Dameli Speakers Make History by Celebrating their Culture in Peshawar

In a historic event, the Dameli language community members, living in Peshawar laid the foundation of a tradition to celebrating their culture out of their original valley, Damel in Chitral. Ajuma-e-Taraqqi Damyan (ATD), one of FLI’s partner organizations working for the preservation and promotion of Dameli language held “Jashan-e-Daman” a first ever cultural event last month in Peshawar. There are hundreds of migrant Dameli speakers living in Peshawar who needed to come together and to celebrate their culture. FLI facilitated them in the event. More than 200 people, mostly young attended this event. They also invited Khowar speakers, especially for Dameli poetry session. Migrant Dameli speakers from Swat, Nowshera, Charsada and Mardan also arrived to attend the event.

At the start, the participants were briefed about the language development work of ATD which was appreciated by Dameli speakers. The poetry session was the important item of the event which was attended by all the participants as the event was first of its kind in the city which motivated the community youth to work for their language. A dozen of Dameli poets presented their poems and received accolades. The historic moment attracted many people towards working for their culture and language and especially youth appreciated FLI’s motivation and contribution in the event.

The poetry session was followed by the musical night for which some of the senior and young musicians had come from Damel valley of Chitral, the original place of the language. The folk musical program rejuvenated the Dameli youth giving them with a chance of dance performance.

Office bearers of ATD claim there are around 600 Dameli speakers living in Peshawar. Some of them have permanently settled in the city while most of them are doing their livelihood and getting education.

FLI attaches great importance to working with migrant people to relink them with their culture so they could continue with the language. The kind of the events play key role to motivate the community people to work for their language while out of their birth place. The main objective of the event was to provide the members of the ethnolinguistic communities, living in urban areas of Pakistan with an opportunity to come together and celebrate their culture. Earlier, FLI facilitated the members of Balti community in Islamabad, and Burushaski community in Karachi last year. We are determined to reach out to maximum community members living in major cities and hoping that more communities will be facilitated with the same facilitation and activities in days to come.

Dameli is spoken in several isolated villages in a side valley called Damel, on the eastern side of the Chitral River, a few miles below Mirkhani in Arandu Tehsil, Chitral. Dameli has been substantially influenced by neighboring languages, and is threatened by the larger surrounding language communities. However, though Dameli speakers still use Dameli to communicate at home, with family and Dameli-speaking friends, in community and religious gatherings, and informally in schools with other students and teachers who also speak Dameli. Dameli speakers claims to have 6000 people, living in various locations of the country who speak the language as their mother tongue.