Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorce mother.
She is really 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 the voices of women, when we listen to real lives of women from other countries,
we connect our cultures without 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 Soro Hamidova.
Soro is from Uzbekistan and currently a second year student at the University of
World Economy and Diplomacy, one of the most prestigious universities of Uzbekistan.
She works as an English teacher and on an online platform as an English teacher for kids.
Soro graduated school with honors and was rewarded with a golden medal.
She tries to participate in international events such as volunteering, for example,
she took part in the UNESCO World Conference and was a volunteer translator.
Soro is really active in her university social life.
She is a leader of her group and last year she had her research paper published in an
International Conference in New York.
Currently, she is learning the Turkish language and she can speak Russian, English and Tajik,
which is her native.
Her hobby is learning cultures and reading information about countries.
She has never been outside Uzbekistan, but she is currently planning to have her master's degree abroad.
Apart from this, she likes listening to national music of Asian countries and to learn their
dense moves.
Soro, how are you today?
Thank you for greeting.
I'm really good, really, really good today.
I'm lucky, honored and privileged to have you here, Soro.
And I'm very curious about you as a person, so I will begin with this nice first question.
If your friends, the people who know you best could describe your personality, what would
they say about you?
That's really interesting question, by the way, that I have never been asked it before you.
So my friends, actually, I really like to spend my time with my friends, but unfortunately,
I can't always do this because of some problems, because of some time management issues.
However, I'm sure that my friends, they allow me to respect me because in kind of event,
if we gather or in my university, with my university friends, when I speak with them,
so they show the overall kind of emotions to me.
If they're going to describe me, they will probably say that Soro is just a funny girl,
and she's a bookworm. She spends more time with her family, and what can they say?
She works like battery, she has no time to other things, except her little job and study.
If they can mention my kind of bad traits, they say that I'm really hurry up in everything
that I don't like to stop something, and sometimes I make wrong decisions. They could mention it also,
and what else can they about me is that maybe they will just mention our friendship,
so I'm always ready to help them, and they say it mean sometimes that they really appreciate
this of my traits. That's all. I think they're going to speak a lot about me.
That is fantastic. I love the warmth in your voice when you spoke about your friends,
your family, etc. I would like to explore something, because some people might think
be in a bookworm spending time at home with family or constantly studying and progressing
your education is so boring. You have no life. Can you share what is rich and interesting
about that introvert experience and lifestyle?
How introvert lifestyle? You know, some people, they are really concentrated on their goals,
and they ignore everything except them. Being bookworm and being sometimes introvert
is totally okay for me. Sometimes people should be an introvert to make up
her or his mind, and spending more time with family, I think this is not only me,
do the same. This is kind of related to our culture in Uzbekistan. This is what we value. This is
our traditions. This is our life. I think spending more time to your family,
that could be what you need to move for dreams, to implement your plans, because I think that
people's real power is their family. Their advice is they are unconditional love,
which helps you to overcome obstacles you are facing in your life. As I mentioned before,
it's totally normal to spend more time with your family, to concentrate on your education,
study more work on yourself, to research. It demands time. It doesn't come like out of the cloud.
You need to try, you need to move and practice a lot. That's why sometimes people need to be
overloaded with their tasks and avoid kind of friendship events or other kinds of events,
just to achieve their goals and implement their dreams. There is nothing wrong with that.
Thank you. That's absolutely right. I love your perspective, and I'm curious. You spoke about this
being somehow an influence of the culture in Uzbekistan on you and your personality. Can you
tell me a bit more? What I mean is Uzbekistan is a mix of many cultures. How was your experience
growing up there? Were you influenced in a melting pot of so many people from everywhere? Or are you
mostly Tajik with the influence of your family? And therefore, it's maybe like the US or the UK
where people are at home with their own culture and outside the interact with others? Or how would
you describe the Uzbekistani culture to people who have never visited? To be honest, I
have waited for this question before our podcast. Yes, as you say, Uzbekistan is a mixture of
lots of countries. So there are Tajik, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Russian people, people from Ukraine here.
So as you know, our history, Uzbekistan was a part of former Soviet Union for many years.
