Gul Bahar leads some of her family ' s livestock back to the corral near their home in the evening .
tion 315 , all their lives . “ If not Wakhan , then where ?” Darwaish joked . The farthest he has ever been from home is Baharak , an eight to 10-hour drive , but only about 135 miles as the crow flies . His wife has never left the Wakhan .
j 5 : 30 a . m . i
THE SUN IS JUST RISING when Rurung ’ s schoolchildren scramble down the mountain to the road . They set out for school in a group , kicking up dust as they walk purposefully eastward toward the rising sun .
The students get school uniforms courtesy of CAI , but the kids are hard on their clothes and the wear and tear shows . They wear what shoes they have , and those shoes are generally poorly made , plastic , and too big or too small . Their book bags and backpacks are purely functional ; stitched and patched together with rough wool thread to extend their usability .
Even at this early hour , children pass farmers and shepherds working in fields and pastures along the Wakhan River .
In Gul Bahar ’ s family , everyone helps produce the wheat and barley , but it is still only enough to feed the family for two months . When necessary , Darwaish sells goats and sheep for money . His wife and daughters sew the family ’ s clothes by hand ; nobody in the village has a sewing machine . The twins and their mother bring the water from a local spring .
Gul Bahar ’ s family is small by local standards . Her parents had five children , but one son and one daughter died , “ and then my wife didn ’ t get pregnant again , otherwise we would have more children ,” Darwaish said . “ I thought about getting another wife , but [ Khushnuma ] wouldn ’ t let me .”
But they make it work . In addition to farming , “ when there is work on road , or river , or cleaning jungle [ local translation for thick brush ], I do that ,” Darwaish said . And he makes a little money as a middleman for the traders . Because their house is closest to the road — albeit up a nearly vertical hill — “ traders come here and give me 100 bags of flour and ask me to sell to the people . I get 50 afganis [ about 90 cents ] for every bag I sell .”
Changing a family ’ s economic status is just one motive for education here — but it ’ s a big one .
About halfway to school , the Rurung kids have to cross the river . The Aga Khan Foundation ( AKF ) built a walking bridge about 10 years ago , strung on cables with wood planks and a bit of a sway . It ’ s wide enough for livestock , but not for vehicles .
After crossing the bridge , the kids still have to walk about two miles to the school . Along this stretch of the walk , other students from nearby Khankan village join them on the dusty riverside path .
Just before reaching the school , they cross a stream , jumping from rock to rock or traversing a wood plank perched like a balance beam over the frigid water .
And then : there ’ s the school . The students enter a gate into the schoolyard and , if
FA L L 2 0 1 4 Journey of Hope | 31