The children we help in this program will one day be responsible for rebuilding their country. Unfortunately people mostly associate Chechnya with the war, and we often forget that there are not only the insurgents and terrorists but also peaceful people who have lost their homes, mothers, wives and children – innocent victims of the war.

 In the spring and summer of 2003 we welcomed girls and boys from a refugee camp in Nazran. They stayed with our teachers’ families and took part in all our activities, including clowning and going on a steamboat up the Volga.

Minat & Aishat at Moscow Zoo. 2003                                                                                         Seliger 2006. Lalita is dancing

We organised a real holiday for these children who had spent all their lives in refugee camps. But our real aim was to show our Russian children and the Chechen visitors how friendship does not depend on nationality. We hoped that the friendships started there would help end the awful war.

At our studio.2003. Aslanbek,Asya,Minat                                                          

The money needed for this program was raised by our students through selling their work at a charity auction. The children decided which cause the money raised would go towards. The program was a success and we decided to continue this work.

                                                                                Seliger 2006. Minat

Now each summer children from the refugee camp come to our summer camp.

      Heda Supianova:

Until the first war we lived in a village outside Grozny, but when the war started we moved into Grozny. The first war actually started in Grozny, in the city, and then moved out to the villages. It wasn’t so dangerous in the city after a while, so that’s why we moved there. We stayed there until the second war, from 1994 to 1999. When the second war started we had to move to Ingushetia. We now live in Ingushetia. We would go back if we had somewhere to live, but our house was destroyed. They have promised compensation and we’re hoping we’ll get some.  

I first heard about Maria’s Children from Aslan. He came here first and then we visited. After his visit he told us in great detail about everything he had done. We listened but couldn’t quite believe it all. When Aslan asked Maria if he could invite his sisters – me and Lalita – to the summer camp, and Maria said that he could, we were so happy we just couldn’t believe it. And so we came and it turned out that everything he had told us was true. It was all real!

We all met at the auction held before the camp in 2005. Three days after the auction we left for Seliger. It was magical at Seliger. A real fairytale. I liked how everyone around us was so understanding, everyone was so kind to one another. Everyone was so lovely. It was like a real fairytale. Everything was new for me. I had never slept under the open sky like we did there on the island. There were lots of games. Although I didn’t learn how to juggle – I don’t really want to – it was really interesting. I don’t have Aslan’s talents for drawing but after Seliger I realised how fun drawing is and I learnt how to do it a bit. I also liked looking after the children; we were all assigned to one child each. I had Nastia. It’s really nice feeling that you can help in some way. It wasn’t difficult looking after Nastia.

I have already left school and am in my second year at university in the physics and maths department. Maths is really difficult and I try hard to understand it. I always thought that Muscovites are different. Moscow is the capital of Russia, after all, and I thought that Muscovites weren’t so friendly. But now I see that there are also lots of kind people here. Aslan and I went in the metro for the first time yesterday. Without any adults, on our own. I’d heard back home from people who come to Moscow that if you ask for directions or something like that a Muscovite will say he doesn’t know, even if he really knows, because they don’t like talking to strangers. But yesterday I realised that that just isn’t true. Everyone I asked gave me directions, told me where to go, which station I needed. They made a really wonderful impression. I can’t explain it in words – if only I could tell you in Chechen!

Aslanbek Gaisumov:

We live in a temporary resettlement camp in Ingushetia. There’s a school principal who works with the president of the Fund for Deported Peoples and Maria met him. She asked if it would be possible to invite over some children from the camp. He told our principal who chose me – she needed someone who could draw well, so she chose me. And so the first time I came over I met Maria with ‘Maria’s Children’ and everyone in the studio. That was in 2003. It made a great impression on me – everything was amazing.

We then set off on a big river steamship – there were so many people. I made loads of new friends, all very kind. I had imagined something different – everything turned out a lot better. The people were kind and no one swore or was rude.

I like everything at Seliger – there’s nothing there I don’t like. The painting. The spa evening with massages. You wouldn’t forget that. I set a record that summer – I gave 10 children a massage – my hands really hurt afterwards. I won’t forget the treasure hunt either – we went on a boat from one island to the next.

When I leave school I want to study and work at the same time. I want to get into design or architecture college. We don’t have any colleges like that in Grozny. I dream of studying in Moscow or St. Petersburg.