Being of the same age as Kazakhstani independence, they might seem shocking. But there is nothing to fear. The generation of 20-year-olds is free from prejudices, bounds and stereotypes and asks us to abandon destructive judgemental perception of the world. These guys and girls urge people to think outside the box, not to give up on their dreams, not to fear anything and stop this endless race for money. Some of them demonstrate incredible courage and prove that a person can survive anything. Moreover, even after deep mortification and injustice, it is possible and necessary to love this life.

10 лет, 15 лет , 20 лет

A girl called Ardak, who is keen on cooking and photography, wrote to Vox Populi team.

"Food photography appeared to include both my interests and captivated me completely", says Ardak. "My cupboards are full of beautiful crockery, napkins and accessories for shooting food, and my relatives are sometimes exhausted with my cooking experiments. I have been keeping a blog about food on yvision.kz platform for over two years. I share my recipes of main courses and desserts there. I wanted to show that even the most casual breakfast could be delicious, simple and beautiful at once. In order to do it, I was taking pictures of my own breakfasts for three weeks, trying not to repeat myself. Even though I am not one of those food photographers who take pictures only with natural light, all my breakfasts are shot using only a tripod and a reflector. I hope you like it!"

The word "оба" (oba) translates as "grave" or "plague" from Kazakh language. It is a mystery why developers named a new micro district "Бесоба" (Besoba - "five graves"). However, the noise of collapsing house still lingers in Karaganda. Residents of the building do not know what to expect, and their neighbours either move away from their flats in fear or start to put their backyards and houses in order.

Yesterday the world celebrated Astronaut’s Day, which has direct meaning for Kazakhstan. Nearly six months ago from Baikonur cosmodrome’s site 200, the second Kazakhstani telecommunications satellite KazSat-2 was launched with the help of a Proton-M rocket. Vox Populi covered this last year when bloggers travelled to Baikonur together with Karim Masimov.  What happened with the craft all this time, what condition is it in now, how and from where is it managed – these questions are answered in Grigoriy Bedenko’s photo story.

When deflation first hit independent Kazakhstan, our featured kids were just a year or two old. They were born at the end of the 90s during the times of rapid earnings and under-the-table wages. Their cherished childhood dreams were of personal computers and cell phones. They absorbed those times and have become a reflection of them. And they aren’t as sensitive as the previous group of 10-year olds and are sometimes even a reflection of cruelty and ugliness. But is a reflection of grown-ups. Teens believe that there aren’t any honest people left, prefer careers to love, and are already tired of the stress and aggressiveness of the world. Most importantly, their biggest dreams at 15 years old have become their biggest fears – “What if I don’t succeed?”

Drawing isn’t just about being able to mechanically transfer a picture onto paper. In order to become a real artist you have to be talented and imprint your soul into each piece of art. In addition to that, a real artist should be able to create their masterpiece on any medium – a napkin, tablecloths, a wall of an abandoned house or… on a tablet phone. This is the idea Samsung had and in order to test out the abilities of students from the Kazakh Leading Academy of Architecture and Civil Engineering (KazGASA) as well as of this sensational Galaxy Note device.

We present a story sent to us by one of readers, Nurlan, who decided to do a peculiar experiment with his friend Maxim.

“My friendship with Maxim was founded on the basis of our common interest in photography. On warm days, we would spend many hours just strolling around Maxim’s house. The accessible radius around his house turned out to be delineated not just by distance but by insurmountable circumstances. Insurmountable in the literal sense of the world, as Maxim gets around in a wheelchair…”

They say that you can tell a person’s personality by the food s/he eats and his or her eating habits reflect his life style. We decided to conduct an experiment and check how regular clients of the largest restaurant chain in Kazakhstan, AB Restaurants, prove this theory. And if we really are what we eat, then do these people look similar to their favorite foods?

Vox Populi is carrying out a joint project together with the Nur Otan political party called "The Kazakhstan Dream." Over the next seven weeks Damir Otegen and Galina Ryzhkina will learn about how different generations of Kazakhstanis are living, what are their fears and of course, what they dream about. As a result, we hope to find out how different the wishes and fears of a 10-year old and a 60-year old Kazakhstani are, what binds all generations together, how do they differ, and do we have a single dream?

Our first group is the 10-year old Kazakhstanis. Having been born at the turn of the millennium, they spend a lot of time at the computer, believe in God, are concerned about the ecology, and much to your and our surprise, are concerned about the unjust justice system…

Kazakhstan’s air defense forces have been recently “enriched” with a second rotary-winged giant, the Mi-26. This helicopter is еру most produced helicopter in the world. Journalist Grigoriy Bedenko went to a training session, beaming with boyish enthusiasm, and brought back a story.