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The land locked nation of Tajikistan is the poorest country in central Asia. The mountainous landscape is unforgiving and temperatures extreme. Here desperate truck drivers can wait for days to get assigned a load to transport across the treacherous terrain.

Working in old and battered trucks on bone-shaking routes, dodging falling rocks and landslides, and being forced to wake up every two hours during the night to start their engines so they don’t freeze up and leave them stranded; these men are severely tested.

They do it all for the love of their families who wait for weeks at a time, hoping that their husbands and fathers will return safe. A look at both sides of the lives of Tajik long distance drivers.