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Background: Over the last three years (1996-98), I have been doing research in northern Pakistan in a region called Baltistan (http://www.pathfinder.com/travel/maps/PAKISTF.html). Baltistan is in the Karakoram mountain range. My research looks at some of the effects of tourism on villagers in Askole situated approximately 100 kilometers from the second highest peak in the world, K2 (elevation 8611 meters asl). Each year approximately a thousand adventure travelers, primarily mountain climbers and trekkers, pass through the village. Adventure travelers rely upon the labor of people in villages like Askole to carry their gear into the mountains. People who carry this gear are called porters. Although portering work is important to people in Askole, they also continue to maintain a land-based life style.
The people who live in Askole, approximately 500 persons, are primarily subsistence agriculturists and pastoralists who raise wheat, potatoes, goats and sheep for yearly consumption. They also raise yak and dzo for food and draft needs. Most of the villagers' food and fuel are met by using local resources and household labor, although many of the village men are working as porters to earn money in order to supplement subsistence demands with a small cash income. Cash is necessary to provide villagers with goods and services that include, but are not limited to: clothing and household items, children's education, medical care, and religious pilgrimages to Mecca.
My research specifically focuses on some of the effects of portering on women and children in the village, but also the importance of women's and children's work for the maintenance of Askole people's livelihood. Although women and children do not porter, their labors in the fields and pastures are essential to meeting subsistence needs. In addition to working on their family lands, some children in Askole go to school. Askole children's lives are filled with both play and work, although their lives are lived in an environment very different, both environmentally and culturally, from many children in the United States.
Purpose: One of my goals in presenting this research is to talk with Hawaii school children about Balti children's lives. In the lessons I've designed with the help of the Hawaii Geographic Alliance, I address the commonality of experience between children here and in Baltistan, yet also how differences between children may also be perceived, hopefully leading to greater cross-cultural understanding.
Focus Question: Why do people live where they do?
Sub Questions: Where is Askole and how do you get there? What is the physical landscape and climate like in Pakistan and in Askole? What are the people like in Askole? How are the villagers adjusting to the changes?
Geography Standards: The student knows and understands:Activity 1. Location and Route
Use the maps (World, Pakistan, topographic, satellite image) to find the route of KB's trip from Hawaii to Askole. Which maps would you use? Why?
For younger students, use cutout plane (Hawaii, Tokyo, Bangkok ), bus (Islamabad), and jeep (Skardu) on a large map and draw lines for the route. Or place colored dots on the different connecting points.
On individual maps, students can draw the plane (Hawaii, Tokyo, Bangkok), bus (Islamabad), and jeep (Skardu) where appropriate and draw lines from one place to the other.
Older students will draw lines of the route on individual maps, calculate the distance traveled, and count the days it would take to go to Askole from Hawaii.
a. Physical Landscape
- Which map(s) will be appropriate to use to see the physical landscape of Pakistan? Use the topographic map of Pakistan to find the logical route from Islamabad to Skardu and from Skardu to Askole.
- Use the topo map and satellite image to compare the physical characteristics of northern Pakistan. Write your generalizations.
b. Climate
- Use the climate map to see the number of climatic zones I travel through. What are they? (Tropical rainy -Hawaii, Humid Sub-tropical -Tokyo, Tropical Rainy -Bangkok, Humid Sub-tropical -Islamabad, Highland -Skardu and Askole)
Temperature and precipitation figures are provided. Have students work on climographs to compare the climate for Honolulu, Hawaii; Karachi, Pakistan; Lahore, Pakistan; and Leh, Kashmir.- How does temperature change?
As you go north, you will go toward higher latitudes, so you get cooler, more seasonal, varying daylight hours. Examples: summer daylight hours about 15 hours.- Name other locations with the same latitude (about 35 degrees north).
- Los Angeles (34 degrees, 04 minutes) is about the same latitude as Askole. What are some of the physical differences between Los Angeles and Askole?
- Elevation: LA near sea level; Askole is about 10,000 feet
- Ocean: marine; mountain
- Temperature: L.A.; Askole Winter (32 degrees F) and Summer (80 degrees F)
- Precipitation: L.A.; Askole (mostly snow)
- Complete the climographs for the different areas in Pakistan, Hawaii, and L.A. Suggest reasons for the similarities and differences.
c. Location of AskoleAskole faces south. Like many mountain villages they settled on the south slope to take advantage of more sunlight. This enables for better growing conditions. However, water supply is not as abundant because being on the south side where it is warmer, it doesn't get as much snow.
- Compare the satellite image map with the topographic map. Discuss settlement patterns given climate, topography, and water supply. In the satellite image map, red shows "green" meaning trees, fields, and settlement.
