‘Heritage to you, but home to us’
A Unesco World Heritage designation has prompted the eviction of cave dwellers in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province. The government, excited for the tourism potential, has promised new homes for those displaced, Lynne O’Donnell reports
BAMIYAN, AFGHANISTAN // Marzia and her husband Qadeer thought themselves lucky when they moved into a 1,700- yearold Buddhist cave hewn into the side of a mountain in the country’s central highlands.
It was clean and dry, warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and there was plenty of work on the local farms. But now, even this bare-bones way of life is threatened.
The family, along with another 242 cave-dwelling households dotted around the capital of Bamiyan province, also called Bamiyan, could be forced to move soon.
They are the last of about 10,000 families who have been relocated over the past decade as part of the local government’s programme to protect the unique man-made grottoes that it hopes will transform Bamiyan into a global tourist destination once Afghanistan’s war with the Taliban, now in its 16th year, is finally over. The couple moved here from neighbouring Maidan-Wardak province because they believed it was a stepping stone to a better future. “We had no money and my husband couldn’t get a job,” said Marzia, 30, as she breastfed her baby. “We left because we were poor.”
But 12 years later they are still living in the cave, along with their five children aged from 10 months to 8 years, including 6-year-old Freshta who has not been the same since a landmine exploded near her four years ago. Her mental development stopped and she spends most of her time lolling on the thin mat that covers the cave’s floor.
Any original features, such as the brightly coloured geometric murals that were painted by the monks who created these caves, are long gone. They have been destroyed by time, the elements and the wear- and- tear of hundreds of years of habitation – including the fires that residents build for cooking and heat.
“Life here is difficult,” Marzia said. Water must be fetched from a nearby stream, and a solar panel charges a 9-volt battery that provides light after dark. Cooking is done on a stove fuelled by a gas bottle. They have installed a door and a step up into the one room that all seven members of the family share. Smaller caves outside are used for storage.
On the rural outskirts of the city, amid the rutted fields of potatoes, the province’s main crop, the cave dwellers do what they can with their meagre resources, determined that the next generation will have a better life. As members of the Shiite Hazara minority they have suffered historic persecution, but have also benefited from aid from international charities and governments.
Amid an intensifying insur- gency by the Taliban, Bamiyan is a haven of peace, as the Shiite Hazaras have successfully kept the war off their territory since the end of the Sunni insurgents’ regime – under which they were persecuted and much of the province’s Buddhist heritage destroyed. Bamiyan is probably best known as the site of two giant Buddhas, one 55 metres tall, the other 38m, that were carved into the cliff face above the modern city between the 4th and 6th cen- turies and which were destroyed by the Taliban at the urging of Al Qaeda in early 2001. Their memory lingers now in gaping niches where the magnificent statues stood as part of an extensive monastic centre that included up to 12,000 caves used by monks. It formed an elaborate network of monasteries, assembly halls, residencies and large sanctuaries that were decorated with frescoes and statues, many produced with techniques unique to this part of the world, according to archaeologist Rasool Shojaei, who previously worked on their restoration with the United Nations’ educational, scientific and cultural organisation.
Unesco has classified the “cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley” as a world heritage site representing Buddhist and Islamic religious and artistic developments from the 1st to 13th centuries.
The province is working with Unesco to restore the valley’s eight sites, including the Ghulghulah fortress, believed to be Bamiyan’s original staging post on the old Silk Road that linked China to India. The fortress was razed by Genghis Khan’s hordes in the early 13th century and never regained its glory.
Determined to develop on its own terms, the province hosts about a dozen international events a year, said Kabir Dadras, head of the local office of the ministry of information and culture, including a marathon, a skiing competition and a variety of cultural festivals.
“Bamiyan is very popular with Indians, Japanese and Koreans because of the Buddhist heritage,” he said.
As part of those plans, he said, all the people still living in the grottoes, and assessed as sufficiently poor to qualify for the government’s land redistribution programme, will be moved to new townships on the outskirts of the city by 2018.
For Marzia, it has been a lot of talk and no action. “I’ve spoken with the governor and a lot of officials have been here to see us,” she said. “They keep promising that they will give us a flat, but we’ve no idea when, or even if, it will happen.”