And before that, there were lots of nationalities too. If you one day visit our city summer
camps or any other cities of Uzbekistan, you can see there are lots of main
personalities live in the peace together, like the one family. So about my culture's value,
I can tell you one story about, it's like happening after the Second World War. So the family
name it Shahmatov, they adopted 13 children who was representative of the different nationalities.
Despite of the power, this scarcity of that time, they adopted 13 orphans who lost their family
and treated them like their own children. This is shows the how Uzbek culture, how I would say not
Uzbek culture, this is the culture of Uzbekistan, has the values, has appreciated the values.
So this family is the source of maturation for me. This reminds me who am I, that reminds me
where am I from, what I value, what is my values, what is my culture. So about being Tajik in Uzbekistan,
lots of Tajik's know that we have lots of shared, but we depend like to the different
language groups, the different nationalities. So Uzbek nationality is kind of Turkey
nationality and Tajik's Persian nationality. That's why we have difference in our language.
We have small differences in culture, but people who visited
Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan, they say the same nation who speak in different languages.
So we have lots of shared as I mentioned before. As you know Uzbekistan have really good politics,
really good international relationship with rest of countries, mostly with the like neighboring
countries. And that's why people here in Uzbekistan, they really appreciate these relations.
So like Kyrgyz, Tajik's, Kazakhs, they are, leave like the brothers, like the one family.
They were together during the Second World War, they were together in some kind of problems.
So if you just walk around Uzbekistan, you see that Russian girls speaking with Uzbek girl like a
friend or as me, from my mother's side, I have Uzbekuru too. And I proudly say this is that I am
Uzbek too. In at home, we speak Tajik. So my Tajik is quite mixed with Uzbek and Russian.
And I've read that the like Tajik speakers from Tajikistan, they cannot understand me very well.
But to be honest, I speak Uzbek better than Tajik. But anyway, Tajik is my native language.
And I work on it. This is the thing what I appreciate about your question. In at home and like in
the streets, wherever I go, I don't feel any difference. And I don't feel that I'm different from
Uzbek people. Just we are the same. Our souls are connected. And so our bones are connected,
our nationalities. You may spot some similarities in our music. So I think the only difference
is our language. And that's all. Thank you. And I have, and I have so many questions. And you
mentioned the music and you are in love with many Asian styles of music as well as Central Asian,
et cetera. What does music add to your life? What emotions does it give you? How does it
enrich your introverted, focused, goal-setting lifestyle? Music. So when I started reading kinds of
information or books about as nationalities, you know, the first thing comes to your mind is their
language and their culture. They are, how it's going to say. And like these things,
significant for them. So what makes different than from us? And I go on a YouTube and
type kind of dances. First, I've started watching Caucasian dances and they were really great.
By moods, they can explain you how the temperament of the nationalities. I'm so happy that there
is a program called Cox Studio which shares different nations, music, dances, mostly music.
They use national music instruments. And I started to compare them to ours to compare the way
they are singing to the way of Uzbek or Qajik people sing. I spotted some similarities and differences.
I just, it was kind of for enlarging the information and to rise your world horizon. So
my views to the world has changed it because of the music. Personally, I can't sing and like,
I don't have a voice. I can't play any instruments like musical instruments. But anyway, music has
no language as most of people say. If you even don't understand what are these singing, they
sometimes carry a message for you, which can help you to understand that. For example, I really
love Uzbek national music. They are called a macomb. So macomb is, if you know that Uzbekistan is famous
for its poets and they just took a result. It's a type of poetry, a poem. So they turn the poem
into the music and they call it macomb. So they need really high vocal abilities to show that
and they use kind of national national instruments and this is kind of masterpiece. And the same
thing I saw in like a first-sea Persian nationality. They, I don't know what calls they the macomb
or not, but they turn the poem into the music. And I spot some differences, but that was really
cool to see that we have similarities. The first similarity comes. And when I listened to the
Poston songs, Poston songs was really impressive for me. So they use the same drums as the
Tajik uses to see the similarities and to see that world is connected to each other. I don't know
whether it feels to others, but that hit me different. And then I have like followed with some
channels on YouTube. And by the way, thank you for the like the team of the YouTube or like the
team who works in internet for sharing these kinds of things. And I'm really grateful to leave
in this kind of technological development times to see and to listen their music, to know
their nationality, to know their culture better than it was used to do many years ago. So that's all.
