My Trip Into Chechnya

What a day!!!! We left Nalchik in the morning at around 7:00 am on our way to Nazran. The drive was about two and a half hours to the border of Ingushetia and Chechnya. We waited for the our escort to come and pick us up, not knowing exactly what to expect. They did finally come after about an hour delay because of some security hold ups on the way from Grozny. Our escorts were all commandos with probably some experience in the previous wars. There were two cars that met us and then two more joined us in route, totaling about 8 guards. Each had a machine gun and most had a hand held and a grenade jacket. It might seem like a bit much, but the security situation in Grozny is much worse than even I expected. I was told to expect a lot, but I could not imagine what I saw. There are at least 10-15 police officers and Russian soldiers killed on a weekly basis, and people are always subject to kidnappings. That was our fear and as such, every so often, the cars would stop and we would switch to another car. Each car would alternate in taking the lead.

One thing in common with all of them, however, was the way they drove , the music the listened to, and the smoking they did. The distance from the border to Grozny was about 60 km with about 3 check points along the way. Imagine a 4 car caravan, driving about 140 km/hr, alternating the lead, music loudly blaring with the latest in European and American music, Match Box 20, Nelly, etc. Even though it was only a one two lane highway, they seemed to make a third lane right in the middle, not caring whether the cars in the opposite direction would slow down or stop. In retrospect, they were great drivers who knew what they were doing because driving slow would have meant less time in Grozny and also more chance of kidnapping.

Our first stop was a school on the outskirts of Grozny that was bombed out and destroyed during the war. Currently, half of it is under construction to be completed by September so that it can be running by the beginning of the school year. The construction is being sponsored by the Islamic Development Bank, ECHO (European Commission Humanitarian Organization) and Islamic Relief. The road to the school was terrible and one could hardly call it a road. When we asked, they said it was because of the tanks used to drive through the streets and because they were so heavy they destroyed the roads. But we weren’t even on the main roads, we were in a subdivision. Each house also had holes along the front gates and walls of the house, from shrapnel which also explains the damaged roads. When we went to the school, our route there was twice as long as our route back to the main road, again because of the situation.

Our second stop was the only Children’s Hospital in all of Grozny, but it was small two story building. As we spoke to the head MD and then moved through the wards, I realized that each room had about 5 hospital beds and all were full. In fact, as we walked into the hospital, there was a child who needed to be taken upstairs to a room, but there was no one to do it. The nurses asked our guards to put the guns down and help with the sick person, and after a bit of “you do it not me”, two did volunteer. One of the children in the hospital had come in with a bullet wound in his leg, probably from a stray bullet. Let no one say that the situation in Chechnya is ok, because that is what happens when there are not reports on the news. The fact that this boy was in the hospital with a bullet wound in his leg says otherwise.

From here, I thought that we were going to visit some orphans in Grozny but the security situation turned for the worse along the way and we turned back and immediately headed back to Ingushetia. However, we did get to drive through a part of Grozny proper I was quite surprised and saddened at the same time. Every building taller than 3 stories was bombed out and most were completely raised. There was grass growing in places where buildings stood because the buildings were so destroyed. Now, I was in Sarajevo and Bosnia one year after the war, but Chechnya, 5 years after the last war, was insurmountably worse. Every house in subdivisions was either bombed or shrapnel hit and every building in the city was destroyed. Many shops were located in the ground floor of buildings that looked like they were about to collapse. A normal person would be scared to walk past these buildings, let alone set up shop, but these people were going about their daily lives. Probably the only reason why they are not rebuilding is because they feel there is no point. After the first war the rebuilt and the second war destroyed it all. Why build again when a third might be around the corner?

This trip to Grozny has taught me so much and has rejuvenated my being. No matter how bad the situation gets for us, it could not be worse than what these people are going through. I saw today only the remnants of a devastating war, imagine if a person lived through the destruction. But unfortunately most didn’t and thus the huge number of orphans, many of whom probably suffer from nightmares about their experience. When we were at the school, we met a boy who was 9. After asking him a few questions, he began to cry. When we asked why, they said because he was shy. I don’t believe that. A shy person hides or keeps quite or runs away, but he cried. Only Allah knows why, but with armed guards around him, unfamiliar people asking him questions, maybe he remembered back to a day that he soon would have forgot. May Allah grant me the strength to not give and to have the words to explain and share the story with everyone that I know of what I saw today. The Russians have done a great job of containing the information coming out of Chechnya, but Allah gave me this opportunity to experience it first hand, and insha Allah will keep me alive long enough to share this information with the rest of the world.

Till Next Time,
Babi