Every day life in Chechnya
Every day life in Chechnya
People are doing their best to survive. They lost any hopes for anybody's help. A year or two ago they hoped that legally elected Maskhadov and his Government or legendary Basayev, Chechen Robin Good, will improve their life, or Russia will pay compensation for destruction. But nothing of the kind happened. The industrial sphere has never started to function again.The only place, where life is still going on is the most crowded central market with big variety of agricultural products. People continue todevelop agriculture. They have to feed themselves.The borders with the neighboring Stavropol, traditionally region where the dairy and cattle products were brought from, were closed by the order of Chernogorov, the governor, and later by Stepashin, the interior minister. But such state of affairs did not influence much the situation in Grozny. The Dagestani and Azerbaidzhani people stopped bringing vegetables and fruits for sale. Even those who used to trade under the bombing fear the Russian propaganda. Food sold in the city is mainly of local production.Driving along the Rostov-Baku highway, having been of great strategic meaning in the former Soviet Union and connecting the European part of the USSR with Transcaucasus, you can see a long row of women selling gifts of nature, brought from the surrounding forests, such as lilies-of-the valley,wild garlic, nettle, etc. People remembered food of the ancestors, which used to save the mountainous people from famine many years ago. It was unknown or forgotten by people, residing in the cities, for many decades. It has become popular again.Women are mainly feeding the families. Men have nothing to apply their abilities to. They take the guns and do banditry. The repetition of the history.Ecology is having disastrous effect on health. There are no experts who can estimate the real detriment. When I walked along the bank of Sunzha river crossing the city I could distinctly smell the gasoline. People explain that this is the oil condensate. Spontaneous oil cracks emerge here and there. The Voikovo town and the territory around the railway station of Grozny is considered to be the potential oil places. The uncovered holes dangerous for life are left everywhere by illegal businessmen. I heard they should be filled with water. Oil is purified by self-made equipment and sold to the neighboring regions. Gasoline of bad quality is being willingly procured bymajority of the North Caucasus republics.Local press wrote a lot on that issue. In the conditions of unemployment it had been always a problem for authorities to stop people from stealing. It is an enormous damage for the environment as well. The situation affected number of people with cancer, TB, etc. The dumps of rubbish everywhere in the city increase the infection diseases. Infant mortalityis very high.Criminal reports in "Groznensky Rabochi" illustrate the picture of the situation. Somebody is kidnapped on a daily business. Last evening on TV the Chechen businessmen of high rank addressed the request to the kidnappers to release the Russian woman who was brought to the republic under his responsibility to help in restoring oil refining system of Chechnya.A single male, young or old, is armed to teeth. There is a place where arms of all types are sold. It is on the same spot as three-five years ago. The bargain between the client and the seller is completed by testing shots right in the middle of the city. Sometimes you can wake up late at night from shooting. It reminds the nights during the war. Shooting during the daytime is usually explained by people as wedding procession. People are tired to think about the war or new incidents destabilizing life so much. That is why they hurry to quiet themselves and people around.Every day I meet the same old man somewhere around the market who is equipped with all kinds of guns from Kalashnikov to grenade launcher. A pair of traditional male boots thrown over his shoulders is contrasting the assortment.Railway station is the only place connecting Chechnya with the outside world. The hours of arrival and departure of Moscow-Grozny train takesplace once in two days. It makes a visuality of a busy life for a short time. The train is usually half empty. The conductors accustomed to get extra money from the passengers without tickets (called "zaitsi"- hares) cannot do that any more. All of us had to be in the role of "zaitsi" during the Soviet times . Today the conductors are happy to find anybody to sell their sleeping place for cheap price. They travel in a "sitting" position themselves.The North Caucasus railway administration in Rostov regularly pay salaries to Grozny railway department. People are envious towards those who manage to get a job at railway station. The colleagues of the current head of the station who replaced the smart and experienced woman do not conceal that he is a former herdsman and strict follower of Wahhabis. He forced all female staff to cover their heads the Iranian way of Khomeini