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Classified as ‘Wanderers", Alya’s Family and other Jewish Refugees from Dagestan Receive Vital Assistance from DSOS
For Alya, age 6, celebrations of Jewish holidays with her Grandma Yelena at the local Hesed welfare center in Pyatigorsk are a bright spot in what is otherwise a struggle for survival. The only other occasional reprieve from the challenges of her home life is children’s club activities that Alya attends at the JDC-sponsored center, where the quiet little girl has the opportunity to socialize with other Jewish youngsters. "The Hesed is the only help we have and the only hope in our difficult life," said Yelena, who is her granddaughter’s primary caretaker. The girl’s mother abandoned her, leaving her father, Mikha, and Yelena to raise her. This event was only one in a series of trials in the family’s history.
Years earlier in Dagestan, where Yelena used to live with her husband and young Mikha, the two witnessed the head of the family being murdered before their eyes. This incident not only caused the mother and son tremendous psychological trauma, but the two had to flee for their lives to escape a similar fate, leaving their home and everything that they knew. In the oblast, subdivision of the Former Soviet Union, of Dagestan as in neighboring Chechnya, anyone who was not a local — including Jews — was targeted for persecution. As refugees, Yelena and Mikha crossed the border into the first community that would absorb them — Pyatigorsk — and the transition was overwhelming. Poverty continued to plague them. Alya was born into the instability of this refugee family, her mother’s absence sorely noted from the start. "Mikha’s family life was not happy," says Yelena of her son’s relationship. Mikha, who suffers from schizophrenia, has never managed to hold a job. Despite Yelena and Mikha’s deep love for little Alya, they are not able to provide adequately care for her. They have no physical possessions, and lack documentation for their current place of residence. The threesome is referred to as "BOMZHes" — people who have no place of residence, wanderers. Left to their own devices, the family has no real possibility for improvement. Recognizing their complicated situation, the local JDC-sponsored Hesed tries to help the family as much as possible, providing Yelena with welfare services including food, medical consultations and winter relief — cash assistance to subsidize the cost of survival during this harsh season in the FSU. Due to their qualification as group IV invalids, Mikha and Alya also receive food sets from Hesed. The young girl also receives medications, as well as special assistance from DSOS — JDC’s emergency fund for Jewish children in grave need — including clothing, shoes and bedding. Through the "Our Home" program, which helps refugees and other individuals forced by their circumstances to become immigrants, the family has also been provided material assistance to pay rent and to purchase a refrigerator, linens, towels and supplementary food items. The shack where they live, once unsanitary and entirely in shambles, has been cleaned and upgraded with JDC assistance. The actual number of refugee families in this Northern Caucasus region is unknown, as official statistics only account for those registered with the state (which are few). Most of these families live below the poverty line, do not have their own homes or essential property, and have endured harsh and often traumatic conditions. Their most vital problem is to get money to pay for rent and municipal services. Most of these adults are unemployable, lacking professional training. And the cycle of financial instability trickles down to their children, for whom they are unable to provide adequate food, clothing, footwear, school stationery and textbooks, payment for further education, and recreation activities. JDC is working, through various programs, to ease the plight of these impoverished and isolated Jews. Yulia, JDC Children’s Initiative Coordinator in Pyatigorsk, explains that Alya’s case is particularly complicated. "There is ongoing poverty and serious challenges with the father. Our assistance to the family is vital, both for the adults as well as for the young girl." Alya will be enrolled in the local Jewish Day School for the 2005 academic year. September 2005 |
