by Slobodan DURMANOVIC
They learned about Balkans Syndrome in the most difficult way imaginable.
This came in addition to all the misfortunes that have befallen them since they were expelled from their home near Tuzla and their house was destroyed. They found shelter for a brief time in Bijeljina and then moved to Kosovo, to Pristina, where Nada's husband worked in field services. Nada found a job at the hospital in the so-called hospital settlement. After the NATO bombing of Serbia, they returned to Bijeljina.
Since then they have lived in an unfinished Roma house in Kulina Bana Street with two other refugee families. They live in a room separated by a curtain into "two rooms" - Nada's mother in one area and Nada and the children in the other.
Soon after arriving from Pristina, both Nada and Natasa became ill: the mother with skin cancer, the daughter with leukemia. Nada has claimed for some time that the illness was caused by radiation from the NATO bombing.
This was partially confirmed by physicians at the Military Medical Academy [in Belgrade]. A complete correlation could not be made due to lack of detailed analysis of the terrain in Kosovo immediately following the bombing. "Cluster bombs, her father's disappearance, stress... These are all reasons for Natasa's illness. I felt the changes on my face a month after the bombing," says Nada. She adds that many bombs fell in the area where she lived and worked. "The hospital is a kilometer or two from the barracks... We worked with masks on for a while. During the first days of the bombing, we would lower the patients into the basement; later, there was no time," she says.
The disappearance of her husband and the children's father added to the stress. In March of the last year he returned to Kosovo to attempt to find his missing brother but he was captured. Only recently did he manage "somehow to escape from the Albanian terrorists". And that's it. Nada doesn't want to say anything more about it because "that was suggested to her by the Police" in Serbia, where her husband is again employed in the same capacity as in Kosovo.
However, even his job can no longer pay for the treatment of his wife and younger daughter. In addition to his pay, Nada receives approximately 600 dinars minimum salary that is running months late. She is unable to work due to her illness. Her face is covered by a morass of huge scars and she declines to be photographed. She was received no assistance except for two injections for Natasa from the Serbian Ministry of Health, an occasional package from the Red Cross in Bijeljina and a free examination in the health care facility of the Russian SFOR brigade in Ugljevik. "I've had bad experiences with foreigners. I appealed to Doctors Without Borders and a host of other humanitarian organizations but it all amounted to nothing," says Nada.
Until a few days ago the windows of the room in which the Arsenijevices live were covered by nylon from either side. The house was fixed up a little only after a humanitarian action.
Everything else remains almost unchanged. The few thousand marks collected so far have not done much to change the fate of Natasa and Nada Arsenijevic. Their room is still heated by a single space heater that is detrimental to the health of the ill little girl, doctors say. The little girl is on a strict diet: no fat, no milk, no spices or canned food. She is allowed to eat only pesticide-free fruits and vegetables, eggs and domestically grown poultry. A few square meters of garden enclosed by nylon bags right next to the house serves well toward this purpose.
For medical treatment, Natasa alone needs 1,400 marks per month for injections which she must receive for 20 subsequent months. A skipped month requires a repeat of the entire therapy. Natasa received her last injection in April of last year.
Nada "doesn't worry much" about her own treatment. "I just care about my daughter," she says.
And falls silent.
While we sit inside, both daughters play outside with a small dog of indeterminate pedigree. The dog helps Natasa wile away the time while her sister is at school. Natasa did not start first grade this year, as she should have, because of her weak immune system. "She can only play outside when the weather is nice," says Nada. When it is cold, she lies in bed inside covered with blankets and as far as possible from the space heater.
She asks those who do not believe in giving money to please send medicine for Natasa instead; she takes Lecoptin capsules (350 mg) and Ferroneptic (100 mg). Nada uses Resochin tablets and Endoxan.