the rain turned to hail. Then the sun came out; temperature rose into the 60s. A few hours later, the wind roared back in, this time triggering an intense sandstorm. Then more dark clouds rolled in and it snowed for a little while. Just before dark, the sun came out and the dusting of snow instantly melted.
Weather is just a fact of life in the Wakhan. Most people have never known anything different. So they just live with it, especially the kids, skipping and laughing all the way home.
j 2: 30 p. m. i
AFTER LUNCH OF CHOI( salted milk tea) and nan( unleavened bread) at home, Gul Bahar changes her clothes. Inevitably, her work clothes include something red— Wakhi women love red and it creates splashes of color against the barren landscape wherever there are women or girls working outside.
Some girls’ chores fall along gender lines. Gul Bahar and her sister, for example, help their mother prepare tea. Darwaish admitted:“ I can’ t even boil tea for myself.”
Wakhi culture is noticeably more egalitarian than that of other Afghan ethnic groups. Wakhis are Ismaili Muslims, led by Prince Karim Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. They have a strong belief in economic self-reliance and in sharing one’ s“ time, material, or intellectual
Women with no education are nearly three times more likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth than women who had finished secondary school.
World Health Organization
wherewithal” for the community’ s common good, according to theismaili. org.
Still, the girls tend to hang back when guests come to call. On this day, Gul Bahar wanted to bring her sister, who was tending the animals, to meet the foreigners. But her father said,“ She could come, but there are wolves there and if she leaves the animals for even one minute the wolves will eat them.” It’ s serious work.
Gul Bahar’ s brother brings the tea tray from the kitchen to the guests. Tea consists of boiled eggs, nan, and choi. The salt is added by pouring the tea over and through a block of salt.“ Now we know to use iodized because we had so many health problems,” Darwaish said.
Health problems in the Wakhan are a daily fact of life. Infant and maternal mortality rates here are among the highest in the world. Malnutrition, opium addiction, and dysentery contribute. Joint pain, headaches, and high blood pressure are common.
In addition to the ubiquitous colds— every child seems to be wiping their nose and coughing— Wakhis’ chapped faces reveal the amount of time everyone spends outside, eking out a living: finding grazing pastures for the animals, collecting fodder, planting and tending crops.
For a long time,“ we didn’ t have medicine or family planning,” Darwaish said.
CAI supports two maternal healthcare workers, who operate home-based infirmaries in Wargeant and Sarhad. But both of those villages are a long way from Rurung. Operation Mercy used to have a small doctor’ s clinic in Kipkut, about 10 to 15 miles away. But, like so many NGOs working in Afghanistan, Operation Mercy has decamped, closing programs and projects. The clinic is now empty, Wali Mahmad said.
But the clinic opened people’ s eyes to what could be, he said. People know the value of having a skilled birth attendant present during delivery, for example. They know there are medicines that can help with heart and stomach problems.
“ We didn’ t know before about having fewer kids,” Darwaish said.“ But these days people know and are having fewer children.”
Education has helped, too. Students learn the basic science behind germs and teach their own families why it is dangerous to cook or eat with unwashed hands.
j 4: 30 p. m. i
Gul Bahar, left, helps her mother and twin sister prepare boiled eggs and tea inside their home in the Wakhan Corridor.
AFTER CHORES, IT IS TIME FOR HOMEWORK. Dari and math are Gul Bahar’ s favorite subjects, so she does those assignments first. Science, Islamic studies, history assignments – they come second.
Her mom is illiterate, so she’ s not much help with lessons, Gul Bahar said. But Khushnuma has always insisted her children focus on their lessons and never begrudged them the time away from chores.
Dad, on the other hand, was educated to class seven in Bobo Tengi.“ There was a school there before the floods. I can read and write because my teachers were from Shognan,” a place with a local reputation for the best schools. So he knows the value of education.
But he’ s more inclined to help his son than
34 | Journey of Hope C E N T R A L A S I A I N S T I T U T E