From Tourist to Change Maker
Exploring new horizons: Pakistan’s first Voluntourism initiative
The road leading to Gilgit-Baltistan, the Karakoram Highway, spans some 1,300 kilometers, cutting through a terrain of the planet’s most breathtaking mountain ranges. It’s the quintessential journey for travel enthusiasts, yet it remains a hidden gem, with its history and existence unknown to many.
Although the Karakoram Highway has opened access to the valley, it is not without adverse effects to the region’s vulnerable ecosystem and prompting a departure from the community’s age-old customs.
In recent years, especially in a post pandemic world, the province of Gilgit-Baltistan has seen an influx of travellers, both local and international. While its picturesque landscape has been on mountaineers’ bucket lists for many years, the last few years have seen an increasing number of corporate events, retreats, concerts, and tourist hotspots, impacting the environmental and cultural ecosystem of the province, mainly due to the expansion of large electricity-consuming hotels, pollution caused by cars, and litter by tourists.
A book that planted the first seeds, leading eventually to the GB Volunteer Tourism initiative:
In 2006, while living in Palo Alto, California, Sheba Najmi, Founder of Code for Pakistan (CfP) read a book titled, “Healthy at 100,” by John Robbins. It looked at four cultures on our planet where people were living well into their hundreds in good health, with not so much as hearing loss, and it examined the key patterns that were common amongst these cultures. These commonalities included diet, natural exercise as part of the way of living, environment, and social beliefs and behaviors that revered the elderly as beautiful, wise, and special. The four cultures were Okinawa in Japan, Vilcabamba in Ecuador, Abkhazia in the Caucasus, and… wait for it… Hunza in Pakistan.
How a trip to Lahore set the centerstage for initiating Volunteer Tourism in Pakistan:
The summer of 2023, Sheba visited Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) as part of her ongoing development activities for CfP. The Vice Chancellor’s advice to Sheba was, “If you are working in the public sector, you must meet the Chief Secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), who is a role model for the public sector, doing lots of good work quietly.”
Meeting Mohyuddin Wani:
It was June 28th, 2023, the day before Bakra Eid, when Sheba and Shaji Ahmad (CEO of Code for Pakistan) managed to arrange a meeting with Mohyuddin Wani who happened to be visiting Islamabad, just in time for their fact finding mission to the province of GB, planned for the day after Bakra Eid.
Wani had a stellar reputation for a reason. He shared a vast number of completed and ongoing projects done in a very short period of time with Sheba and Shaji, and a desire to collaborate on future projects to improve economic conditions through the use of technology in the province. He shared a list of places, schools and projects to experience firsthand on their visit.
July 2023, seventeen years in the making, the stars finally aligned.
Arriving in Skardu:
With an extensive itinerary in place, Sheba and Shaji set off to check out a list of government schools and to meet the Chief Secretary, District Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner. Driving through the sprawling mountains, Sheba noticed how the presence of large hotels was not only changing the landscape, but learned how they were contributing to an imbalance in the energy supply of the province where electricity shortage is a major concern. These hotels are not levied much tariffs, thereby contributing at large to the wastage and shortage of electricity in the area.
In a meeting in Skardu, with Shuja Alam (Commissioner Baltistan), Shehryar Sherazi (District Commissioner Skardu), and Abrahim Shah (Assistant District Commissioner Skardu), Sheba discussed the possibility of smaller scale tourism based on the idea of ‘home stays,’ promoting the idea of tourists working with the local community. The government officials loved the idea instantly, which led to the ‘GB Volunteer Tourism’ initiative.
A dream team came together — then Commissioner Diamer, Altamash Janjua, Additional Secretary of Education and Performance Management and Reforms Unit (PMRU) , Sajad Khan, along with Sheba, Shaji, and the Fellows of the newly launched GB Government Innovation Fellowship (a partnership between GB PMRU and Code for Pakistan) — to innovate in tourism not only in the region, but in Pakistan.
The idea is a simple one.
The current tourism landscape of Gilgit-Baltistan is putting its fragile environment and culture at risk; by-products of waste, increasing commercialization, and expansion of construction are some of the factors contributing to putting the snow capped mountains and its rich cultural heritage at risk.
Keeping its growing economy in mind, Volunteer Tourism becomes a catalyst to generate revenue with responsibility. It enables tourists to stay in local guest houses that have better ecological impact and to have meaningful experiences teaching new skills to local students, while also understanding and embodying the values and traditions of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan while visiting. In addition to being a fulfilling travel experience, it helps preserve and protect the province’s heritage and environment.
When visiting the province of Gilgit-Baltistan, dotted with cherry blossoms during spring, it is important to remember that as beautiful as the journey is, it is the people and traditions of the province that make it so unique.
There are many ways to contribute to the future of Gilgit Baltistan. A number of government schools are ready to host volunteers to partake in teaching English, IT skills, arts and crafts, sports, climate action awareness, and more. The first set of volunteers in November and December 2023 will be provided accommodation at the beautiful government guest houses in Hunza, Ghizer, and Skardu, completely free of cost. Vacationing with a purpose and community? What more could a traveler want for?!
To join the team of inaugural volunteers and change-makers, please visit: https://volunteertourism.pmrugb.gov.pk/
