"This is what I need for happiness": Lisa Alert volunteers — about their work

The first material from our cycle devoted to the activities of the search party "Lisa Alert" was published under the heading "Rusty tin — this is how missing people are treated in Russia." By saying this, the head of the detachment, Grigory Sergeev, meant apathetic behavior on the part of state structures. And by no means the indifference of the Russians.

The ranks of volunteers are constantly replenished with active people, many can no longer imagine their lives without abandoning everything and breaking down for hours of searching. They could be called heroes of the time, but they themselves do not consider their work heroic. So let's not add pathos: we talked to people who just don't give a damn about the misfortunes of others.

Muscovite Anna Budovaya became a volunteer of the detachment five and a half years ago. It is impossible to count how many search activities on her account. But definitely not less than two hundred.

— Most of all, children's searches are embedded in the memory, — says Anna. — The most emotionally difficult for me was the search for two children from the village of Pesochny in the Yaroslavl region. A boy and a girl are missing. The active phase lasted for three weeks: we constantly combed the neighborhood, questioned possible witnesses. Then the search moved to the information stage. Periodically they worked out certificates, re-pasted orientations, agreed on the placement of information on billboards. All this lasted for two and a half years, until the children were found dead.

— How far from Moscow have you ever traveled?

— Once I participated in a search in Chukotka. A six-year-old boy from the city of Anadyr did not return from a walk. The conditions were very difficult. February, 30 degrees below zero, chest-deep snow. For a week we wandered between the local villages. We walked an incredible number of kilometers. And we understood that at any moment we could meet wild animals.

— Did it work out?

— Thank God. Last year there was a story when one of the groups came across a bear while combing the forest. Fortunately, he did not attack them, but people came out of the forest with completely white faces.

— Did you find that boy from Anadyr?

— A few months later, a frozen body was found.

— And how did you get into the squad?

— In 2011, there was a very loud search for a student of Moscow State University Irina Artemova. I began to follow what Lisa Alert was doing. But then I didn't join the squad. I didn't have any experience, and I didn't think I could help in any way. Therefore, before becoming a volunteer, I came to the exercises in Kudinovo. There were training sessions for beginners. And after the exercises, I began to go on a real search. At first, like many, I took on everything indiscriminately. And somewhere in a couple of years I started filtering, I still can't forget about work.

It's rare when someone decides to get trained first. Usually people respond to an ad they see on the Internet: a person has disappeared, help is needed. And only later, when they begin to regularly participate in the search, they realize that it would be useful to gain useful knowledge at exercises and trainings. IT engineer Kirill Monakov went this way.

— I joined the squad after I saw a message on the Lisa Alert forum. A boy got lost in Moscow, and we spent the whole night combing entrances, attics, pasting up landmarks, interviewing employees of convenience stores. In general, they acted according to the standard scheme. And in the morning we found him. For me, the search for children is especially important. But there were already so many of them that they merge into one big search.

— But still what is the most memorable?

— The most memorable one is not just for children. I remember well how they were looking for my grandmother in the Lublin Park in the rain. Because he found her body on the edge of the forest. It was a criminal case, by the way. We memorized the coordinates, followed our footsteps back, called the others. I was struck by the behavior of the patrolmen. They arrived in unsuitable shoes and because of this decided not to go to the forest, but to wait for the investigator. In the meantime, I went to the nearest OBI for a tape to protect the crime scene.

— How do you usually get information that a new search is open and people are needed?

— There used to be SMS mailing, then for some reason it was legally prohibited. Push notifications and a telegram channel appeared. It has become much more convenient. And when there was a pause, one of the elders wrote to me most often.

Journalist Ksenia Knorre Dmitrieva has a special story. She was in the squad on the instructions of the editorial board.

— I came to search to write a report about "Lisa Alert". I spent the whole night walking in the woods. I remember me and a team of quadrocyclists, performing a task, fell into a swamp together with ATVs. And before I went home, I did an interview with coordinator Viktor Dulin. Recalling his first search, he said the following phrase: "I realized that this is what I need for happiness." Then, when I was driving in the car, I realized: I also need to become a volunteer for happiness.

— Was that search successfully completed?

— Yes, my grandmother was found when I was already at home. They wrote to me about it, and the feeling that I experienced at that time was quite an important motivator to continue to go in search.

— How much do you already have in your account?

— Relatively few, about 30. I have been traveling rarely lately, because I am mainly engaged in administrative work. I am a member of the media interaction group, and I am also an instructor of the prevention group. I go to schools during the school year with free lectures. The demand is very high, but we try to meet everyone halfway. We have two blocks of classes in our program, for younger children and older ones. With six-year-olds, we talk about what to do if you get lost in the woods or the city. And we teach 11-year-olds how to behave when a stranger, let's say, shows interest in you. In addition, we use our own example to tell about volunteer activities. I think it's important.

— Does this kind of work take a lot of time?

— Any person who is ready to participate in the activities of the detachment can choose the mode that is convenient for him. Everyone's help is important. There are special working groups, and as soon as a task arises, it is taken by the person who can solve it as quickly as possible.

— Have there been cases when they could not move away from what they saw during the search for a long time?

— Last summer we were looking for two boys who went to the forest in Stupino. We arrived at the place in the evening. Heavy rain, thunderstorm. We walked through the woods with a partner, worked for a response, but it didn't have any effect. In the morning, leaving for work, I saw the parents of these children. Mom just didn't have a face, she didn't look at anyone, she was in a terrible state. And Dad stared intently at each volunteer. Words cannot describe how much grief there was in those eyes. And until noon, when the boys were finally found, I couldn't think of anything else.