A Photo Journal: Azerbaijan Life Today

A PHOTO JOURNAL: AZERBAIJAN LIFE TODAY

Azerbaijan: Red Crescent volunteers Lamiya, 20 years old student of the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University; Red Crescent volunteer:

‘All that I remember about my native village is our two-storied school with a red tile- coated roof and the smell of wild raspberry.

I left my village Mahmudlu Station, which is in Jabrayil district, southern part of lower Garabakh, when I was 8; this was 12 years ago. We had to leave because my parents said it was not safe anymore to stay there; because there was war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Garabakh , the region we lived in. Many families left then’. According to the government statistics, about one million people fled the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. ‘It was diffic ult both for me and my family to get used to a life in a big city and the city people who are always in a hurry’.

‘My parents could not find any work. My fathe r and two elder brothers used to breed cattle and made cheese from sheep’s milk. Our cheese was the most delicious in the village. But these skills are not useful in a big city. Without any other choice available, my father and brothers started to work on a construction site loading and unloading building materials. We were lucky that they could find this work. Many of our fellow -villagers could not find anything. It is a miracle how they survive. What they live on is just pennies they receive from the government’. Internally displaced people (IDPs) from Nagorno-Karabakh receive state monthly allowance of 25,000 Azeri Manat (equivalent of USD 6). This is hardly enough to buy them a loaf of bread. Some international and local non-governmental organisations help with food products but their generosity is diminishing’.

Lamiya’s family live s in a one -room flat, provided by the government. They thank Allah for their luck, because in absence of a general plan to shelter IDPs in Baku and Sumgait, most of their countrymen from Karabakh had no other choice but to squat empty factories, former hotels and sanatoria, schools or administration offices. Some of these building did not have even inside walls and people started to build brick, stone or carton partitions to have some privacy. From the outside, their accommodation looks like a mosaic of different type s of material and color. Most of those buildings did not have proper utilities either. So their new inhabitants have installed makeshift metal pipes, rubber tubes and electrical cables to have water, gas and electricity. Very few have done these installations properly. Pipes are leaking. Cables are old and not well fixed dangling dangerously from ceilings and walls . The sanitary situation is dismal too. In summer, clouds of mosquitoes and flies fill the air. In the backyards, one can see huge piles of waste scattered by the wind. Very few buildings, where IDPs live, have been renovated, mainly by international organizations. In Sabirabad, the situation is even worse. Thousands of IDPs live in tents or wagons that do not protect their residents from cold winter winds and summer heat.

‘I went to a local school’, Lamiya continues. ‘I am grateful to my parents that they allowed me to study. I know many children from my village did not have such an opportunity, because they had to work instead and help their families earn for living’.

‘Usually I never remember my dreams, but one dream I remember vividly; I saw it in my childhood and it engraved into my memory. I dreamt that I grew up and returned to my village as a school teacher’.

Lamiya’s dream has partly come true. She enrolled into the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University. She is studying to teach literature to children in a secondary school.

‘One day, volunteers of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent came to the university. They told us about their organization and Red Crescent programmes. This is how I learned about the Red Crescent English language and computer courses for young refugees and internally displaced people. I decided to take them. In July 2004 I received a certificate of attendance from the Red Crescent. This was great. Encouraged by the success at the courses, I applied for a part-time work at a local translation centre and I got it. I can help now my family with the money I earn. It is not much, but it does not matter. I also started to work as a volunteer at the Red Crescent. I help their information department occasionally to translate various documents; often these are press-releases. I like what I am doing’.

‘A big city can offer different opportunities, but with all my heart I am still attached to my small village. I believe we will go back, one day. I saw it in my dream’. Azerbaijan: Red Crescent volunteers Elvina Rasulova, 23 years old, Red Crescent volunteer health promoter in Sabirabad.

‘My mother is a teacher. My father worked in a local factory in Sabirabad, but after the break-up of the Soviet Union the factory was closed and my father lost his work. He could not find any other. He is still unemployed. My mother’s salary is too little to live on. So I am helping them. I work as a teacher in a local secondary school.

Showing the way: health promotion and education is one of the core I like helping people. It is activities of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent. Through a network of a magical feeling to help trained volunteers, it educates communities on reproductive health, others. In 2002, I joined family planning, nutrition, personal hygiene, infectious and the Red Crescent because preventable diseases and the importance of immunisation this is exactly what they do – help people who need their help. Five times a week I visit a camp in Sabirabad where internally displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh live. Mostly I spend time with children and talk with them about the importance of hygiene. This is really an issue here. It is so dirty in the camp. Cesspools, garbage and lakelets are a common scene and could be sources of intestinal diseases or malaria, especially in summer. There are no playgrounds in the camp and children play in this filthy environment. They do not understand how dangerous this can be. People here do not know about basic hygiene norms and this is what I am trying to do – to share with them basic but essential messages on how to prevent diseases.

I try to make my sessions interesting. In the beginning children were reluctant to listen to me. For them it was another boring school lesson. So I started to organise various games and make the sessions really interactive to get their attention. Eventually I have succeeded. I talk to them about the importance of a healthy diet too. Sometimes we play to make the learning process more interesting. Children pretend that they are vegetables and share with each other why this or that vegetable is useful for health. A six years old Akhmed is our ‘carrot’; he is rich with vitamin A; this vitamin is good to see well. It also helps to have a smooth and healthy skin. Jabrayil is ‘cheese’ and is very useful for digestion; our little ‘princess’ Maryam washes her hands before every meal and knows how to look after her hair and teeth to be healthy and beautiful. We do enjoy ourselves and have lots of laugh. Children are so funny. I talk with their parents too. They are listening. One day I saw them cleaning camp streets after we had discussed how dangerous it is for them and their children to leave weeks’ old garbage rotting on the ground. I was very proud of them!’

