WHEN DISASTER
STRUCK GULMIT
BY HANNAH WHITE
Villagers gather at Atta Abad Lake, which was formed when a landslide blocked the flow of the Hunza River
in 2010. Photo by Ellen Jaskol
T
he water of Atta Abad Lake in
Pakistan, is chalky and an unnatural
shade of teal. It was formed when a
massive landslide tore down the mountainside, blocking the Hunza River in 2010.
Steep slopes, hydrological conditions, and
seismic activity all contributed to the natural disaster that killed 20 people, destroyed
several villages, and blocked a huge swath of
the Karakorum highway, effectively cutting
off the valley from civilization.
One of the villages affected by the slide
was Gulmit, home of Naila Hameed. Naila’s
family had lived in the village for generations
growing potatoes and fruit, which they sold
to pay their children’s school fees.
But, in a moment, everything Naila’s family owned was lost as their fields and crops
were buried or flooded.
Newspapers reported the landslide displaced an estimated 6,000 people, and that
an additional 25,000 were stranded when
the highway was destroyed.
With the destruction of their home and
8 | JOURNEY OF HOPE
livelihood, Naila, her parents, and her
ten siblings became Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs).
For the young woman interested in commerce, this development was devastating.
She had gone from a comfortable middle-class life to having no home, no income,
and no hope for an education.
“It seems impossible for me to continue
my studies because there was no[t] any other
source of income,” she said. “Completing my
studies was left like an incomplete dream.”
Understanding the seriousness of the situation Naila didn’t have the heart to ask her
parents to spend what little money they had
on her education. She still was attempting
to come to terms with the situation, when
her parents heard about CAI. The institute
had learned of the disaster and was offering
scholarships to girls in the area. To Naila’s
great joy she was selected, along with fifteen
other girls, to receive financial aid.
Suddenly Naila, who had been a happy girl
before the tragedy, was smiling and laughing
again. She describes her time in school:
“I was the student of commerce and it was
my desire to become a businesswoman,” she
said. “I had a great time in college life with
my friends [and] after completing my inter
F.A. [high school exam] with good marks I
came back to my home.”
Naila was able to finish 11th and 12th
grades with the scholarship from CAI and
went on to get her bachelor’s degree. She
now is teaching at a government-funded
primary school in the Ishkoman Valley of
Gilgit-Baltistan.
Naila says she is extremely grateful for
the opportunities afforded to her, without
which she would not have been able to continue her studies. She is a vocal advocate for
education.
When asked why she felt that education
was a right every person should have access
to, she quoted philosopher John Dewey:
“Education is not preparation for life.
Education is life itself.”
At CAI, we couldn’t agree more. n
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CENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE