The ski school that defied the Taliban
By Rebecca Kesby
BBC World Service
Matee Ullah Khan (right)
When the Pakistani army drove the Taliban out of the Swat valley in 2009 Matee Ullah Khan was determined to rebuild the ski school and give children a chance to have fun.
"I wanted to do something to contribute to peace and harmony here so we had a small skiing competition," he says.
"Very few people came but I saw, for the first time, cheerful expressions on the faces of the children."
The school only had a handful of skis and two or three pairs of poles. Most children were learning on planks of wood with a pair of old shoes nailed into place - their poles were cut from the trees.
Swat, a majestic valley close to the Afghan border, flowing with crystal clear rivers and flanked by snow-capped peaks, had been under Taliban control for two years.
"The security situation was terrible under the militants, everyone was living in fear," says Khan, a silver-bearded former pilot.
