Large families of a small village

How do people live in the smallest village of Gornomastchinsky district?

The village of Pit is one of the smallest villages in the Gornomastchinsky district of Sugd region, in which only 5 houses are located. These homes are home to 14 families. Each family has 4 children. The total population of the village is 80 people. It is located in Guzndar town and is located at an altitude of 1.5 kilometers from sea level, in the most dangerous section – on the way of the mudflow channel. Each time when the rainy season begins, villagers spend nights watching with fear rock falls or mudflows. The Pit village is on the list of 17 dangerous villages of  Gornomastchinsky district.

In order to get acquainted with the life of the villagers, I went to this tiny village. I was warmly welcomed by a young man named Boymakhmad. According to his story, he recently returned from labor migration from Russia. Here, is his homeland. At the moment Boymakhmadas driver and he is engaged in transporting people.

“I grew up in this village. It’s not too big (laughs). My father, grandfather and great-grandfather also lived here. The main source of profit in the village is agriculture and cattle breeding. There is no more activity,” says Boymakhmad.

Boymakhmad is 32 years old and he is the third child in the family. He has two brothers and two sisters. The sisters already get married, and the brothers also have wives. There are 12 people live in their father’s house together.

“Our house is small, and there is also a small piece of land that we have. Now I work as a taxi driver, and my brothers are engaged in agriculture,” says Boymakhmad.

All families in the village live in such conditions. In each family there are 3 or 4 people.

To my question about why residents do not build separate houses, he replied: “The village is emergency, all residents are wary of mudflows and rock falls. No one can guarantee that these cataclysms will not demolish our houses.

There are no new and modern houses in the village. All houses were built before 1956 – the migration of residents of the Gornomastchinsky district to Dilvarzin of the Mastchinsky district. Clay served as the main building material for the construction of these houses, and the roofs are also not covered with slate. Some of them underwent minor repairs.

The oldest resident of our village is Davlatbek Niyozov, who is 66 years old. He noted that his native village since 1992 was registered as an emergency and the place is considered dangerous.

“In 1992, as a result of numerous mudflows and rock falls, to live in our village became dangerous. Since that time we have been living with fear and fear. The district administration is doing everything possible to overpower us to a safer place. And today we live with such hope,” says Davlatbek Niyozov. According to Davlatbek, over the past 5 years 2 powerful mudflows fell in the village and at the result part of the road, land and some houses were destroyed.

Zuhro Olimova, a resident of the village, noted that two years ago, during the  heavy rains and mudflows, her arable land was completely destroyed. The woman complains that after this incident, she still cannot restore her land. Life in the village mainly proceeds from agriculture and cattle breeding. According to residents, they sow potatoes and other farmland in just 4 hectares of land. Drinking water is obtained from a stream that originates from mountain glaciers.

Last year, in honor of the 30th anniversary of independence of the Republic of Tajikistan, with the support of the district administration, a new school was built in the village. The school consists of two classes, in which 7 children are currently studying.

Fitrat Hikmat