OVERLAND JOURNAL FALL 2019116
named Masha, only 11 years old. We camped there for three
days and met her family, who invited us for tea. Each time we
saw her and those mysterious eyes, always discreetly catching
ours, we could sense her uncomplicated imagination fueled
by the burning desire to communicate. Was it her innocent
confidence that shyly said, “No fear, bring it on”? Without a
single word spoken, she had captured our attention and our
hearts. We started to speculate on how we could help her.
Even six months later, after traveling through Kyrgyzstan,
China, Mongolia, Russia, South Korea, and Japan, every time
we looked at the pictures we had of her, the feeling came
back. rough a series of emails, we were able to contact a
young man, Sheroz Naimov, the director of the American
Corner in Khorog, a free learning center sponsored by the
American Embassy designed to promote mutual understand-
ing between the United States and Tajikistan.
Khorog is a small town, hardly a city, and the capital of the
Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO). Situated
in a valley at the confluence of the Gunt and the Panj riv-
ers, at 7,217 feet above sea level, it is relatively low when you
consider that 50 percent of the country sits at over 10,400
feet.Khorogis at leastthree hours from the village where
Masha is from, on a road that can
be closed by snow or rock falls at
any time.
We learned that there was a
prestigious private school in Kho-
rog sponsored by the Aga Khan
Development Network, (AKDN).
His Highness, Prince Karim Aga
Khan IV, is the founder and chair-
man of AKDN and is the 49th he-
reditaryImamoftheShia Ismaili, a very unique and liberal
sect of the Muslim religion. ere are no mosques or mina-
rets; their home is their church. And women are not required
to cover their heads or faces.
Sheroz volunteered to help us. Hitching a ride with
a friend to Masha’s village, he spoke to the family and ex-
plained that we wanted to sponsor Masha in the Aga Khan
Lycée school. His words were met by tears in the young girl’s
eyes. Her father called Sheroz the next day to ask disbeliev-
ingly, “Is this really going to hap-
pen?” Yes, Sheroz told him, but now
the first problem would be finding
a safe place for her to live in Kho-
rog. Secondly, could she pass the
entrance test with her very poor
math and Russian?
Sheroz’s father and his sister
both opened their homes to her,
providing Masha a place to live
most of the year while she was
at school. Extreme generosity
and hospitality are a cornerstoneof the Shia Ismaili faith, but the amazing warmth of these
people still astounded us.
Masha did not pass the school’s entrance test, at first.
After three months of intense tutoring, she made the grade.
She was 12 years old, nearing 13. We supplied Masha with a
phone so that she could call her parents. A computer, printer,
and appropriate “city” clothes for four seasons were also ne-
cessities. ere are other expenses such as a uniform, daily
transportation, school supplies, and tuition at Aga Khan Ly-
cée school which is around $48 a month, but the costs are
minor when measuring the opportunities they allow.
Sheroz arranged a modem and internet connection for
Masha, allowing us to Skype and WhatsApp. In the begin-
ning, Sheroz had to translate for her, but her smile and the
sparkle in her eyes told us she was making the transition from
remote village life to being a modern teenage girl in a “city”
environment. e difference was great: away from her home,
family, and friends, daily chores had changed from gather-
ing firewood and milking goats to practicing her studies and
household chores such as cooking.
We celebrated Masha’s 15th birthday with her new school
friends and family live on Skype—amazing when you con-
sider that Khorog is 7,525 miles and 12 time zones away. She
is essentially in her sophomore year of high school, taking 17
classes six days a week with special English and math tutor-
ing after school.
And, we recently journeyed to Tajikistan to visit Masha
and her family, a grueling 26-hour hop from Sacramento to
San Francisco to Istanbul to Dushanbe and then a 14-hour
drive in a 4WD to Khorog—then another three hours by
4WD to her village. Spending three days at her home in the
mountains opened our eyes to conditions we were truly not
aware of when we were invited for chai in 2014.
It is a unique way of life for the people in the Pamir
Mountains who have survived in this remote part of the
world for hundreds of years. ere is no running water. All
washing, dishes, brushing of teeth, etcetera, are done in the
irrigation ditch conveniently located in front of Masha’s tra-
ditional Pamiri home. e ditch takes its water from the river
where cows, sheep, and goats graze. Cooking is done on an
old, wood-fired metal stove, and water for tea boiled on an
antique hotplate resembling a burner from a 1950’s electric
stove. e bread is baked daily in a dilapidated Russian elec-
tric oven. As is the norm, we all slept on thin mattresses in a
communal living room where meals are served, and all social
activities take place.
We brought gifts of fruit, chicken, eggs, and vegetables
to contribute to the meals. At 10,000 feet, crops are limited
to onions, potatoes, and wheat. e standard fare included
bread, tea, and potato and onion soup with a bone or a piece
of meat from a recently killed sheep to give it some flavor.
e community is perhaps 15 or 20 homes spread out across
a wide valley, in between potato and onion fields laced with a
web of small interconnected irrigation channels. Many fami-Hitching a ride with a
friend to Masha’s village,
he spoke to the family
and explained that we
wanted to sponsor
Masha in the Aga Khan
Lycée school. His words
were met by tears in the
young girl’s eyes.