Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is my superhero. That's
why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
perspectives, and emotions about this world. In these difficult times in human history,
we need to bring the people of the world together. And when we hear women, when we listen to
real lives of women from other countries, we connect our cultures without our differences
or stereotypes and we get inspired by their stories to live a better life. That's what
this podcast is all about. My guest today is Munisa Gioeva. Munisa is from Khorog and
now living in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. She is a pharmaceutical science student in her last
year at Avicenna Tajik State Medical University. Munisa loves reading books and making new
friends. She is an active member of American Space Dushanbe, an active member of AKHP
Debate Club, and she delivered a presentation on medical plants of Tajikistan in Central
Asia at a pharmaceutical conference. Munisa, how are you today? Hello, I'm pretty fine.
What about you? I'm feeling positive, happy, grateful to be alive and really curious about
you as a person. So Munisa, if you could say what your friends would describe when they
talk about you and your personality, what would they say? So I think my best friends
would describe me as honest, detailed and very organized person. Whenever our group
of friends just had to coordinate an activity, they always relied on me. So also they can
describe me as an ambition person. I'm a very ambition person. I take up all learning
opportunities that enhance my skills and know how to cope up with failures. I like challenging
myself to find creative solutions as quickly as possible and to resolve any issues at hand.
That's really, really interesting. And we live in a time where a lot of people are not
so focused on being organized. There is a lot of chaos and disorganization in the world.
What motivates your organization? Are you someone who became over time and evolved into
being organized, ambitious, a problem solver? Or is it part of who you are since childhood?
Or is it because you have such big dreams that you understand the only way is to have
a plan to solve problems, to be organized? Or what motivates this part of your personality?
Since my childhood, I have been taught that the most important quality of success is to
set clear goals and to work towards them. Throughout my life, my primary aim has constantly
been fractured around academics. Whenever I hope to achieve a goal, I seek to develop
the best method possibly to obtain positive results. Over the years in developing a clear
version of my goals, I have learned to act effectively to excel my studies. My academic
journey just began from my village. So where the school did not have the best quality of
education, I worked hard in order to get accepted to one of the best schools in my country.
It was Agakanli Seyum. It was located in Khorek, Tajikistan. So I was one of the few students
from my village who had the opportunity to receive such high quality education. I realized
how fortunate I was to attend Agakanli Seyum and was even more determined to learn as much
as possible so that I could share my knowledge with others. So while in Agakanli Seyum, I
did my best to actively participate in school and extracurricular activities. I just took
interest in many subjects such as science, foreign languages, and debate. So it's helped
me to develop myself and to excel my studies. Thank you. That's so inspiring. And to ask
you even more now in 2023, what makes a girl from a small village different to girls, for
example, from Dushanbe or from other parts of the world, from big cities, what attitudes,
what ways of being, what parts of your personality were shaped by the village life that make
you different to people that grew up in big cities? Or is it now because of social media,
the internet, Hollywood, et cetera, there isn't much of a difference and your culture
is a citizen of the world and cosmopolitan? Currently, I'm just studying pharmaceutical
science. It's one of the top universities of Tajikistan, Avizane Tajik State Medical
University. In future, I just want to develop the herbal base of pharmaceutical industry
in my country. We have lots of medicinal plants which are not used in alternative medicine.
In order to be aware of newer pharmaceutical achievements, I'm constantly working on improving
my English in the field of science and research and looking for opportunities to get connected
to the scholars that work in this area, knowing that herbal pharmacy is highly developed in
India or in the future. I'm planning to spend some years in there and it's really important
to spend just some years in India and to know about the experience. Also, I'm very passionate
to spend some years in a university like University of California in San Francisco. You get exposed
to the broad knowledge of faculty members and the resources available there. There is
a long way for her to achieve my goals, but I'm determined that I will be able to reach
my goals.
I really, really encourage your success. You spoke about herbal pharmaceuticals and about
India and about all that. First, how did the idea and the decision come to you to study
specifically in this field? Is it something that you were connected to nature since childhood
and you like to help people and you wanted to combine both interests or are you fascinated
by the long and ancient traditions of India and that part of the world and you found that
understanding the herbal side of pharmaceutical will connect science with tradition and big
culture or how was that decision made?
As I know that India is the country just very developed in herbal-based industry. They work
in the pharmaceutical industry. They are very highly developed and I'm very passionate to
study just for two years doing my master's degree in India and to know more about India
culture and to know about their religion and everything that I want. I'm very passionate
to know all about their customs. As I know, I'm a very easygoing person and it is not
so hard for me to get acquainted with somebody in spite of religion, customs and so on.
Thank you. Since it's easy for you to make new friends and it's one of your passions,
how was the experience of moving from Horak to Dushanbe? What did you do to make new friends?
What advice would you give to people who need to go to a university abroad or to a new city?
How can they build friendships? How can they meet interesting people? What did you do?
