Heaven on Earth Swat Valley Pakistan

Took these photos when I went on a hike in with four other guys who lived in the surrounding area in Pashtun belt of Pakistan a heaven on Earth Swat Valley. As we were climbing up the mountain, I saw a group of children playing cricket on the roof of a house that was built into the mountain. I talked to the children, and saw that there was a boy doing his schoolwork. His name was Sanaullah. I asked to take his photograph; he looked up shyly and said sure. I climbed the mountain after a couple of days and gave him a print of the picture I took of him. There are a lot of contentious views of Swat Valley and the Pashtun people as a whole; they are usually portrayed as illiterate and violent in mainstream Western and Pakistani media. Through out my trip to that region, I saw the opposite, I saw a hunger for education, I saw (in my immediate family there) girls being valued as equals to their brothers and getting the same quality of education.!

This was from the third time I climbed up the mountains in Serai. I met Sanaullah again, this time he had a new haircut. I gave him prints of the photo I had taken of him when we had first met, which I had printed at a local store run by a family near by. I really want to go back someday and help organizations working in Swat who promote education in remote regions. I feel like quality education lets students expand their minds, their outlook on life and their access to opportunities. I don't necessarily think it has to be practiced in traditional school settings that are based on grades but settings that promote collaborative learning and understanding between different people who hold different identities. But before we focus on education, we must make sure that students basic survival needs are being met so they can focus on learning and contribute to society. That would mean working to uplift people out of poverty, having access to good health care and food, etc.