And I will try to learn one music to play one music instrument, of course. My dad plays on guitar
and maybe when I will have more time, I will practice it. And I think sometimes, but I don't
have really good voice. That's why I tried to be silent in kind of karaoke events. And that's all.
Thank you. And I notice and it seems to me that the emotions are a very important perspective
and part of your life of the way you experience the world, maybe the stories and the books and
everything. How can you combine both parts of your personality? Because usually people who have
very, very sensitive perspectives and attitudes towards emotions. They often are distracted.
They're not so disciplined because discipline means often a lot of pain and boredom. And people
who like emotions get bored easily. So how do you combine both? How do you keep yourself both
on track towards your goals? As well as enjoy the varied emotions of life.
I'm like 100% degree that people who are emotional, they have a life which is not the same as others.
So being a sensitive, this doesn't affect me too much because my family understands me,
like they support me all of the times. I'm happy for that and feel grateful for that.
But going to the society and not be treated at the same way in your family, that heads a little
bit different. So this is the love you should adopt on that team, on that group. So to make a
friend, like being emotion and being focused on your dreams is not really easy. Maybe for someone
who can control it, who can manage it, but it could be like easy, but not for everyone.
So I'm the type who can control emotions, but sometimes it's really hard, especially during the
like final exams when I feel really stressed because like to have a good grades, you need to
like hard work, you spend more time and at the end, if you don't get the same result as you wanted,
as an emotional person that distracts you. And sometimes when it comes to education,
I just try to switch off my emotions because being emotional in education is not appropriate,
that's going to hurt you more, that's going to bring you to depression. This is my personal
thoughts, but I think most of people are going to be agree with me if they experience that.
And like in a society, this is really important to control your emotions because not everyone
is really to accept you as you are. They are not your family members, they are not your mom who
has unconditional love to you, they're not your siblings who support you in any condition. So yeah,
I think this is controllable, but it's hard to, but this is what human being is. So you need to
take control, you need to adapt, and to just make a friend, sometimes you need to just
adapt to their social group, let's say, and to learn most of them, to teach them for something.
So emotions are good if they are controlled, sometimes you don't need to be that
angry, sometimes you shouldn't cry because some people think that crying is the
weakness, but this is not, crying is not a weakness, crying could be that strength is also.
In society, it's really important to behave, to be sometimes disciplined, especially in
countries like mine, where the people with like who are nurtured well, who are well bred is really
welcomed about controlling emotions. Unfortunately, I don't have any life hacks or kind of tricks.
So this is a thing that comes from the person. This is the thing you understand on your own.
So if you understand that, you're going to work on it. And I think I could just overcome this
problem, just I could balance the emotions and other things. I reached this balance and now I'm
so happy. And I think that other people can do the same and feel as the way they want.
Thank you. That's absolutely really, really wise, your perspective. And I see the effect of the
books and the culture on you, but you mentioned something which shows the importance of family,
of those people you know and love for years. As a girl who is planning to go study abroad
and as an introvert, how do you think you can adapt to a new place, new culture,
away from everyone you know, and being in a situation where you need to make new friends from
zero from scratch? What is your thought about this? Because it's something that probably you
have been planning and thinking about. If one day I will enroll to that university, I want to
study master's degrees in Sherlock. I think there will be no problem to make a friends for me.
Just I easily make friends because I know how to speak with people. I always smile when I'm
speaking with them. But leaving far from my family is, even when I imagine that that seems
really kind of word for me because they will always use me. We were always together and I have
never been far from them. And I think if I have a chance to study master's degrees in abroad,
I will take my family with myself if I have a chance. But sometimes we need to be independent too.
So independent is not only being like financially independent. It's being independent in all cases.
And I know lots of friends and people who I know they leave abroad. My uncle, for example,
who lives in the US, he went there for studying too many years ago. Now he has a family.