- Compare other places of the world with similar physical features. Explain your findings.
d. Show slides of Askole in the different seasons (summer, fall, winter).Activity 3: Human Characteristics
What is it like in Askole? How are the children involved in the village activities? Present information using slides.
a. Infrastructure:Water from springs with a pipe or irrigation drainage ditches By late summer much of the irrigation water runs out. All irrigation water is provided by snow melt. During years of low snowfall, water supply is low. They just walk to the spigot to get water when needed. There is no electricity. Dirt roads are the only paths in the villages. Their means of transportation is walking within the village. They don't ride their animals.
b. Food and WorkAnimals (Yak, dzo, goats and sheep) - Yaks and dzo are some of the most important animals for many Himalayan peoples. They are able to thrive at relatively high altitudes. In the summer months, most of village's herd are moved to the pasture nearest the village where children and their families watch over them.
Animals provide dairy products (milk, butter milk, butter).
Meat is stewed into curry (curry has to be purchased). Whatever meat that is not readily used will be left to dry. Fresh meat is eaten more frequently in the winter because of storage during the summer because it is too hot. A common meal can include a small piece of meat and lots of chapatti...maybe 5. They put the broth over the chapatti.
Wool is used to make rugs (wool clothing was made before but not too much now.)
Draft Animals - for threshing wheat (Yak and dzo) They eat the Yak and dzo when they are no longer useful as draft animals. They rarely eat a young yak and dzo, only if they need it for a wedding feast.
Wheat - chapatti (roti) - Unleavened bread eaten three meals a day. Eaten with salt butter tea or green or black tea.
Zan (cooked over slow flame like mochi) Eaten at special occasions dipped in butter (milk and butter from all animals). Zan used to be made with barley. But, they don't grow too much barley any more because the yields are smaller for barley crops than wheat.
Tea is not grown. It is imported. So they need money to buy tea. They also need sugar for the tea. Green tea is drunk with sugar, too. Black tea is served with milk and sugar. Balti Tea (numpkin cha) is a special tea that they drink a lot. It is made this way. Brew green tea; add a little baking powder, milk, salt, and butter; warm to melt the butter. When it is really special, use old rancid strong tasting butter. This butter is usually stored in animal skins.
Rice is imported. (Sometimes they have to import wheat, too.) Short grained rice is boiled and eaten. Rice is a special food and eaten at special occasions or when guests arrive.
Potatoes - Kitchen garden crop. They stew the potatoes, sometimes with meat. Potatoes are stored for the winter.
Other Foods -
- turnips (short) - provide the green during the summer months. Sometimes they dry the greens to eat in the winter. They also eat the turnips raw or cooked. Turnips are stored for the winter, too.
- buckwheat - Pancake is made. Buckwheat has a lot of vitamin C.
c. Clothing and needleworkClothing - Most of the clothing is imported. Everyone wears shalwar (pants) kameez (shirt). So it's a pantshirt. It's a long sleeve and long shirt and baggy pants because one has to dress modestly. Arms and legs need to be covered. They buy the cloth and have the tailor sew it. Sometimes the women will sew them by hand or use a hand turned sewing machine. Children's clothes are pretty much hand sewn.
Hats - People wear hats to keep warm. The women's hats have evolved into both functional and decorative. Scarves are worn over the hat. The scarves are worn to cover their hair and head. This is to adhere to muslim practice of modesty.
Needlework - decorative. It is sewn on dresses and traditional shirts. The designs include every day items such as: wheat bundles, yak or goat horns, the moon, piled up wheat, flowers and mountains.
d. ShelterHouses are made of wood, mud, and stone. Sage and brush for the winter are stored on top of the house. To keep the animals from crawling over the fence, thornbush are placed on the sides of the house.
e. Case Studies - The case studies are used to illustrate work, cultural practices, and every day life of the Balti children in Askole.Activity 4: How is Askole changing?
- Read about the different children.
- Use venn diagrams to compare the children from Askole with children in Hawaii. Younger students can make a comparison book. Suggested catagories are: Shelter, food, play, work, transportation, water, clothing, handicrafts, settlement (village, town, neighborhood, community, urban, etc.), celebrations or traditions. Generalize why people live where they do.
- Students can create a collage to depict the children of Hawaii and Askole.
Why are people going there? What kinds of jobs are there? Who works outside the home?
The economy is such that cash is increasingly becoming important to have. With increasing jobs with tourism, mountaineering, and portering, many men are working outside the home. The men don't work to earn money if work needs to be done at home, like threshing the wheat and irrigating the fields. They have a 24 hour irrigation system so the irrigation drainage canals have to be attended to. Some people in Askole want the roads to be improved. What will happen if the roads are improved? This can lead to better health care and education.
Drawing on living in Hawaii and what you know about Askole, write an essay on what you think their future will be like. Will it ever grow into a city? Explain.Activity 5: Closure - Why do people in Askole live where they do?
Students will generalize why Balti in Askole live where they do.Other Activities:
