More than twenty ethnic groups live together in Tajikistan’s Vakhsh valley, many of them forcibly resettled during the Soviet period. To promote interethnic harmony after the Tajik Civil War wreaked havoc in the valley, local NGO Ganjinai Vakhsh established last year The House of Friendship and Agreement, with an EFCA grant.

The NGO transformed the former government-run local cultural center, which public officials had difficulty in maintaining,into a “friendship house.” The house is meant to bring together people from various ethnicities. It is equipped with a library containing books in several languages, free legal consulting services, and a computer lab with Internet connection. Ganjinai Vakhsh also publishes its own bulletin, “Friendship and Agreement,” in Russian, Tajik and Uzbek.

The friendship house regularly sponsors public holidays for the community, as was the celebration of the 800th anniversary of local poet Jalollidin Rumi (who promoted a philosophy of harmony), organizing community cleanup days, and the fashion show held to display various ethnic costumes.

Ganjinai Vakhsh has also reached out to the embassies of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Iran, which have donated books in their respective languages; in addition, the government of Tajikistan donated more than 100 books.

“Before the establishment of this House of Friendship and Agreement, we had very few cultural events in our region,” said Muminov Khurshd, a deputy school director in the region. “We are very pleased that now we have a place where we can have more cultural events and get to know more about the nationalities living in our district.”