Kuchi Afghan refugee

For centuries, the Kuchi crossed Afghanistan in large seasonal migrations, driving herds of sheep, goats, and camels between winters in the lowlands and summers in the high pastures, at times even crossing as far as the Indus valley. The gradual closing of borders beginning in the 1960s cut off these centuries-old routes, and decades of war, drought, and land disputes pushed entire families out of Afghanistan. A significant number found refuge in Pakistan, where they still live today without the territory that once sustained their way of life.

Traditionally, the Kuchi lived by herding sheep, goats, and camels, trading wool, meat, and dairy for grain and fruit in the towns they passed through. They once owned a large share of Afghanistan’s small livestock herds, and the camel served them both as transport and as a source of livelihood.

As refugees in Pakistan, many have lost access to pastureland and now live in conditions of great hardship, among tents and makeshift settlements on the outskirts of cities. The tribe remains the central point of reference for social life: it decides alliances, resolves conflicts, and defines where loyalty is owed before anything else.

The Kuchi are Sunni Muslims, and the Islamic faith is deeply intertwined with Pashtun identity and the tribal code of honor that governs nearly every aspect of life, from hospitality to revenge, from marriage to the resolution of disputes between families.

Among a scattered people without formal schools, religious practice is sustained more by oral tradition and the example of elders than by formal doctrinal instruction. Belonging to Islam and belonging to the tribe are, in practice, one and the same: to abandon one means abandoning the other, breaking the bonds that sustain survival itself among the Kuchi.

The complete Bible has existed in Pashto for more than a century, with recent revisions and digital and app versions. But among the Kuchi, marked by high rates of illiteracy and a life shaped by orality, the written text rarely reaches families: what is heard and repeated by word of mouth carries more weight than any printed page.

Being Pashtun and being Muslim are, for the Kuchi, practically the same identity: any sign of conversion is read as betrayal of the tribe and the family, with severe social consequences. Their status as refugees, geographic dispersion, widespread illiteracy, and the near total absence of churches or any Christian witness in Pashto make first contact with the gospel extremely rare.

Decades of displacement have stripped the Kuchi of the land, the herds, and the way of life that sustained generations, leaving many families in poverty and without access to formal education. As refugees, they also face the fragility of living without fixed roots, depending on occasional work to survive.

Spiritually, they are a people with practically no Christian community present: there are no known churches among them, nor discipleship in their language and culture. They need someone who will draw near with patience, learn Pashto, and walk alongside them for the long term.