Wakhan District was the creation of the British and Russian empires at the end of the 19th century, designed as a buffer zone between their two empires. It is a moutain valley 250km long, and it rises from 2700m (8800 feet) above sea level in the west to 3200m (10400 feet) at the end of the road 200km further east. Beyond that, the mountains rise steeply, the peaks reaching 6500m.
In any measure of poverty, Afghanistan comes in the bottom 10 countries in the world. Wakhan is the poorest district in one of the poorest provinces of Afghanistan.
This single mountain valley is home to 13 500 people, 12 000 Wakhi and 1500 Kirghiz nomads in the Pamir mountains. The Wakhi are subsistence farmers in the valley bottom. The soil is poor and yields are low. Many struggle to feed their families.
The Kirghiz are herders, looking after their sheep goats and yaks in the high mountains.
The vast majority of these people are very poor. The winters are long, and in the valley bottom, temperatures drop to minus 25 centigrade. In 2002, one third of children died before their 5th birthday, and 2% of pregnancies ended in the death of the mother. Only 14% of adult men and 2% of adult women are literate. The single road is in very poor condition, and vehicles average about 15 miles per hour. It is a 2 day drive to the nearest town.
The Wakhan Development Partnership has been working since 2003 among 6000 people in 600 households in 28 villages in the upper part of the valley, engaged in medical training and community development.
If you would like a more detailed description of the area and the people, please download this document
.