Letters to the Pamir - 2005
119 images Created 20 Feb 2021
A chronological journey of our 2005 trip through the high Pamir mountains in Afghanistan, finding a path into Pakistan. That summer, Mareile and I walked over 300 kilometres with our donkey Clémentine. It was a crazy and unforgettable journey, and we had a mission… to deliver letters.
The Afghan Kyrgyz community living in the Pamir mountains escaped to Pakistan in the early 1980’s, walking out of the Pamir over high passes, worried about the incoming Russian invasion. They abandoned their yurts, leaving fires burning to make believe the yurts were inhabited. They took most of their herds with them, the exodus was of biblical proportion. They waited about 3 years in Pakistan and eventually were given political asylum in Turkey where they still live. But a small number never left to go to Turkey, they returned to the Afghan Pamir. The community was split. In 2004, I met the Afghan Kyrgyz community in Turkey to give them images of their relatives that stayed behind in Afghanistan. In return, many gave me letters and cassettes with recorded speeches to give to their relatives in the Afghan Pamir. I just had to go to deliver them...
In 2005, Mareile and I left to deliver those letters on foot, going from yurt camps to yurt camps, postman (and postwoman!) on the roof of the world, reuniting family members that had not heard from each others for 25 years.
The Afghan Kyrgyz community living in the Pamir mountains escaped to Pakistan in the early 1980’s, walking out of the Pamir over high passes, worried about the incoming Russian invasion. They abandoned their yurts, leaving fires burning to make believe the yurts were inhabited. They took most of their herds with them, the exodus was of biblical proportion. They waited about 3 years in Pakistan and eventually were given political asylum in Turkey where they still live. But a small number never left to go to Turkey, they returned to the Afghan Pamir. The community was split. In 2004, I met the Afghan Kyrgyz community in Turkey to give them images of their relatives that stayed behind in Afghanistan. In return, many gave me letters and cassettes with recorded speeches to give to their relatives in the Afghan Pamir. I just had to go to deliver them...
In 2005, Mareile and I left to deliver those letters on foot, going from yurt camps to yurt camps, postman (and postwoman!) on the roof of the world, reuniting family members that had not heard from each others for 25 years.
