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Wakhan Corridor . Even today , with all the international aid that has poured into Afghanistan since 2001 , the Wakhan remains underdeveloped by any measure .
But that isolation and deprivation have also protected the Wakhan . Locals hear about the extremists , gunfire , roadside bombs , and attacks on girls ’ schools that are tearing their country apart . But the war is far away .
A sparsely populated finger of land between Tajikistan and Pakistan , the Wakhan stretches 106 miles from Ishkashim to Sarhad ( see map below ). The mountains soar to more than 21,000 feet , and are considered relatively “ young ,” not yet rounded off by erosion , and still shedding rubble and boulders via rushing streams , spring runoff , and frequent landslides .
Once part of the Silk Road linking China and Europe , the Wakhan was traversed by Alexander the Great , Marco Polo , and Genghis Khan . These days , all travel is along a single , rugged dirt road that winds through the lowlands alongside the rivers that eventually join downstream to form the fabled Oxus River . Vehicles are still few and far between ; most traffic is by foot or donkey .
The poverty here runs deep . People live in mud-brick homes and primarily feed their families through subsistence farming and herding . Malnutrition is common . Health care is scarce . There are no school buses or streetlights , computers or televisions , indoor plumbing or refrigeration . And it is still largely a cashless society , although that is changing .
Life is hard . Yet there ’ s magic in the natural beauty , silence , stars and clean air .
Gul Bahar ’ s parents , Darwaish and Khushnuma , have lived in Rurung , populaul Bahar wakes up every day at 4:30 a . m . in the big room where her family sleeps , pushes off the heavy blankets and rises to begin her daily chores . Like many other 14-year-olds , morning is not her favorite time of day . But she is not a complainer .
The Wakhan Corridor
Besides , she doesn ’ t have a lot of time . Every day , Gul Bahar and her twin sister Jamal trade off between house chores and shepherding . On this cool spring morning , Jamal herds the sheep and goats up the mountain slopes above their house to feed on good grass . Gul Bahar stays home to bake bread and make tea for breakfast , wash dishes , and sweep the dirt floor of her family ’ s mud-brick home
Gul Bahar has to be quick about it . She only has an hour before she , her 12-year-old brother , and the other children from the village set off on the 90-minute walk to school . Jamal doesn ’ t join them because she has already finished school .
“ Jamal started school before Gul Bahar and went to class nine ,” the girls ’ father , Darwaish , explained . “ But there are no higher classes at their CAI-supported DeGhulaman School , and we don ’ t have any relatives in Khandud or Sarhad where there are high schools . So she quit after class nine .” He expects Gul Bahar , now in class eight , to do the same .
Much of the family ’ s early morning work is done in the dark , or illuminated only by the fire in the central hearth . Electricity is nonexistent in Rurung ( pronounced “ Roo-wrung ”), located three-fourths of the way up the
30 | Journey of Hope C E N T R A L A S I A I N S T I T U T E