Ask
15 year-old Diana what her dreams are and she’ll tell
you: “I want to go to Germany to see the friends I made
there and I want to walk again. That’s it. No more.”
Diana was one of some 1200 people, most of them children, taken
hostage in Beslan in September 2004. Her mother and two younger
sisters managed to escape the burning gymnasium without serious
physical injuries, but Diana was left completely paralysed.
She was taken for specialist treatment in Germany. “Anja
from the German Red Cross and her husband became my best friends,”
remembers Diana. “Anja was interpreting for us and helped
me study German. At Christmas, they invited us to their home.
That was a great party!”
After the treatment, Diana started to be able to move her arms
and hands slightly. She was also able to sit up and now has
a comfortable wheelchair and a specially built bed. She should
be starting in the tenth form shortly but instead teachers will
give her lessons at home.
Beyond her physical injuries, though, Diana cannot escape her
memories. She cannot forget the teachers and friends who died.
It is very hard and very painful. Diana’s eight year-old
sister, Madina, still puts bottles of water in her bag every
time she leaves the house. Just in case.
Diana’s day is well organised. Every morning, she exercises
her fingers and hands. Her mother, Fatima, who was a nurse at
the destroyed school, helps her. Once a week, her father takes
her to Vladikavkaz, 20 kilometres from Beslan, for medical tests.
Fatima knows her daughter needs further treatment but state
funding has been used up. She explains how people find it humiliating
to have to ask for help. It is difficult to find out what help
is available and anyone who doesn’t ask, doesn’t
get.
“I applied twice for free vouchers to send my children
to summer camps but I was refused,” she says. “In
the end, we decided to pay for our 13 year-old daughter to go
to a sanatorium [health spa] in Tamisk. Fortunately, the sanatorium
authorities accepted her free of charge. It is so unpleasant
to go and ask and wait and then to be turned down. We’ll
cope.”
Diana and her sisters all love computer games. Diana’s
doctor has also said that typing on a keyboard would be the
best exercise for the fingers that she can still hardly move.
Unfortunately, the family does not have a computer at home.
Suddenly, a crowd of teenagers rushes in to Diana’s room.
Her friends from school crowd round her and start laughing and
chatting.
She is not alone but she and her family need support. They are
one of 200 families benefiting from the permanent home-based
psychological support provided by the Russian Red Cross visiting
nurses service. Plans are also in place to provide 60 children
with disabilities who cannot yet leave home with a computer
and internet access.
According to a study carried out by the Russian Red Cross, a
third of the 578 affected families still need on-going home
care and psychological support to overcome the mental and physical
scars of the tragedy.
As well as the visiting nurses and computers, the Russian Red
Cross and the Federation have provided funds to improve facilities
at the central Beslan hospital. The Red Cross has also opened
a community centre where some 400 people can attend classes,
do sport and other social activities, and receive psychological
support.
A year on from the tragedy, the Russian Red Cross has a list
of individuals and families who continue to need help. Staff
will work with them to meet their mental and physical needs.
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Diana
Murtazova, 15, with her mother Fatima and her eight-year-old
sister Madina. Madina does not want to go to school again.
When she does go, she insists that a bottle of fresh water
is in her school bag.
(p13199)
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Oksana
Tanklayeva (left), a psychologist from the Russian Red
Cross centre, visits Diana weekly. The Russian Red Cross
will provide over 60 children with computers. For Diana,
the computer keyboard will help to train her fingers and
hands.
(p13200) |
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