There & Back Again, A Coincidence or Part of The Plan?

Six years ago, this month, our feet first hit Afghan soil, having crossed the banks of the Oxus River, known in Central Asia as the Amu Darya. This ancient river winds its way from the Pamir Mountain of Tajikistan, and in this generation, meets a most tragic end of dissipation. On either side of the Oxus for a lengthy portion of its journey is the Karacorum Desert, a sea of sand and loess.
Sand, sinking, shifting, wafting, pelleting sand, sand that gets into the eyes, up the nose, stuck between the toes, and clogs up every imaginable oriface of man, beast and engineering marvel. Our initial introduction to this enigma of Creation involved a dune shifting across a major artery (of locomotion, that is). We waited it out with the necessary humor.



Humor? What other reaction will keep the sanity? Especially as a new-comer to a foreign culture, and what seemed to be a seriously reckless way of attempting to resolve a problem. Sand, sinking sand!!! We learned the lesson of the engineering marvel: asphault roads! Oh, so necessary to over come the terrestrial fact that windblown sand might not hinder a camel in it progression, but autos with spinning tires...

Surprisingly, life can be sustained in a desert IF water can be accessed. Communities in Balkh consist of family compounds, consisting of sun-dried brick or mud buildings surrounded by a mud wall. In this photo, the compound is under construction, with a rectangular mudpit in the foreground, from which the entire compound is constructed.

The interesting agricultural lesson to be learned here, is that the most valuable, richest & most fertile soil, the top soil, is used to build the house and walls. What's left? Subsoil that needs to be nurtured in order to be productive. The amazing thing about living in this fallen world, is that even if we can improve such environments as the soil, there's still the problem of pests & disease. This broom sorghum (yes, the dried stalk is used as a broom) is suffering under attack from a stem borer, most difficult to control without adequate pesticides.

Just beyond the Karacorum are the fringes of the Hindu Kush, from whence flows springs of great promise. This verdant valley is in Kholm, a community rich in agriculture & holds promise for livestock. It is an oasis, and teaches one of the beauty of the color green. It might not be an easy color to be, sorry, Kermit, but in the monotony of brown, green soothes the soul!

Further to the west near the ruins of the Grecian/Bactrian city of Balkh, is Mazar-e-Sharif (or Noble Shrine). It's foremost landmark is the marvelous Blue Mosque & accompanying Shrine of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad. Unique to this mosque are its white pigeons. Legend has is that when grey or multi-colored pigeons arrive, they mysteriously turn white. The other claim to fame of the mosque & shrine, that that a piligrimage ending in fervent prayer here on Now Roz (spring equinox) atones for one's sins of the year.

Unlike the greater part of Kabul, most of Mazar's streets remain compacted earth and the women are clad in burqas, white to a greater extent, as compared to Kabul's blue. I once asked about why all the women wear the same color & style of burqa, and was told that prior to the 90's, many women made their own coverings, and did so in the colors of the rainbow. But then, factory-made burqas became available & were reasonably priced. The limitation is that the company only dealt in blue fabric.

To end abruptly, here we are, again, back to where this journey began, and the scene below, from 2004, will be carried into the next decade. We're sad that many of the faces have moved on, but God allows this to make "room" for others who follow.


And so, the sojourning in Mazar resumes. Stay tuned for the progression of life among the Mazaris!