I am 9 years old, I study in the first grade. The school just started last month in all Pamir. Nobody in my family can read and write. My father sent me here. Our home is far, four hours by horse. I stay in a yurt near here, with my uncle. I come to school everyday by riding donkey with my other female classmate. Reading is difficult, math is difficult. I don’t always understand your language [She speaks Kirghiz, while her teacher and I speak Persian]. I like to be here in school because there are many friends. But I miss my mother.
Pamir, Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan, 2008