Fungi-assisted march of the victorious, yet detested: the covert subtleties and guidelines of search parties
Vanished Souls: The Unsung Heroes of LizaAlert
Hey there, bud! Today's hangout takes us to the heart of Russia, where an extraordinary community of volunteers band together to find the lost souls that slip through the cracks. The unsung heroes of LizaAlert are changing lives, one search at a time, in the shadows of mother Russia.
MISSING IN RUSSIA
In a world where time marches forward, people vanish. In the blink of an eye, someone is gone, leaving a trail of questions and concern. The train station, the marketplace, the familiar woods are no longer the same. The wind howls with the echoes of the lost, and the quiet speaks the stories of those left behind.
LizaAlert, a Telegram channel, is the beacon in the darkness, a gathering place for the searchers, the vigilant, and the relentless. A realm of green vans, searchers in orange, and the enigmatic alerts that ring the bell of hope, spelling the words: "Found, alive" or "Found, deceased."
UNLIKELY WARRIORS
Awesome girl, Victoria, not yet a teenager, and "old man" Nikolai, twice her age – they're just a couple of the names that pass through the LizaAlert channel. Their stories are untold, their fates uncertain, until the notification dial reveals the outcome, raw and undiluted.
One weekend, I'm invited to a LizaAlert volunteer training session, where seasoned veterans and brand-new warriors bind together. The venue is the Izmailovo Equestrian Club, a place where horses once pranced and now plays host to a different breed of riders – the human kind.
THE RED FAMILY
According to Nina Bystrova, a three-year LizaAlert veteran, time is the enemy. It's a cruel taskmaster, clawing away at the chances of finding a missing person. During the first 24 hours, they have a stunning success rate of 96%, dipping to 48% on the third day, and becoming practically nil after that. The focus is on managing resources wisely, threading the needle of efficiency and compassion.
The team is not a band of superheroes; they are caring individuals, armed with determination and a desire to help others. And as the weather warms, people head to the great outdoors, the forests are ripe for picnics, and school vacations are looming, the requests pour in. At their busiest, the team can handle up to a hundred requests a day, with a third of those seekers getting lost in the densely wooded wilderness.
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER
Among the newcomers, there's a peculiar face – Alexander Felshtein, a sprightly 80-year-old man who's just not content to sit at home with his grandkids. He's already lent a hand in seven urban searches, one forest search, and there's no stopping him.
"I recently left my previous job and dedicated myself to searching for people. I participate because it fulfilling to save someone from trouble," he says, his gray hair bouncing as he runs like the wind. Snap! [Switch to Photo Bank KP]
LOST AND FOUND
- Valentina Naumova joined the squad after seeing its power at work six years ago when it found a friend of hers a thousand kilometers from home. Now, she's a search coordinator who waits for her turn to join the team at the age of 18, imagining only superheroes could do the job, until her reality smashes those illusions at a drill marked by the shadows of missing children and their haunting voices.
Valentina would soon find more than just lost souls; she would find love in the form of Igor, a man who provides first aid to the injured at the scene. Together, they would save a lost person on a challenging search – a search for love that she would discover within the ranks of this dedicated group.
Valentina and Igor found their love and each other amidst the piney chaos of the woods. [Switch to Photo Bank KP]
- Valentina recalls a time when they gathered with family, discussing a distressing case where three hundred volunteers were searching for a missing child. The boy had wandered away without telling anyone, only to be left unnoticed by countless cars passing by on the busy Yaroslavskoe Highway. A truck driver finally spotted the poster about the missing child and contacted his family, proving that hearts and minds often blow right past us in the wind.
The squad is open to anyone; even a man in a wheelchair, who may lack the physical prowess to crawl through forest thickets, but he is a master at coordinating search efforts and making calls – a skill that is just as essential in the hunt for the lost.
EVERY MEMBER HAS THEIR MISSION
Ten years ago, a motorcycle accident left a man bedridden in a hospital. As he browsed the internet, he stumbled upon a call for ham radio operators, cartographers, and other oddball skill sets. Suddenly, his absence from home at night took on a new purpose – the purpose of finding missing people. It was his new hobby, his new calling – LisaAlert. [LisaAlert archive]
As a bonus, you'll get many beautiful nature photos! Photos: LisaAlert archive.
ARE U SSEEKIN PEOPL?
Grigorii Sergeev, the leader of the LisaAlert squad, is one of those who searched for the 5-year-old Lisa Fomkina who disappeared with her aunt in the dense Orekhovo-Zuyevo woods. Lisa and her aunt were found dead, and the squad was named in Lisa's honor. Every year since, they've accepted new volunteers, spreading the word about their mission.
"We don't turn down anyone's help," says Grigorii, "We accept volunteers from the age of 18, and we have our own veteran – an 80-year-old searcher from St. Petersburg with the callsign 'Starche.'" But here, it's not just about experience, it's also about luck. Sometimes, with no signal, no moonlight, and the rain pouring down, a missing child is found thanks to the ears of a newcomer, gentle and attuned to the faintest calls of the wild.
The hardest part is when a person remains lost. They die of hypothermia and dehydration before they can feel the pain. But every little bit of information helps, and every second counts. Don't ever think that no one notices. Be that example of humanity – of the power to search and save.
[LizaAlert archive]
- The LizaAlert team, consisting of individuals like Victoria and Nikolai, work tirelessly to find the lost souls in Russia, with a striking success rate of 96% within the first 24 hours.
- Among the new members of LizaAlert, Alexander Felshtein, an 80-year-old man, stands out for his dedication to the cause, having participated in multiple searches already.
- Valentina Naumova, who joined LizaAlert after witnessing its power six years ago, now serves as a search coordinator, and has found love among the team in the form of Igor, a first aid provider.
- Members of LizaAlert come from various walks of life, including fashion-and-beauty enthusiasts, food-and-drink connoisseurs, home-and-garden aficionados, travelers, educators, casino-and-gambling enthusiasts, and sports fanatics.
- One of the unique aspects of LizaAlert is the inclusion of a man in a wheelchair, who uses his skills in coordinating search efforts and making calls to play an essential role in the mission.
- Grigorii Sergeev, the leader of LizaAlert, accepts volunteers of all ages and experiences, emphasizing that sometimes it is the newcomers with their gentle and attuned ears who find the missing.
- Despite the challenges and heartbreak that come with the search for the lost, every bit of information and every second counts, and one should never underestimate the power to search and save.