So he tells us that that was really difficult to be far from the family. And then as my friends
who study abroad, they experience the same. It's not easy to just leave your family and to go
to other country for studying or with other business. And I think I will deal with it as I have
dealt with other problems in my life. But anyway, I will miss my family. I will miss my friends
here in Uzbekistan. But it doesn't mean to stop. You need to have another social group
to social, you need to socialize with other people. That's why it's better to be extrovert in this
case. You cannot survive alone abroad. I'm in like emotionally surviving. I took some
advices. I took a lot of advice from my family, like from my granddad mostly, from my mom.
So with my mom, we have kind of sister and sister relationship, more than a mother's daughter.
She gets a lot of advices. And the advice given by your parents, they are also value for
person, for person, for developing your personality. I think without their advices, I couldn't
achieve the place where I am now. Yes, I'm just a student, but it wasn't that easy.
I mentioned before, just leaving far from my family going to be the biggest problem and the
biggest thing which distracts me, which I can face when I go study abroad.
I really understand your situation and it's funny, you want to take all your family with you
and your go study abroad. That's a really kind and positive point. And since you listen to a lot
of advice from grandparents, those who are wise and therefore, you know the value of advice,
I will ask you for advice to many girls, your age, all over the world who maybe feel shy.
They don't feel very confident. They don't follow their goals because they think, oh, if I fail,
people will make fun of me, I will feel disappointed. Or they see on social media, people who are
very successful and they give up, they think, wow, I can never be like this. So let me stop dreaming.
What is your advice for other women and girls that you think will increase their confidence
in life and their ability to go for very big goals without feeling limited?
I have never given this kind of advice. But what can I tell is, as a girl who lives in the country
where people appreciate traditions, where people have kind of warm relationship with each other,
what can I say is that just don't be afraid to move on. Family is not that bad. Family is kind of
experienced. So why don't you need to have experience? Even on your CV, you need to just show
your experience, your work experience. Just if you have failed, imagine it like the experience
on your CV. So they are really bad to like, if you have failed something, it's really bad, I know.
But anyway, this is experience. It's not just move the word failing to the experience and it could
somehow help you in the future, I hope. So if you just follow kind of social media celebrities
or successful people, if you think that you couldn't reach that level, what they have currently,
don't think so. They all have started something. So they tried, they hard work it on their dreams,
to achieve their dreams. They had their perspectives, so they were persistence. And this is what
they have achieved right now. They had the same path as yours. You have the same path, they have
the same. You just should go on and reach the like to reach the destination what you want.
If you think that you can't be like that, just no one thing. You shouldn't be like that. You
are the unit. You are the girl. We have the power, girls power. So you are the girl who has dreams.
So you are the girl who has lots of goals. Maybe it could be studying. It could be other
things also. Don't forget your goals. Don't forget why you're that dream, why you dream.
I think just to give two questions like, why I have started this or why I've dreamed about that,
this two kinds of questions going to help you more in your life. Don't forget your dreams,
don't forget your goals and just move on with hardworking. And I'm sure that you're so listening
to me. They have the same problems with like mine. They could have the same like fails in their life.
Like we are the human. We can make a mistake. This is okay. This is the experience that I have
mentioned before. Don't blame yourself too much because of not being successful. Just keep hard
working and success comes on its own. This is not that we as a human, we can make mistakes.
We should make mistakes. And our mistakes are considered as an experience. More experience,
more achievement, more achievement, as successful. You're going to be successful. This is always
I can say as a being just a student that was really worked. This question was really worked for me
because I have never advised any people before in this kind of context. And by the way,
thank you for asking this question. And I have an experience, how to answer this question.
And if I fail it, to answer this question, this is going to be experienced too.
That was so interesting. Thank you, Soro, for this episode, for sharing your voice,
for sharing your thoughts. It's my honor and privilege. To have you here, I wish you success.
I wish you constant contact with your family no matter where you are. And I wish you to experience
your dream of studying abroad and representing the culture of your country. And most importantly,
I wish you music every day. Thank you to you too for inviting me, for giving a chance to be a
part of this project. Thank you for creating this project, actually, to just share the voices of
women, girls, together them, to show them what they are able to do for inspiring. And of course,
for motivating us to move on. Thank you very much, Mr. Aziz. I'm so happy to be a part of your project.
That was the great experience I have ever had.
