蜜芽传媒

Lana Estemirova grew up in Chechnya in the 1990s, the daughter of the human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, who was assassinated when Lana was only 15. This memoir is dedicated to her mother.

Lana tells the story of her childhood, and what happened to her after her mother died. There was a powerful bond between mother and daughter, 鈥榓n invisible thread that could never be broken, not even by death鈥�. Sometimes Lana is sent to live with relatives, but wherever possible Natalya brings her young daughter to live with her in Grozny - and so Lana is able to give us a vivid child鈥檚 eye view of what it is like to grow up in a warzone. There is terrifying danger, but also a lot of fun, and even deep happiness.

This second episode opens in 1998, when Natalya and her four-year-old daughter are living in Grozny. Natalya is beginning her human rights work, recording interviews with survivors of an infamous secret Russian prison. Despite this grim work, she is determined to keep up appearances, and to make their life as normal as possible:

'鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter how little money you have, as long as you can disguise it,鈥� Mum lectured me while applying glossy bungundy lipstick, most likely the only one she had. And no matter how dire our financial situation was, Mum made sure we always looked well put-together. Her secret was an old sewing machine; scraps of fabric bought at the market were transformed into sartorial miracles. All dressed up, we would head to the only remaining patisserie in Grozny for a glass of juice and a slice of cake, our sacred Sunday tradition.

鈥淚 could have bought a hunk of meat with that money,鈥� Mum would tell me. 鈥淢y friends scolded me for spending it on cake. But it was more important to me that you had a normal childhood.鈥�'

Read by Ell Potter

Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke

Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver

Executive Producer: Sara Davies

A Loftus Media production for 蜜芽传媒 Radio 4

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