Reporter, Banja Luka, Republika Srpska
Issue 143, January 16, 2001

BALKANS SYNDROME

Ailing refugees Nada Arsenijevic and her six year-old daughter, Natasa

On the edge of life

“Soon after arriving from Pristina, both Nada and Natasa became ill: the
mother with cancer of the skin, the daughter with leukemia”

Nada Arsenijevic and her two daughters, six year-old Natasa and eight
year-old Natalija, are not a typical refugee family.

They learned about Balkans Syndrome in the most difficult way imaginable.

In addition to all the misfortunes which have befallen them since they were
expelled from near Tuzla, where 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 Romany house in Kulina Bana
Street with two other refugee families. In a room separated by a curtain
into “two rooms” are 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 cancer of the skin, 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 time. 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 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 “it 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 which 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. Only after the humanitarian action
was initiated was the house fixed up a little.

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 which 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.

SLOBODAN DURMANOVIC

Assistance

Nada has opened an account for assistance with the Semberska Banka in
Bijeljina (number 70700-620-4-21-5070000/1600-4013-7).

She asks those who do not believe in giving money to please send medicine
for Natasa instead; she takes Lekoptin (sp?) capsules (350 mg) and
Feroneptik (sp?) (100 mg). Nada uses Resochin (sp?) tablets and Endoksan
(sp?)

Translated by S. Lazovic (Jan. 17, 2001)

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