Over the past 11 years,  Chris and John Mason, co-owners of Emtu Winery in Forestville, have regularly traveled to distant, damaged parts of the world to aid in disaster relief efforts, regardless of the source of the troubles. (Here, John pauses for a picture with a cotton vendor in Osh, Kyrgyrzstan.)

As shown in this map, Kyrgyzstan lies mostly between China, to the south and east, and Kazakhstan on the north. But the southwestern bornder withUzbekistan and  Tajikistan is a cartographical jigsaw, whihc John Mason says was deliberately drawn to heighten historic mistrust between the ethnic Kyrgis and Uzbeks.

 

The ancient "Silk Road" passes through much of Kygyrstan, which John Mason found to be a beautiful and especially hospitable land.