Our return, and some revisions

Peter:
Back from the Pamirs, we needed a vaction.

Juno and I returned to Khujand yesterday evening safely (no thanks to Tajik Air, but that story is for another time).  Our jeep trek around the Pamirs I’m sure will be the highlight of our time here in Tajikistan.  It was absolutely spectacular for many, many reasons.  Sleeping in yurts, eating yak meat, drinking yak milk, Juno obsessing about yak cream (like English clotted cream) and yoghurt.  Amazing hot springs that cured our eye problems, others that were to cure our skin ailments, though I fear getting into a spring full of people with skin diseases may have done more harm for me than good.  We’ll see soon enough. 

We traveled along the Chinese border for a while, though the barbed wire fence to our left only marked the beginning of the 25km no-man’s-land before the actual border.  And perhaps the highlight, traveling for 3 days down the stunning Panj River valley, one side of the Panj being Tajikistan, the other Afghanistan.  We were so close I could throw a rock into Afghanistan.  I’d have liked to wade across, but between the fast moving water and the Russian border guards who still manage the Tajik-Afghan border, I decided against it.  At one point a couple of Afghani men gestured for me to come to the water’s edge and so the 3 of us stood directly across from each other, the Panj roaring between us, gesturing hello, I’ve got a few photographs of my new friends (along with 2500 more of the Pamirs, I’m sorting through them now and trying to back them all up!  A tedious and nerve wracking process.).

Juno and I are still trying to figure out how to best summarize the trip for you, our loyal readers.  Photos with captions would be nice, but our ability to upload photos is completely at the whims of the Internet gods (who seem to be fussy here in Central Asia).  9 days is a lot to catch up on, but we’ll try! 

Our time here is quickly winding down, and we’ve much work to do to be ready to leave.  I’m a bit sorry that my ABC rant had to hover at the top of Tajikiblog for the last 10 days. I’m sure you’re tired of seeing that headline.  I’m also afraid people may have the misconception that I’m not enjoying myself here.  Truth of the matter is that all that crap, while intensely frustrating, I actually find quite amusing and interesting, frustration simply being a part of life here.  Now, if I were here permanently, I think I might be a little more upset by the hassles.  In the shortrun, though, its rather entertaining.  I will say I was angry and am still angry with the Mayor of Taboshar threatening Nargiza.  The incidents described in those posts are indicative of life in Tajikistan today and it’s important for people in the west to understand the little things that make life difficult for people here and in many other countries where freedoms are challenged. 

I’m happy to describe the police as lazy, that seems to be an accurate assessment.  But worse than lazy, the police are extremely and blatantly corrupt.   As an example, just to leave the capital city of Dushanbe as we began our trek to the Pamirs, we were stopped at 6 checkpoints and our driver Dilik (one of the coolest guys in Tajikistan) had to pay bribes totaling more than $10 (which is a lot in Tajikistan).  The cops saw our bags on the roof and knew we were going somewhere far so must have money on us (even without knowing we were western) so they waved us down at each checkpoint (they don’t check for anything at checkpoints).   Or our taxi home from Salsa (Dushanbe’s Mexican restaurant) down the main street of the capital was stopped 3 times in less than 1 mile to pay bribes.  Needless to say, the ride ended up costing us 3 times what it should have.  Unless these corrupt cops can be reined in (possibly by paying them more upfront so they don’t have to rely on bribes to live) many of Tajikistan’s problems will continue.

As for the people of Tajikistan – hard work is in their blood.  Most of the people come from a peasant tradition, farming fields every day with old fashioned back breaking labor.  Perhaps inefficient is still a good assessment, as much work could be saved with tractors, but there is no money for that, nor tractors to buy.  You should see some of the rusted out antique machinery that seems to have long since plowed its last field suddenly roar to life and sputter around the cotton fields.

To further correct my previous misstatement, it’s not laziness that’s the problem here, but complacency.  Protest is not a large part of Tajik society now, if it ever was, and it’s difficult to do without being intimidated by the powers that be.  I hope more people will be able to find their voice.  The corruption in the government needs to be stopped but first the people need to see that it’s wrong.  An interesting aspect of the post-communist society here (and elsewhere, I’m told) is that people still think of community first, then the individual.  It’s hard to say this is wrong.  In America it might help us to think of community over the individual more often. 

But the government uses this to control the individual – as if it’s for the community’s good that KGB always know where each person lives, what they do, and that they never make any noise or have curiosity or behave in any way out of the ordinary.   A new government-installed propaganda banner was recently unfurled across the country with a statement along the lines of “a good mahalla (neighborhood) makes a good individual”.  How does one achieve a good mahalla?  By trusting the corrupt government to consider your individual concerns? 

Before we left for the Pamirs, Dushanbe’s water was not working. We return 10 days later, THE WATER IS STILL OFF. And this is the capital city of Tajikistan.  There had been heavy rains and rumors were that a cemetery was flooded.  The water is some neighborhoods returned, but the government still said not to drink it and that even for bathing all water should be boiled TWICE.  The US Embassy sent out an email recommending to just use bottled water.  The new rumor is that the water is highly radioactive, a believable proposition.  I’m not sure that boiling will really help at all for this.  People grumble but not much more.  Juno wanted to make a sign that said “Mr. President, where is our water?” and march back in forth in front of the presidential palace.  We wonder what would happen. 

We were pretty upset not to be able to shower after our long trek in the mountains, but for the people of Dushanbe it was much worse.  10 days, 100 degree heat, and no explanation from the Government.  Maybe it’s just more of the same that they’ve dealt with for so many years, this being a minor blip in time.  But I hope they get their water back soon and that it’s clean and safe and that they might learn that it’s okay to hold your government responsible for providing some basic necessities of life.

In conclusion, both Juno and I really like Tajikistan.  It’s an amazing place with amazing history and amazing people.  It’s always interesting, even if just because of how it’s messed up.  Are we happy to be returning to the states soon?  I think so.  I’m looking forward to processing everything, doing more research, understanding this region and its history even better.  Maybe as preparation for coming back to work more to complete the work I’ve began.  But we will see…

Meantime, we’ll try and get some photos and details of our trip up in the next few days, so that you all can see the spectacularly beautiful parts of this country and its people.