The leader of our U3A group is Gulbarshin Kassimanova (left), a retired NGO director and civil activist.

We are Kazakhstani pensioners (mostly ladies, but we are working to attract more Kazakh men to this movement as well), who live in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Most of us were active in our youth time (as members of Komsomol Party) and participating in U3A movement for us is a way to keep ourselves active, productive and engaged.

We attend different free and paid classes, that are offered in Astana by various organizations, such as Yoga class (kindly offered by Embassy of India for everyone), Tsigun classes offered by private instructor Marat Tuyakbayev, various musical and art events offered by Russian Cultural Centre in Astana and different activities for pensioners provided by Saryarqa Sovet Veteranov, an old organization from Soviet Union times.