A youth camp named “Rainbow” was opened this summer in the Azerbaijani village of Nabran. “Rainbow” is an international project launched by several non-governmental organizations in the framework of the Inter-ethnic Cooperation in the Caucasus programme. Ingush and Chechen children were invited to the camp this year.
The children had to win a contest to go to the camp. They had to compete with each other in knowledge of Chechen customs and traditions. The children who won the contest also spent some time learning the Azerbaijani language. One girl has even learnt an Azerbaijani song by heart.
At the camp children were hiking, building fires, playing football and volleyball, organizing various contests. In addition to these activities they also learnt more about Caucasian traditions. The children have even launched their own website, which they will use for communication with each other after leaving the camp. However, they all are looking forward to going to it next year.
A lot of Chechen people remember the times when children from all over the country visited their republic and spent their vacations there. All the youth camps built in Chechnya were destroyed during the war. The local authorities have undertaken a project aimed at restoring these camps, but the problem of finance hasn’t been solved, meaning a lot of Chechen children have no chance of spending their summer vacations with pleasure. This year only 30 thousand children went to summer camps.
Timur Utsayev, Grozny. Exclusively to VK
