Dr. Orynbay Epyrsekov

photo collage-can installation June 1997

In the museum we met a very special man. Doctor Orynbay Epyrsekov was a paediatrician. He was one the first in this area to realise the problems. Children were born deformed, sick or they just died. The cause of this was nearly always poisoning. When the water of the Aral Sea dropped, the poison content of the Sea went higher and higher. The venom was originated from agriculture. The rivers took pesticides like DDT and several others to the Aral Sea. Epyrsekov's eyes were dull. His face was wry. He looked tired. "The Aral Sea Museum has been founded to warn the people. The situation about environment and health in this area is very critical. Once Muynak was the largest producer of canned fish in the world. Four hundred million pounds of fish was canned every year. Two thousand of people worked here in canneries. Now the time has come that everybody leaves, only old people are staying and those who don't have any money. (Quotation from the manuscript The Mayor On The Roof, a diary of Uzbekistan)