Visiting Refugees

For the past two days, we have been waking up in the morning and driving from Nalchik to Nazran to interview the beneficiaries of Islamic Relief. But before speaking about the beneficiaries, I would like to take a tangent on something interesting. And that is the way that the people drive in the area. We normally went in three cars, with security personal in front and behind, and most times, on very bumpy roads, we would be driving about 80-90 mph. The interesting thing is that these drivers do not slow down or stop for anything except…………. They definitely don’t stop for cars, weaving around them into on coming traffic, and the first few times my heart jumped with the close calls we had. However, all of them slow down for animals. Mainly, cows are the Kings of the Road, with no fear of being it. They casually stand in the road or walk across and even as the cars weave around them, sometimes even honking, they just stand and do what they do best. But back to the beneficiaries, Islamic Relief has a contract with the the UN World Food Program to supply food to Chechan refugees living in Nazran as well as the Ingush people. Going to the first distribution center, we met up with a family in the town of Ali Yurt, on the outskirts on Nazran. It is very emotional to sit and patiently listen to a family tell of the horrors of war, of the situation they are in, and it would take a very cold person not to be affected.

As we walked through the camps, we stopped and spoke to 4-5 member families living in a small room. In some buildings, 25 families each live in a room the size of our bedrooms, no AC in the summer and no heaters in the winter. The have a communal toilet (usually one) and share a kitchen with, at most, three stoves. And they have been living like this, some of them, since the first Chechan war!!!! It is sad to see their state, and even sadder to know that the world has forgotten about them. All but three aid agencies have left the area for lack of funding.

In one of the towns, after stopping and visiting with families, we say a large mosque perched on hill overlooking the town. It was very beautiful and we did stop to visit it. It was still under construction and the caretaker told us that it was being built by private donations from the local people. It had the capacity of approximately 600 and he expected it to be full, once opened, for jumma prayer. It is interesting to note the level of Islam and how strong it gets as you move east from Nalchik. In the entire city of Nalchik, it was told to us that there is only 1 mosque (population 300k). Next to Kabardino-Balkaria is North Ossetia which is 90% Christian. Crossing this republic and moving further east, one comes to Ingushetia and Nazran as its capital, which has approx. 185 mosques. Further east of Ingushetia is Chechnya which speaks for itself. Maybe the number of mosques in a locality might not be the standard of how religious a community is in the US, but in this area it does matter. Why, because the communists destroyed all signs of religion. Any mosques one finds were all built after the fall of communism. But mosques aren’t the only thing. In Nazran, compared to Nalchik, the women are more modestly dressed and the men where kufis as a sign of their identity. Also, most of the kids we met knew at least the fatiha and some other surahs, taught to them by their parents. In Nalchik, some don’t even know what fatiha is!!!!

One of our plans was to also visit the school in Beslan that was tragically destroyed after Basayev’s followers took over the school and took hostages. However, Allah is the best of planners. Islamic Relief’s security chief told us that North Ossetia was not safe for us to go into and visit. Now, driving from Nalchik to Nazran, as I mentioned, one has to go through North Ossetia, but in North Ossetia, one has to drive through Beslan. But one thing I didn’t notice until after he told us that we could not go visit the school was that in all the days we were there, we would speed through North Ossetia and not once had we ever stopped there. Islamic Relief, donated 3 ambulances to the hospitals in Beslan, but the common people are still upset, agreeably, with what happened at the school. It is still fresh in their minds because the couple of terrorists that did survive are on trial right now.

Tomorrow, we leave this area to come back to the US. I will write more about my feelings after leaving, but one thing persists in my mind. That I came and saw the situation, and now can leave and go back to my comfortable existence. The refugees cannot leave and must face the situation every day, and the Islamic Relief staff cannot leave as they have dedicated their lives (literally) to helping the poor and needy. May Allah allow me to never forget what I have seen and constantly pray for their patience and success.

Till Next Time,
Babi.