Bamiyan Winter

Winter in Bamiyan has brought snow, then mud, then snow, leaking roofs (more mud in the mud house), great days in the mountains, and some transitions for us.  After a year and a half with CRS (including nine months in Afg), Chad left the organization.  Despite great appreciation for the programs and his colleagues, the management-heavy job was not a good fit for him.  We made the decision in early November to give CRS plenty of time to plan ahead.  February 15 was Chad’s last day at CRS as well as the last day of my contract with the UN Environment Program (UNEP).  The next day we moved across town from the CRS house to an Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) house and began a joint consultancy working with the AKF tourism program.  The aim of the consultancy is to develop winter tourism opportunities and to train members of the newly established Bamiyan Tourism Association. 

As one of the most peaceful areas of the country, there is hope that reviving tourism here can bring further stability and economic opportunity in the coming years.  As we’ve begun to meet with people in remote mountain villages, it’s been amazing to hear them recount stories of tourists visiting these places over 30 years ago before the Russian invasion and subsequent years of conflict.  In a country that has so many needs and continued instability, we’ve questioned the appropriateness of promoting tourism.  In a discussion with a friend who is the regional public health advisor, I mentioned that this work is “not exactly saving lives.”  His encouraging response was that even the development of tourism is about saving lives since anything that promotes stability and opportunity here does just that.

As we explore Bamiyan through our new work, we’re increasingly impressed with the mountains and the people.  The mountains have incredible hiking, climbing, skiing, and snowshoeing terrain and are beautiful and accessible.  And the people living in these mountain villages are industrious, largely self-sufficient, kind, and welcoming.  From where the winter road access finishes, we’ve traveled (primarily on skis) 30 minutes to two hours to reach snowed-in villages. When we arrive we’re offered tea and lots of curious looks.  Yesterday, as we tried to leave the village to head deeper into the mountains, we were turned back by an adamant group of elders explaining to us in mime (really great) and Dari that the avalanche danger was too high for us to go further.  We decided not to argue with them.  Avalanches riddled the valley coming all the way down to the village and last month they’d lost eight sheep, two donkeys, and a cow in an avalanche right next to a house.  We’re quickly learning the snow and avalanche conditions here and we continue to be cautious. 

UNEP asked me to extend my contract so I’m continuing to work part-time with them researching aspects of local natural resource management traditions, land tenure arrangements, and options for a future inhabited protected area (IUCN Category V) in the Koh-e-Baba.  We both really enjoy our colleagues at AKF and UNEP and, although it was sad to say goodbye to CRS folks, we now have fun running into them almost every day.  Having now worked with three organizations here in small-town Bamiyan, we know a fair number of people who we see in the neighborhood and bazaar; we’re starting to feel just a little bit local. 

Check out some Bamiyan winter highlights in the pics here including: our airport coffee shop, sledding in our neighborhood, a community school room, CRS farewell, our new office, visiting the Red City, a community meeting on the mosque roof, shoveling snow off of mud roofs, old Russian weaponry, skiing, and more.

We miss you and can’t wait to be in Montana in June.