Shahida Jaffrey
Up to the Roof. 21 years ago, on 8 December 1989, I was on the Aga Khan Foundation Helicopter accompanying Shoaib Sultan Khan, General Manager of an innovative rural development program up in high mountains— the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP). Later he received the Magsaysay Award and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the AKRSP. He began the AKRSP in 1982, to improve the quality of life of Pakistan’s most disadvantaged people—the mountain people of the Northern Area, now Gilgit Baltistan.
Soon after my husband’s sudden passing in October 1989, I decided to live and work in remote Gilgit, taking an arduous and hazardous route in life. The region has more than 68 peaks over 7,000 meters, including some of the world’s highest mountain peaks— K2, Nanga Parbat, and Rakaposhi. Here the world’s greatest mountain ranges meet— the Himalayas, Karakoram, and Hindu Kush.
Moving Along. 21 years later, again on 8 December, life has taken a full circle and I am back in Gilgit. I have done some very exciting work with people during the past many years. The Gilgit of today is very different. The Northern Areas have provincial status and a new name—Gilgit Baltistan; everyone has a cell phone; and most homes have Internet, wifi, and cable TV. A four-star hotel serves western style food. Two decades ago, all the vehicles were jeeps that belonged to “projects;” today traffic is bumper-to-bumper.
The Hunza people are reknown for their good health and longevity. Most lived beyond 100 years because they lived simple lives; ate all organic food—vegetables, fruits, grains, and nuts; lived in a pollution free environment; and walked and climbed mountains. However, the opening of the Karakoram Highway and food brought from “down country” have changed their eating habits, impacting their health and lives.
Shoaib Sultan Khan’s work in the area has changed the lives of the people, and I was part of that. Remotest villages generate and manage their own electricity by tapping snow melt from waterfalls. Every child goes to school—most attend private community-established English medium schools; literacy is more than 90%. The economy has more than doubled. Construction of the Karakoram Highway and trade with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are instrumental in this too; thousands of miles of farm-tomarket roads and many bridges over rivers and streams have been built. Varieties of fruits and crops have improved. Large expanses of barren mountain land have been brought under cultivation and millions of trees planted, with irrigation channels carved on mountain slopes. Tons of dried apricots and other fruits are exported. “All organic” Hunza dried apricots and mulberries are sold in Whole Foods stores in California!
Facilitating Knowledge. This major transformation has come about through education. Local communities began English medium schools for their children in 1990. Today’s generation has acquired quality education and scores have qualified from institutions such as Harvard, Oxford, and Yale.
What gives me immense satisfaction is that 10 young women from Hunza are at the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh, established by Kamal Ahmed a former ADB staff member, and the women come from schools that I partially funded over the years. One of the students was at Stanford University in 2011. The transformation of the Northern Areas has been brought about by the people themselves, with vision, support, and direction by Shoaib Sultan Khan.
Avalanche. In January of 2010, a major natural disaster struck Attabad, a village beyond Hunza, in Gulmit. A large part of the mountain, two and a half miles of it, came down into the Hunza River creating a huge dam, burying Attabad village and scores of its residents. Water gradually began collecting and rose to the top of the blockage, burying 22 villages with scores of hotels, businesses, shops, schools, farm lands, and orchards. The resulting lake is 100 meters deep and 21 kilometers (km) long. About 22 km of the Karakoram Highway (and part of the old Silk Road) went under water. Boats have been brought from “down country” to ferry residents across the lake.
Winters are severe, and over 25,000 residents on the other side of the lake do not have food and fuel. Emergency supplies are brought from the PRC. Displaced people are still living in school compounds. But floods elsewhere in Pakistan have diverted attention from this remote area.
Homes and businesses are visible under the lake’s crystal clear waters, and today’s devastation will one day become an opportunity for the land and its people. The majestic snow covered Rakaposhi mountain continues to glisten and glow with the sun and moon, seeming like heaven on earth from the government helicopter I rode to meet with effected residents.
A New Page. Today, December 11, I am in Gilgit. It is cold, with night temperatures at -5 Centigrade; the sun goes behind the mountain at 2.30 pm and sets for the day for me. I have built myself a beautiful hand-chiseled white marble house, and planted hundreds of trees, that became a forest. My home forest provides wood to fuel the steel stove for heating—all natural! I also own an antique 1964 Commando American jeep, which needs constant attention from the mechanic and keeps me mobile. My home is full of memories from Belgium and Manila, the International School and ADB Women’s Club. Power is available only for half of the day—the water that feeds the hydropower stations is frozen. No problem as I have other lighting equipment. My third career in life begins now—writing, for which I like to be in the peace and tranquility of beautiful Gilgit.