Elvina also works as an HIV/AIDS peer educator. She talks with young people in her town about the risk of this global disease and the ways of its prevention.

Azerbaijan: Red Crescent beneficiaries Tahir, is 14 years old but looks like 8. He is suffering from infantile cerebral paralyses which he developed after a puerperal1 trauma. Tahir belongs to the second category of disability according to a former Soviet system. He cannot see well and cannot walk because of atrophies of his muscles.

Tahir has a younger brother and sister. His parents are poor. Neither his farther, Tagiyev Enver , not his mother, Osmanova Reyhan, work. Enver is a plasterer-painter. He never had a permanent job. Engaging with the most vulnerable: Red Crescent volunteers Reyhan married Tahir’s father regularly visit home-bound disabled children in Sumagit, shortly after she graduated Lenkoran, Ganja and Baku to offer companionship, play different from a secondary school; she games, assist them to do homework and learn how to look after was 16 then and has never had themselves independently without anybody’s help. The Red a professional work. She Crescent encourages more volunteers to join its efforts to dedicated all her time to her ill alleviate suffering of the most vulnerable people, such as this son, looking after him. group. It strives to engage larger communities in the

humanitarian work building on the centuries’ old traditions of Tahir’s parents are short of hospitality and compassion of the people of Azerbaijan. This is a money and often they cannot main objective of the Red Crescent’s youth and volunteer afford to pay for the treatment development project of their son, who needs special medication and help from a professional nurse, whish are expensive. Tahir is not able to look after himself independently ; he can hardly do anything alone.

Tahir does not go to school and a teacher from a private school does not visit him either. His learning abilities are good although he quickly becomes tired after two hours of studying and needs to rest periodically. He moves only within a flat in a wheelchair. ‘I imagine that this is my car and I can go wherever I want’, he says . ‘I know though this is just my dream; this can never happen in the real life’.

Tahir does not have many friends; his only ‘friend’ is an old drum, 40 centimeter in diameter, which he inherited from his grandfather. Tahir beats his grandfather’s drum and tries to follow the sound of a departing train, which passes not far from their apartment. ‘I like to play during nights because my drum sounds louder. Everybody can hear it then and hear me as well’.

A door bell rings. ‘Probably, this is my teacher. No, this is Zeynab’- Tahir says.

‘Hello my little hero. How are you today?’ - asks Zeynab entering the room. She is a Red Crescent volunteer nurse. Zeynab and her friends visit disabled children like Tahir and spend time with them.

1 Puerperium: the period of about six weeks after childbirth (med). ‘Two years ago, we decided to help these children. We visit them regularly and help do homework, so that they can catch up with their classmates’.

‘Zeynab is very kind’- interferes Tahir. ‘She treats me not like a teacher. My brother and sister told me that teachers at school are stricter. Zeynab is joking with me. She knows a lot of stories and is a good painter. We often read books together, especially poems. I like poems. Zeynab is very funny and always invents something’.

In addition to helping children do their homework, Red Crescent volunteers also teach them how to look after themselves independently, play different games, draw pictures, knit and read fairy-tales.

‘What kind of games do you usually play with Zeynab?’

‘Puzzles’, replies Tahir. “She is putting and mixing them on the table. Then I have to put together a picture. I have noted how quickly Zeynab finds necessary pieces, but she does not show this to me; she always waits before I can find them first. I know she wants me to win. I also like when she is asking questions on various subjects; it is interesting. I told you, she is an inventor’.

Red Crescent volunteers bring love and care to their little friends . They offer companionship, which is probably the most important for the children ‘imprisoned’ in the four walls of their homes.

‘My drum and I did not have any friends until one day Zeynab came into our lives and everything since has changed’, says little Tahir. This boy is dreaming to become a musician and play on weddings. ‘There are many people at weddings. They are dancing and singing. This should be fun. Besides I will be able to earn a lot of money for my mother. I want to help her. I want her to be proud of me’.

Reaching communities to strengthen their health At a public beach, Red Crescent volunteers distribute leaflets on safe blood, prevention of HIV/AIDS and volunteer blood donation. With the people Red Crescent volunteers teach basic first aid to local communities in Azerbaijan.

Preparedness saves lives

Red Crescent volunteer teams were among the first on the site to assess the emergency needs caused by fires in Dashkesan and Gedebey districts. Within three days the Red Crescent dispatched basic relief items from a warehouse in Baku and delivered to the disaster areas. Some 54 families were provided with shelter, water and food.

‘I want the world to be a better place. I want people to be more humane’, - says a little boy in a play, put on by Red Crescent volunteers in one of the local schools in their efforts to challenge violence and discrimination in all its forms and promote tolerance and respect for cultural diversity.

Bringing joy into the lives of the destitute

Every year, the Red Crescent organises a summer camp on the sea side for children from deprived families to enable them escape a grey daily routine, have some rest and fun, meet other children and learn something new. Last year, the national society offered this opportunity to internally displaced children from Nagorno-Karabakh. Days spent in the summer camp with Red Crescent volunteers will probably stay in the memory of these children for a long time, because they were different from their every day life in mud-brick houses that poorly protect them from cold desert winds and dust. The single dream these children nurture is that one day they will return home, their parents had to leave more than a decade ago, and be happy again.