Emigrated without English, and now work for the US government: an incredible story of the Kazakh family

Representatives of the Kazakh diaspora in the United States are involved in various fields of activity - among them are businessmen, doctors, bankers, musicians, taxi drivers and others. But it turns out that former citizens of Kazakhstan also work in the US Federal Government, being its valuable employees, on whom important issues of the life of the entire country depend. This is stated in the video of the TV channel "Khabar 24".

Photo: Shutterstock

This photo is over 100 years old. It is kept in the American home of the Sagyndyk family in Maryland. In the photo, Raimzhan Marsekov is one of the first Kazakh lawyers and publicists. He was born in the Semipalatinsk region, graduated from the Imperial University in St. Petersburg in 1902 and worked in the district court in his homeland.

A public figure and participant in the Alash movement, Raimzhan Marsekov, was shot dead together with his brothers in 1937. Their family was rehabilitated in 1952. His great-grandfather is proud of the former Kazakhstani who now lives in the United States, Mahmoud Sagyndyk.

“I was born in Semipalatinsk, studied at the Moscow Peoples' Friendship University, majoring in Mathematics. Upon completion, he defended his Ph.D. thesis and worked in Almaty at Kazakh State University at the Department of Geometry and as an assistant professor at Almaty State University,” Sagyndyk says about himself.

Mahmud's wife is also a mathematician. Zhanna defended her dissertation on differential equations and taught at the Institute of National Economy and at the Almaty Business School.

After working for 10 years at home, the young scientist left to continue his studies in the United States. In 2000, he defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Kentucky, and later mastered the profession of actuary.

“This is a very prestigious specialty in the States, training takes 10-15 years, after which they pass exams. Since 2000, I started working for a life, real estate, and health insurance company. In 2009, he went to work for the US Federal Government, as an actuary for the Department of Health,” says Mahmud.

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The first years of life in the United States were not easy. Held experts with advanced degrees began to settle in new places, learn English, because at the Moscow University of Friendship of Peoples, Mahmoud studied French, and Jeanne owned German.

“We started everything here from scratch. Mahmoud was a doctoral student. Sometimes I had to count every cent. We were very bored and thought that we would get an education here, learn everything we could, and return to Kazakhstan. But in the end, our specialty of mathematicians turned out to be in demand here like nowhere else in the world,” says Zhanna.

In 2009, Mahmoud and Jeanne participated in the development and financial analysis of US healthcare reforms. Here their knowledge in the field of mathematical statistics, accounting and financial modeling came in handy.

“Mahmoud works in a group that deals with insurance calculations for the elderly over 65 years of age, and I work in a group that deals with insurance issues for low-income people. We are doing calculations for a population of 110 million. Of these, 70 million are poor and about 50-60 million are elderly. This is about a trillion dollars,” said the scientist.

The Sagyndyks make calculations and forecasts for all 50 US states. For example, their latest work with colleagues from the office of actuaries of the US Federal Government is to collect data on the incidence of influenza and drug addiction.

“There is a very big problem with opioid abuse in the United States right now. And this issue is being raised at the government level. If drastic measures are not taken, there may be serious consequences. We are calculating the costs of treating drug addicts,” explained Zhanna Sagyndyk.

“Of course, problems in healthcare and the pension sector are also relevant in Kazakhstan, and actuarial calculations could help. In my opinion, the level of development of the actuarial profession kind of reflects the level of society,” says Mahmud.

Over the years, the couple have achieved great success. The holder of an international certificate of financial risk manager, Mahmud Sagyndyk, became a member of the American and British Chambers of Actuaries. Zhanna Sagyndyk is the top U.S. government employee, recipient of the award for extraordinary and unique contributions to her work. But they still miss their native land.

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“There are not enough Kazakh steppes. Every time I come home, I travel by train and see the vastness of Kazakhstan. We are very pleased with the good relations between Kazakhstan and the United States,” concluded Mahmud.

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