epoch. Women joke that this is their price for salaries.Majority of people forgot when they were paid for their work last time. They continue to work with hopes for better or just because they need to socialize with each other. Many are enthusiastic to improve the current situation . I met enthusiasts in the Ministry of Education and Science. The educators and scientists discuss the problems of education in the republic. Khasan Mazhiev, the deputy director of the Technical University (former Oil Institute), is complaining that the computers gifted to them were stolen. Everybody understands that it is hard to work in the country where the man with the gun is governing. He is optimistic saying that the former prestige of the institute is preserved thanks to the core staff of professors of various nationalities who did not leave their places dislike many other people. His words arise hope. Currently they are busy organizing international scientific conference. At one of the meetings with them I spoke about the Sakharov Museum conference in November. The scientists discussed the possibility of addressing to various countriesthe appeal to help the government, technical universities and other institutions with equipment, literature.The Chechen Parliament was provided with essential help thanks to the Parliament of Lithuania. The people of education are dreaming of working inthe same conditions as before. Many criticize Basaev, Raduev or Udugov whose mansions could allocate the entire university.Young people and their parents are striving to restore the studies in Russian educational schools. Very few are happy to get the diploma with the image of wolf, the symbol of unrecognized country. Those who graduate the local schools pay bribes for certificates issued by federal authorities.Despite the ruins and devastating consequences of the war there is some cultural life which goes on in the city. The national theater is one of those few places which is renovated. The theater staff tries not to stay behind and stages the plays and comedies. It is very popular among people.National museum has organized exhibitions of leftovers of the two rich museums, destroyed in the war. Another exhibition demonstrates the works of modern painters and craftsmen. The main subject of their works is war. Both places are rarely visited and the guides were happy to answer myquestions.The rise of the art, painting and poetry can be seen everywhere. Dozens of books have been written. People are returning to traditional handicrafts producing goods from clay and wood. The Ceramics factory in Duba-Yurt restarted their work and gave jobs to dozens of village residents.One of the school principals in Grozny told his 12 year female students to carry scarves in their bags to be ready to cover their heads in case people from Shariat law committee appear. Parents pay 30 roubles a month per child to compensate the work of teachers anyhow. Otherwise the latter would run from schools long ago.I met an amazing woman Khadizhat, 33, who adopted 28 orphans, 21 boys and 7 girls. She has created the orphanage at her own apartment. Since August '96 the doors of her house are open to children whom the fate was not merciful to. These children are traumatized by recent war. They lost their parents and became street children. Many of them were addicted to drugs. The eldest boy is 18 and the youngest - 13 months. This woman with open andsympathetic face told me her own story which was similar to the fate of her children. Her dream was to create conditions where children would feel at home. Together with her husband she is doing her best to make them happy. OSCE, Red Cross, Basaev are assisting these children as well. During the Soviet time the bronze monument was established in honor of a woman who brought up 13 children in Tashkent. What kind of a monument does this heroic Chechen woman deserve?The check-points at the borders with Dagestan and Ingushetia are reinforced. Stavropol authorities blocked the entire border. Moreover, Stepashin ordered to patrol the border and to destroy any suspect moving from Chechen side towards Stavropol. He gifted them 4 helicopters for that.The border is impossible not only to be crossed but to be approached too.Additional Cossack devision is formed, which is sanctioned the plenipotentiary power. Chechen Diaspora in Stavropolsky region is under permanent pressure. Connections with the rest of the families are torn. They stopped to pay pensions on their territory even to non-Chechens from Chechnya.Recently the wide scale military training of North Ossetian, Ingushetian and Kabardino-Balkarian devisions of quick reaction took place in thesuburb of Vladikavkaz. This was the first military training of the kind for the last decade. Chechen authorities express negative reaction to theincreasing allocation of Russian troops in the neighboring republics.Georgia has suspended the construction of last 9 kilometers of the highway connecting Chechnya with Georgia at Russian pressure. The blockade of Chechnya is continued.