So from the first time that I moved from Horak to Dushanbe, it was really hard for me because
I had no one in Dushanbe just to live with. So I tried to do my best. I find the friends
that they all live and they are local Dushanbe people. So they just motivated me and I did
my best to do everything that my heart desired. So it's really good to live in a society that
you had never lived before. So the society and everything of Dushanbe differs from Horak
and the peoples also. Their attitudes towards premiering goals and everything is different.
So I tried my best to resolve this problem. Now I have a lot of friends like Tajik students,
Afghan students. So they are really good and really motivated people.
I love that very much. And I want to understand you as a girl from Tajikistan, people maybe
don't know too much about the country. They don't have Tajik friends. They never visited
and they're curious. How would you describe the culture and attitudes of people in Tajikistan?
How is their perspective on the world? Are they super traditional or more modernized?
Are they more similar to European values or Middle East or Asia or India even? What would
you say about that? And as a girl from Tajikistan, what is common? Of course, every woman is
unique, but common within the attitudes and ways of thinking of Tajik girls.
According to local academics, the country, Tajikistan, it has 90% Muslims. The majority
of the people are 90% Muslim, but they are divided just into Sunni Islam and Shia Islam.
So approximately 4% of Muslims are Ismaili-Shia, the majority of whom resides in the Gornabad
production of the religion located in the eastern part of the country. So it differs
from our religion. So, yes, so that. Sure. Thank you very much. And as a book lover,
I'm curious about your interest in books. What do you seem to read? Is it mainly pharmaceutical
and science-based books or do you read novels and stories and things like that? What interests
you when it comes to books? What makes you curious? Personally, I love every genre. I
can read absolutely any kind of books, even if it's a thousand pages long, only just if
it's a good or appealing to my mind. Recently, I just started personality development books,
for example, books like Alchemic, The Monk of Fusoli's Prairie, and wherever I also read
books about financial knowledge like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and Crime. I really like The Girl
in the Room 105 and classic like Pride and Prejudice, Hope It Helps. And also I'm just
mostly studying like pharmacy books, pharmaceutical books. It really motivated me because it helped
me to develop myself to enhance my knowledge and everything that I do. So it will be the best way
to gain more knowledge about wood pharmacy and something else. I understand. I really encourage
your ambitious attitude, your productivity, your problem solving. And to ask you another part,
sometimes people when they're very motivated, of course, they want all the opportunities,
they might burn out. How do you keep your energy high? How do you avoid burning out? How do you
deal so that there is a balance and you take care of your body and mental health in addition to
progressing forward? Regularly, I just review my goals and progress. I continue to set new goals.
I just find mentors, just for example, someone who looks up to who is experienced in a habit
you want to change, or I'm just surrounding myself with positive people. So it's really motivated me
and also they are really motivated me to develop myself and so on. Thank you. And to understand
even more, describe how do you spend your days? Like how is your life nowadays? When do you wake
up during the week? What do you do usually since it's your last year? How do you spend your weekend?
When do you find time with for friends or for other activities? Can you describe like
what do you usually do in the morning? What are your routines that keep you grounded and
progressing? As for me, I'm just wake up, wake up, just make my bed, get coffee started. And so
I go to my university and after that I just like do extracurriculars. I would just
go to extracurricular activities. And also after that, I often just participate in a KHP or debate
club. Also, as I mentioned that I'm active members of American Space Station. So after
two times or three times, I go to American Space Station to learn something from them,
just to read books or do an online courses. And in the weekend, I just do my household. And also
I'm just read if I have just, if I have, if I have, if I have, how to say, so in my free time,
I just do my best and to read more books, like pharmaceutical books and extra books.
Thank you so much, Monisa. And I'm really curious because you're an active person, you
develop yourself, you have experience in different parts of your country and working hard. Are there
some lessons or things that you have learned that improved your life and your development
that maybe you can share with others so that they get inspired? Anything you can say?
I spend my life just trying to make a difference in the world. I use my platform to raise awareness
for important cause and to try and inspire others to make a difference too. So I enjoy
spending time with my friends, family, and exploring new places and experiences.
So we know that life is too short to spend it. So I really just focus on my health. I'm happy
when I'm healthy. I want to enjoy life as best I can for long as possible. I just express my
gratitude. My brain always tries to tell me I want more probably from growing up fairly.
So, and also I'm just focused on less so that I can have more. I do fewer things, but I aim
just to get really good at them. So I seek our fear of friendship, but look to build strong,
meaningful bonds. So I spend less money on my stuff just, but make it count. So I stay also
positive. That's really no point in my negative thinking. It's get known, I think, except misery,
yes. Thank you so much, Monisa. This was my privilege and my honor to include you in this
project, to interview you, to hear about your life, your perspectives, and your attitude. I
wish you all the success. I wish you all the progress. And thank you again for participating.
Thank you for you for giving me this chance in this project. So goodbye. Take care.
