciousness. The pain brought her back once the staff started to remove her jeans. “I heard the doctor say, ‘What! Amputate? She is just 30 years old; we will try to save her leg.’ Next, I was taken to the ICU where I lost consciousness.”

Four-year old boy dies on adjacent operating table

When she came to and turned her head, a child was lying next to her with doctors operating on him. She later learned the four-year old boy had also been wounded during the midtown unrest and later died.

Doctors removed three Kalashnikov assault rifle bullets and pieces of metal from the car from Begaidarova’s abdomen. The fourth bullet had passed clean through her. While her internal organs were injured, the doctors managed to prevent the worst. Even though getting caught in assault rifle fire cannot exactly be described as luck, one of the bullets missed a major nerve by a centimeter, while another narrowly missed her spine.

Begaidarova did not see the shooter as she was busy navigating her way through burning vehicles. The evening was dark and foggy.

“I only remember fragments of coming out of surgery – I fell asleep, woke up, slept and awoke again. I was on heavy painkillers. I was given a shot that put me back to sleep as soon as I woke up and started making noise.”

Begaidarova’s youngest turned one when she was lying in a hospital bed. “They also took their first steps without me, I only got to see a video of it,” she said with tears in her eyes.

Begaidarova regards her surgeon Ilnur Sarbasova a hero. “Gunfire could be heard coming from nearby, but she never left me. She saved the lives of three children, saved their future. I will forever have a special bond with that person,” Begaidarova said.

The young woman is looking at a long rehabilitation period and several more surgeries. She also sees a psychologist every day who is helping her cope with what she has been through. “I cannot forget what happened. The events come back to me time and again. It is a great common tragedy where a lot of innocent people died. It was war, and we never want anything like that to happen again.”

A criminal investigation has been launched, while Begaidarova holds finding the shooter to be of secondary importance. Her health is what matters. She will not be able to move as before for at least a few years. She has night pains and can only sleep on one side.

“As a mother of three, I always thought giving birth was the greatest pain on earth, while being fired at is much more painful in reality,” she admitted.

Help from friends

Begaidarova’s mother Galya (59) came to help with the children for as long as needed. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said after the unrest that a fund will be created to help people hurt in the protests and their families. There is no news of the fund or any aid yet.

The single mother is helped by her friends. “They say I’m like 50 Cent who was shot nine times and still lived. Or like the Terminator who keeps getting up again.”

She understands peaceful protesters and agrees with them.

“We have had nothing but corruption. They’ve been stealing from us for the past 30 years, while people’s patience eventually runs out.” Begaidarova sees no reason why the Kazakhs could not live as well as the Arabs, with the ground full of gold, gas, oil, uranium and pretty much every other element. “None of that wealth has reached the people so far. We need change,” she said.