Spreading a Message of Peace

Broad-minded and contemplative, Tavildara's leading imam is helping the isolated and historically rebellious mountain town develop peacefully. Photo: Jason Sangster for Mercy Corps

Tavildara, Tajikistan -— Seventy-five years ago, this idyllic mountain town in eastern Tajikistan gained notoriety as the last stronghold of the basmachi, the national partisans who fiercely resisted Soviet rule. In the mid-1990s, it hosted the losing side during Tajikistan's civil war, paying a heavy price in lives and infrastructure and deepening a sense of isolation that continues to this day.

Although much of the town is rebuilt, and living standards are slowly improving, Tavildara remains a remote, impoverished place in one of world's most unstable regions. That's why some say it is fertile ground for extremist ideologies, especially among idling youth. Against this backdrop, the town's broad-minded and contemplative imam, 36-year-old Abdusalom, seems an ideal figure to lead Tavildara's largest house of worship.

A tall, handsome man with light brown skin and a thick black beard, Abdusalom receives visitors to the mosque in a rectangular room, covered wall-to-wall with Persian rugs, which adjoins the prayer hall. Wearing a black Tojik hat and green robe, the imam answered questions while kneeling on a long, red pillow placed beneath an arched window that looked out onto the Khingob River and the reddish-brown mountains beyond.

Abdusalom has taken part in several activities Mercy Corps sponsors here as part of its work - financed largely by USAID and Nike - to help Tavildara chart a path of peaceful development. He's helped construct a landslide-mitigation water channel, attended seminars on women's role in the community and addressed a summer camp of local youth. "People pay attention to the work Mercy Corps has done here," he says.

Photo: Jason Sangster for Mercy Corps

He spoke about Talvidara's past, its present and what he sees for its future.

"I've lived in Tavildara all my life. This mosque was built after our independence from the Soviet Union. During Soviet times, we were not free to express our religion. We couldn't practice our religion in a place like this, especially if you were part of the government.

During the civil war, we were hiding to avoid getting shot. We prayed in our houses. The war was here a long time, and it destroyed the area.

After the war, everything was harder. The region was very low, and life in mountainous regions is very hard. There was no education, no jobs. But we received a lot of help from international organizations, and we are now back on our feet.

Here at the mosque, my job is to uphold the religious traditions. Sometimes people ask me for recommendations on religious matters. I lead prayer five times a day. And sometimes I teach. I feel that Islam is like democracy. I'm open to new ideas. I tell people you can pray at home, but if you have time, please pray here.

Our youth problems here include no jobs, no money to go and study elsewhere. They are very limited in their worldview; they don't have access to things going on in the world.

We can see the results of Mercy Corps activities here. We can see the bazaar being completed, the landslide protection area, the farmland that has been irrigated, the youth playing sports. Since Mercy Corps introduced youth to sports, now they are doing sports and organizing themselves without encouragement. If five or six youth get together now, they think about doing good. They might go to the gym, but if there's no place to play, they think about buying a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of alcohol and drinking by the river — that's life.

I've talked to young people at one of the summer camps Mercy Corps held. I told them to participate in the sports activities that Mercy Corps sponsors here, and to stay away from drugs. And I encouraged them to plant trees and to care about their community, so the future population also has a better life. Maybe we could do these things without Mercy Corps, but it would take more time.

My dream is to see all these hillsides irrigated and full of trees. I want it to be beautiful. I'd like to see bigger forests so that more boars and mountain goats can live on these mountains. Since childhood, I've dreamt about looking out of my window and seeing these animals running through the snow.

If things continue as they are going — and they repair the hydropower plants — everything will be okay here in Tajikistan. We may be the top rank in the world for clean water, and this is a source of pride. We don't even need electricity to pump our water from the mountains. So of course, we will be okay."