The communities in and around Hajigak are inhabited by people who may be categorized in the lower strata of economic well‐being according to their level of vulnerability. The people of the region are poor.6 Farmers use oxen to plough land for cultivation. People have few skills and require assistance in education and skill development.7 The area experiences seven months of harsh winter and a five‐month summer. The harsh climate is adequate only for the cultivation of carrots, potatoes, poor quality wheat and a few other crops. Harvests occur at the whim of the weather. Harvests are small says Nawroz Ali, the representative of the village of PaiKotal in Kalo, the sub‐district of Shiber where Hajigak is located.8 There is no fruit grown in the region, and people cannot afford to have meat. Often, because of a lack of access to vital vitamins and proteins, they suffer from blindness. The local people, according to a doctor at the clinic in Kalo, “suffer from low blood count largely because they do not have access to vitamins and proteins.”9
