GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 14 - October 2010

Before we talk business, we need to hear all about your harrowing experience in Kyrgyzstan this past April when you and your wife (and your cat) were caught in the middle of a fast, furious and bloody uprising – the so-called Second Tulip Rev- olution. What were you doing there? Did you get out? Where are you living now? I was born and grew up in Latvia. In 1999 my family moved to England, but I could never imagine that I would end up living in Kyrgyzstan. In April 2009, I came to Kyrgyz- stan for the first time to visit my girlfriend. There I proposed and we got married in February 2010. The process turned out to be a lit- tle tricky because there was a lot of bureaucracy and red tape. Our plan was to move to England shortly after getting married, but the April revolution laid all our plans to ruin. People were spreading news of the coup even before it was broadcast on television.We found out because my mother-in-law called to tell us. The only sensible thing in this situ- ation was to stock up on food and provisions and stay home. Both my wife and I have gone through similar experiences in the past. My wife was in Kyrgyzstan during the first revolution in 2005. I was in Estonia dur- ing the uprising in 2005 and in Latvia dur- ing the coup in the early 90s. Both of us had a pretty good idea of what to expect: after the unrest during the day, at night the city would be swept by a wave of looting and crime. All the refugees flocked to the capital, some in search of justice and some with more nefarious intentions. We didn’t sleep for the next three days and spent all our time monitoring the situation in the city through the news on the Inter- net and local forums. We were very afraid that once the mob was done looting the stores and shopping cen- ters, they would start robbing apartments and houses. In a few days things settled down, but we lost our peace of mind. The city was full of rumors that a new wave of unrest was coming. We seldom left our home, only to pick up supplies and groceries. The stores in the city were back in business since it was their only source of income so we had the ability to purchase food and other goods without problems. Because of the situation in the city, we had to forget about taking walks, going to the doctor, hanging out with friends or going to the movies. Thosememories are very unpleasant; I only made it through without losing my mind because I had my wife there to support me. On June 11th a series of events in the south of Kyrgyzstan, in Osh and Jalalabad, shook us up so much that we considered leaving the country. We were able to get in touch with the Latvian consulate, and leaving the country immediately became a real option. However, we couldn’t simply leave because our small family had another member — our cat, Ichabod. We were so used to him and loved him so much that to leave him seemed impossible. It would have taken us two months to prepare his documents if he were to go with us. So we stayed in Kyrgyzstan. Right now my wife and I live in Bishkek. Life has returned to normal; every- thing has calmed down and people can go about their business. We are preparing our documents for a trip to England and hope that nothing will prevent us from going. Comparing your April ordeal to your firsthand experiences during the 2005 uprisings in Kyrgyzstan and Estonia, and the coup in Lat- via in the 1990s, did having access to the Internet this time make it any easier for you and your wife to cope with the situation? It’s de- batable. On one hand, the informa- tion helped us keep abreast of what was happening nationally and lo- cally. On the other, too much in- formation can be harmful; there is an old Russian proverb that goes, “The less you know, the better you sleep.” Howdid you become interested in the on- line gambling industry and why did you decide to get involved in affiliate market- ing? I have been interested in games of chance ever since I was a kid. I remember when I was 11, I had this idea to install an arcade machine in my house, so that all my friends could play it. When I found out I could work as an intermediary between the players and the casino, make money All the latest news from our man in Kyrgyzstan “In the beginning my family had great distrust of this new escapade, but I proved to them that you can earn money on the Internet.” Alexey ALEX777 AFFILIATE INTERVIEW SERIES Saluting Our Global Community 40 GPWA Affiliate Interview Series