Moumil took care of the butchery and preparation of the sheep, watching him at work with another local reminded us just how far we were from nature. After killing the animal by cutting its throat, the skin was detached by making a little cut near a hoof then blowing it up like a balloon. Not bit was wasted, even the digestive tubes were carefully washed and put to one side for a use of some sort. It must be remembered that in these valleys the people live by largely subsistence farming and with very limited money economy. They have very few ways of earning money, and there are no shops in the modern sense. No doctors, electricity, telephones, or roads and even a minor illness can be very serious.

We met a young American doctor who was accompanying a group of middle aged trekkers. He gave us a handful of little tubes of ointment for children’s conjunctivitis. He explained to us what this was, we were too young to have brought up children ourselves, and how to treat it. He asked us to keep an eye out, as he always did when he came to the area, to give a tube to the mother of any child affected and show her how to use the ointment. In Europe what is a minor, and very common illness, in Nuristan often leads to blindness, simply for the lack of a treatment which costs a few pence. Kev, who was in charge of all things medical, noted all this, and dutifully did his bit to help.