Teacher Noorzia Khan, 16, writes letters from the Kalasha alphabet on a blackboard during a lesson at the Kalasha Dur school and community centre in Brun village, located in Bumboret Kalash valley October 13, 2011.
The Kalash are the last survivors of the people of Kafiristan -- or Land of Unbelievers, an area that encompassed northwest Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan before the region was divided by the Durand Line, the border established between Afghanistan and British India in the 19th century. The Kalash in Pakistan share close cultural and linguistic links with their kin in Afghanistan known as Nuristanis, who live mostly in the eastern province of Nuristan. The inhabitants of Kafiristan were repeatedly targeted by successive Afghan kings who ransacked the area and forced locals to convert to Islam. The name of the area was subsequently changed to Nuristan, which means land of the enlightened. The Kalash, who remained in British India and then Pakistan, were shielded by the border.
Rebecca Conway
