French university students help Chechen peers find a route to Paris

The students decided to create a group modeled after Médecins Sans Frontières, the Paris-based nonprofit group that sends doctors into war zones and other areas where care is needed. "We went to the presidents of [French] universities and asked them to give the students a free education; we asked Air France to give them free tickets," says Salefranque. "Everyone agreed."

The French students also solicited other donations and got political backing from Jack Lang, former French Minister of Culture, and Bernard Kouchner, founder of Médecins Sans Frontières.

The group's first success came when they brought Bakhaeva, Iznur, and six other Chechens to Paris last fall to begin two years of study in France.

Next year, they hope to bring 18 more students from Chechnya to France and others from Rwanda. At the same time, Etudes Sans Frontières is working to create ties with American and British universities, because many of the students they hope to help speak English.

"What all these students have done is remarkable," says French writer André Glucksmann, an outspoken opponent of the war in Chechnya. "The people in Grozny need to know there are people out there thinking of them. This is an antiterrorism mission. We need to signal to the Chechen people that there is a future."

Almost all the Chechens in the current group say that when their studies are finished they want to return home and help to rebuild their country.

It will not be an easy task. Last September, male and female Chechen rebels seized a school in Beslan, Russia. The hostage-taking and kidnapping ended in the deaths of 344 civilians, 172 of whom were children.

Since the incident, many Chechens say they live under even tighter scrutiny by Russian troops, with some complaining of harassment and even torture. Before the incident in Beslan, they say, young Chechen boys were treated as potential terrorists, but now young Chechen girls also live under a cloud of suspicion.

Some of the Chechen students feel guilt for leaving their homeland, says Salefranque. The young men, in particular, sometimes think they should be home defending their country. Iznur says half of his high school class was lost to war.

But for the most part, the students try to remind themselves that they will be bringing knowledge and expertise with them when they return home.

"I want to open a business," says Svetlana Muzaeva. "I couldn't finish my studies in Chechnya. We're in constant danger, but not everyone has a way out."

"What is the future for young people who have spent half their lives seeing only war?" asks Bakhaeva. "They don't have a childhood."

It is a matter of opening their eyes to new possibilities, she explains. "When children grow up with war, all they want is war," she says.

The degree to which Chechen children are surrounded by violence, she says, makes it all the more vital that they have access to learning. They need education, she says, "so they know what it means to be a human being."

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