WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017
PEOPLE
B2
NATION&CAPITAL
The Kazakh artist
emphasised the
importance of the
foreign policy
initiatives of President
Nursultan Nazarbayev
in the field of
disarmament and
non-proliferation.
ATOM project honorary ambassador takes part
in Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony
By Dana Omirgazy
ASTANA – Kazakh artist and
Honorary Ambassador of The
ATOM Project Karipbek Kuyukov
took part in the Dec. 10 ceremony
in Oslo, Norway where the Inter-
national Campaign to Abolish Nu-
clear Weapons (ICAN) organisa-
tion was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize for 2017.
ICAN is a Geneva-based global
civil society coalition made up of
468 partner organisations, includ-
ing The ATOM Project, in 101
countries.
Kuyukov congratulated the win-
ners of the Nobel Peace Prize, not-
ing that the non-proliferation effort
is at “the beginning of a long way
ahead of which there is still much
to be done.”
He also took part in event with
representatives of the victims of
the atomic bombings in Japan’s
Hiroshima and the ICAN cam-
paign. In his remarks, the Kazakh
artist emphasised the importance
of the foreign policy initiatives of
President Nursultan Nazarbayev in
the field of disarmament and non-
proliferation. Those initiatives
resulted in Kazakhstan becoming
the first country in the world to
voluntarily renounce the world’s
fourth largest nuclear arsenal and
shutting down the infamous Soviet
Union’s nuclear test site at Semi-
palatinsk, providing an example to
other world powers.
“I participated in the meeting
of the Norwegian public with
20 surviving victims of atomic
bombings (Hibakusha) from Ja-
pan. … I listened to the speeches
of live witnesses of the Hiroshima
and Nagasaki bombings. I was re-
ally touched by the words of one
Japanese woman who said that
Japanese women were very afraid
of giving birth to children for a
long time, and there was panic
and fear, when they learned that
they would have a child. … Peo-
ple kept silent about many things,
and only now they began to speak
about some events that led me to
a shock … I met there a victim
who remembers me young when
we were together and participat-
ed in the Nevada-Semipalatinsk
movement,” Karipbek wrote in a
Facebook post.
The Nobel committee awarded
ICAN the peace prize for ICAN’s
“work to draw attention to the cata-
strophic humanitarian consequenc-
es of any use of nuclear weapons
and for its ground-breaking efforts
to achieve a treaty-based prohibi-
tion of such weapons.”
ICAN has played a key role in
campaigning for the UN Treaty on
the Prohibition of Nuclear Weap-
ons, which was adopted by 122
countries in July 2017.
Beatrice Fihn, ICAN’s executive
director, urged states possessing
nuclear arms to sign the agree-
ment.
“It provides a choice. A choice
between the two endings: the end
of nuclear weapons or the end of
us,” she said in her speech at the
Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
Gabidullina receives
special award from
International Paralympic
Committee
By Dana Omirgazy
ASTANA – Zulfiya Gabidullina,
Kazakhstan’s first-ever Paralympics
gold medal winner, is one of the
country’s 100 New Faces. The in-
spirational story of the 52-year-old
international class Master of Sports
in swimming, silver and three-time
bronze medallist in the 2013-2015
World Championships, 2014 Asian
Para Games winner and 13-time
world record holder motivates and
encourages people around the world
to achieve their dreams and goals
despite physical limitations.
As a 5-year-old in 1971, Gabid-
ullina was in an accident which
resulted in spinal, head, hand and
foot injuries, multiple limb frac-
tures and severe brain trauma. She
spent most of her childhood in
rehabilitation centres, where her
parents brought her every three
months. While Gabidullina needed
to learn how to cope with the diffi-
culties, she never failed to believe
in a bright future.
“When I found out that I was
among the project participants, I
was very surprised. You know, we
are usually critical of ourselves. We
think that others are better. When
the voting began, my daughter was
very excited and proud of me. I am
very pleased to be among the 100
New Faces project winners,” she
told The Astana Times.
Gabidullina has been involved
in sports since 1990, taking first
place the following year in the
first presidential wheelchair races.
She enjoyed participating in tour-
naments and competitions and in
1994 became the best in athletics
and swimming contests.
In the 2012 Summer Paralym-
pics, Gabidullina entered the
50-metre backstroke, placing 12th
in the S3 category. Four years later
in Rio, she beat the world record
in the 100-metre freestyle, bring-
ing home Kazakhstan’s first-ever
Paralympic gold medal.
Gabidullina is among the
world’s eight strongest swimmers
in several rankings. She has taken
fourth place in the 50-metre free-
style and fifth in the 100-metre dis-
tance and is fifth in the 150-metre
complex swimming and seventh in
50-metre backstroke.
“Sport is the most interesting
activity for me. Enthusiasm and
victories brought an interest to my
life,” she said.
In December, Gabidullina be-
came the world swimming cham-
pion at the Mexico City 2017
Para-Sport Festival and received a
special prize from the International
Paralympic Committee at the 2017
World Para Swimming Series.
