One of the biggest shockers for Erika since she's been in Kyrgyzstan was the discovery that the custom of wife-kidnapping is alive and well. Though of course it's officially illegal, it's still an accepted part of culture there, and she's met a number of women who were stolen to be someone's bride.
Here's a lovely example of what she's talking about:

"The UNDP consultant maintained that lack of sex education and low awareness of STDs, as statistics showed, was exacerbating the situation. In about 80 percent of cases of female HIV/AIDS in Kyrgyzstan husbands had infected their own wives. She also expressed concern over the revival of old traditions, like kidnapping future wives, in some cases even 13-year-olds, unofficial polygamy, as well as increased extra-marital sex, often with prostitutes.
'The worst thing is that all these are accepted by [Kyrgyz] society as normal,' Jamankulova highlighted. 'A group of young men rushed to bring a kidnapped spouse-to-be and she was badly injured on the way - her hair plaits got caught in a bicycle wheel and she was brought to her future husband's home half scalped,' Jamankulova said. 'She was crying out, they said, but her kidnappers didn't pay attention, saying that a 'fiancée' was supposed to cry.'"

(from this article: KYRGYZSTAN: UNIFEM tackling higher HIV/AIDS rates among women - OCHA IRIN)