Sukhrab Bazarbaev, 42, is a self-employed butcher with two shops in Tokmok, a city of 50,000 people in northern Kyrgyzstan. A Muslim and one of the country’s small Uighur minority, he sells only halal beef.
He starts work each day at 8 a.m., cutting up several beef carcasses. He and his brother then sell his meat until 5 in the afternoon. He rents his two shops, but owns his own refrigerators and mincers.
Bazarbaev started his business in 2010 after spending a year serving as an apprentice to a local butcher. Today, he earns around US$500 a month, well above the national average wage of US$200, and enough for him to take good care of his wife and two teenage sons.
The Other Hundred is a not-for-profit photo book by the Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT) to provide a counterpoint to the mainstream media consensus about some of today's most important issues. The book introduces readers to the vast majority of people, ideas, places and cultures simply ignored by most major media publications. Through an annual series of books, each focusing on a particular subject, The Other Hundred provides an alternative and refreshing view on everything from people and their homes to performers, chefs and authors.
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