“Famous sportswoman, cham-
pion of the 2016 Summer Para-
lympics Zulfiya Gabidullina won
first place at a distance of 50 metre
freestyle. Along with this, Gabid-
ullina received a special award
from the International Paralympic
Committee. Four more athletes in
para swimming from other coun-
tries earned a similar award. It is
gratifying that our athlete was on
this list of honorary swimmers,”
reported the Kazakh National Par-
alympic Committee press service.
“Unfortunately, I could not par-
ticipate in the Dec. 1 forum with
the participation of the President.
I really wanted to be there and get
to know those people who entered
this project. However, I had to
miss it, because I went to the Mex-
ico competitions,” she said.
Karipbek Kuyukov (C) meets with international anti-nuclear activists.
Zulfiya Gabidullina and her daughter.
Astana cat café invites feline friends to spend
holidays with pets, opens first cat hotel
By Zhanna Shayakhmetova
ASTANA – Pet businesses are
an emerging trend. While their
uniqueness can be both attractive
and challenging to find their niche
and customers, doing what one
loves is one of the key elements of
a successful business.
Miki Piki Cat Café founder Aig-
ul Kurmanaliyeva is enthusiastic
about running an establishment re-
lated to her favourite animal.
“My husband and our children are
fond of cats and we always have cats
at home. We knew about cat cafés
and two years ago when we were in
South Korea, we went to the famous
animal cafés. We really liked this idea
and had a great desire to open a simi-
lar café in our city,” said Kurmana-
liyeva in an interview for this story.
It took almost two years from
inception to opening and the entre-
preneurs launched their eatery in
July during EXPO 2017.
“We were glad to find this perfect
location with a separate entrance
and everything here meets our re-
quirements. Then, we immediately
bought nine kittens of different
breeds. It is important not only to
gather cats, but to make them feel
comfortable with each other. Our
cats grew up together as a family
and now they are like brothers and
sisters. We named the café after
our tenth cat. My son called her
Miki Piki and we still do not know
what that means,” she said.
Kurmanaliyeva believes their
café attracts visitors because they
have social friendly cats. They are
on cloud nine when people come
to them.
“Many people think that this is
a café only for children; in fact, it
is a café for everyone. Now, we
have 15 cats. We have more Brit-
ish Shorthair cats and Scottish
Fold cats. There is also an Abys-
sinian cat, Bengal cat, Elf cat, Ex-
otic Shorthair cat, Kurilian Bobtail
cat, Norwegian Forest cat, Maine
Coon cat, Oriental cat, Persian cat,
Sphynx cats and a Siamese cat,”
she noted.
The concept café works as an
anti-café with a drink and pastry
menu. There is table hockey, a bil-
liards table and piano. The two-
hour entrance fee is 2,500 tenge
(US$7.50) for adults and 1,500
tenge (US$4.50) for children.
Visitors are not permitted to
bring their own pets. Guests are
prohibited from running and shout-
ing, because cats are very sensitive
and like a quiet environment.
“All our cats are neutered to
prevent unwanted behaviour.
They have passports and received
all mandatory and additional vac-
cines, because many people come
to us and we need to protect them.
We keep everything clean and ask
visitors to put on shoe covers and
treat their hands with an antisep-
tic. Our café is much more like a
kindergarten,” said Kurmanali-
yeva.
“Children should learn to play
gently with pets. They should
know how to pick up and hold pets
the right way, otherwise it is not
safe to play with them. We try to
gather different cat breeds so that
our visitors come and get closely
acquainted with them. Many peo-
ple come to work as volunteers
and help us to look after the cats.
We wanted to create a home en-
vironment and a young designer
helped us implement this cosy in-
terior. Cats are associated with the
house and we have soft carpets and
sofas. There’s a separate area for
food and drink,” she added.
The café also has a small cat
hotel. A passport and vaccinations
are required and the cost is 2,000
tenge (US$6) per day.
“Our cats are given gifts and
volunteers bring some food. Some
visitors have their favourite pets
and they come to certain cats.
We do not do advertising, as it’s
expensive; we promote our café
through social media,” she said.
Veterinarians by occupation,
the Kurmanaliyeva family was
involved for a long time in cow
breeding and farming.
“There are some challenges in
running this kind of business to
achieve self-sufficiency. We have
a lot of expenses including food,
fillers, vaccines, sterilisation and
vitamins. This is more like a social
project for us now. Children and
students are our regular customers.
People also come from neighbour-
ing cities on weekends. We want
to collaborate with the city admin-
istration and to include our café in
Astana’s sightseeing map,” she said.
The company also welcomes
new volunteers to join their team.
“Some say that dogs are loyal,
but I think cats are also very de-
voted friends. When we come in
the morning, they run to greet us.
They are gentle and kind. They
have their instincts. They feel peo-
ple who love cats,” said Kurmana-
liyeva.
The café’s hours are 3 p.m.- 9
p.m., weekdays, and it opens at 3
p.m. on weekends and holidays.
Visits should be booked in advance
to control the number of guests.
Address: 58A Kabanbai Batyr
Street, Building 1.
Contact number: +7 778 347
1277.
Photo by Oksana Kor
olenko
Photo cr
edit: sports.kz