Dhenghiz Khazajev spends much of his time staying with his grandparents in Kunashak. In Muslyumovo, where his mother lives, life is too hard and there are no facilities for him. Dhenghiz’s legs still cause him a lot of pain, but he is doing much better than before. For a long time he couldn’t walk at all. After five operations he is now able to manoeuvre around on crutches, “but I still have to move very carefully, I can’t carry anything really, because I might drop it”. His mother, a midwife by profession, says she knew very soon after Dhenghiz was born prematurely that something was wrong: “He couldn’t sit or walk, when other children of his age could, it was obvious he had ‘river disease’. Dhenghiz goes to a special school for disabled children in Cheljabinsk. Dhenghiz would like to be a driver when he’s grown up. His mother wants him to have an office job “where he doesn’t have to move a lot”. Dhengiz’s grandfather took part in the cleaning up operation of the Techa River banks. Both he and his wife suffer from radial disease.