The 'voices' within
- Biographies
Katya Kornilova, Tamara Tutarauly and Sasha Koryako
Katja Kornilova, Tamara Tutarauly and Sasha Koryako are three very different girls, brought together because they've all been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The three teenagers, who all live in the town of Pervoularsk, near Russia’s industrial city of Yekaterinburg, are consumed with basketball, shopping, school dramas and the natural angst of teenage years. Diabetes rarely comes up in their conversations, which centre around boys, music and the latest fashions. Together, they are a bundle of energy that is only just barely contained.
Sasha’s days are dominated by school and friends. This 15-year-old loves to listen to her music, play games on her computer and read her collection of fairytales, which she enjoys for their happy endings. She adores her cat, her stuffed animals and her 21-year-old brother. She dreams of becoming a vet one day.
Sixteen-year-old Katja is well-loved among her friends for her easy-going character, friendly nature and ready smile. This young girl has a penchant for collecting calendars of little children outlined in glitter by American photographer Lisa Jane, which she tapes on to the mirror in her room. She loves drawing, making jewellery and embroidering, and for exercise she likes to swim and dance.
Tamara is a mischievous 13-year-old with a good sense of humour. She wants to be a hairdresser when she grows up, and her fashionable hairdo, long painted nails and colourful clothes are a testament to how much stock she places in fashion. She is a committed basketball player, and her days spent at school with her friends are days to be cherished.
Victor Martin Jensen
Victor Martin Breth Jensen, the only child of Niels and Merete, lives in Århus, Denmark and was born on 9 September 1994. His diagnosis of type 1 diabetes at the age of eight came as a shock to his doting parents, and adjusting to the dramatic change in lifestyle was gradual and difficult for the small family.
Today, however, Victor is a prime example of a child living well with diabetes; he's well-controlled and well-educated about his disease. He is an aspiring young artist, preferring to paint above all else, and choosing to express his feelings about diabetes through his artwork.
Victor is a shy boy, described as a ‘loner’ by his parents. He loves hiding out in his room, surrounded by familiar objects like his crayons, his computer, his toys and games, and his comics. The growing boy hides his stuffed animals under his bed during the daytime, but at night he hugs his bears to his chest before drifting off to sleep.
Parojn Chalermrojin
Parojn is an only child and the centre of his parents’ lives. Parojn’s parents had tried for many years to have a child. So when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of five, it seemed especially unfair.
Parojn, who is ten years old, relies heavily on his mother to help him manage his diabetes and is not yet as fully aware as his parents want him to be. This young boy is obedient when it comes to testing blood sugar levels, sitting for his insulin shots, avoiding certain foods or finishing a snack that had to interrupt a play session with friends.
His passion, however, is his life as a young boy in Bangkok, Thailand. Parojn is an avid birdwatcher who loves to paint the birds he sees in soft watercolours. He becomes uncontrollably excited at the mere mention of a weekend camping expedition with his parents in the raw beauty of northern Thailand. His afternoons spent playing outside with his neighbours are always cherished, and in the quiet evenings, he practices his piano lessons on the family keyboard, safe in the presence of his parents.
Natasha Vye
Sixteen-year-old Natasha Vye was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at the tender age of 14. This young girl lives in the coastal town of Clevedon in the United Kingdom with her mother and three sisters.
The diagnosis of diabetes came at the culmination of a year filled with depression and uncertainty for Natasha, and her struggle with diabetes is only now beginning to ease. After having to miss almost two years of school because of her illness, Natasha is now beginning to join her classmates on the school grounds and alternating between hours spent at school and hours of home tutoring.
Tasha is a serious Blink 182 fan and wants to become a regular at their concerts. Despite the extroverted fun she has at the band's concerts, she is a 'home body' at heart, and loves spending time watching television with her family at the end of a long day. She dreams of becoming a nurse and wants more than anything to raise awareness about diabetes and teach kids her age that they can prevent type 2 diabetes.
Deeb Kameel Ghnnma
Deeb Kameel Ghnnma is a devoutly religious young man of 22, who lives in Jordan’s growing capital Amman. His faith is a constant companion - alongside him during both the difficult times and the joyful moments. Without his strong foundation in faith, Deeb would not have been able to deal with his diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. As it is, Deeb attributes his diagnosis to ‘God’s will’.
In November 2002, then 19-year-old Deeb was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, during his second year of university. Deeb’s father, Kameel, is also living with type 2 diabetes, and the strain on the family is unavoidable. Yet gradually, acceptance of the diagnosis is allowing Deeb to begin educating himself on his ability to make choices and to live a better life with his diabetes.
This young man is majoring in mechatronics at Jordan’s Hashemite University - a type of engineering that deals with control systems and robotics. He attends church regularly and belongs to several religious youth groups. His lovable nature and his social, outgoing character enable him to be himself - confidently and self-assuredly - among his many friends. Some of Deeb’s favourite activities include watching soccer games, smoking flavoured-tobacco water pipes on the roof with his friends, and reading thought-provoking non-fiction.
Happy George Matanje
During the process of writing the stories in Young Voices, five-year-old Happy from Tanzania, who had been living with type 1 diabetes since the age of three, passed away suddenly, as a result of her diabetes. Her death was premature and unnecessary and could have been prevented through awareness and education.
Happy was unbelievably tiny. Her limbs were long and thin, and her eyes were big and curious in her small face. At first, she gave the impression of being quiet, shy and reserved, but after a few morsels of food, a transformation occurred in the little girl, and her chatter simply could not be held back. Music and dancing on television mesmerised her, and the two men in her life – her father George and her four-month-old brother Boniface – occupied a special place in her heart.
Happy’s favourite day of the week was Sunday, when she could escape the confined and unhygienic hovel of an apartment her family lives in to visit her aunt’s house by the sea and play outside among the animals and the flowers. On Sunday, a hot and filling meal was always a certainty, and Happy was showered with attention by all eleven of her cousins.
Her greatest wish in her short life was to go to school, which she never got to experience because of her diabetes. Happy’s loss was heartbreaking, but unfortunately not uncommon. Happy’s story reminds the global community that it must develop the resolve to make a difference; a resolve that is stronger than ever before.
Andrea Monjarás Taméz
Andrea sends sparks of energy everywhere she goes, with every word she says, and every smile she decides to flash unexpectedly. This nine-year-old girl has only one thing to say about her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes since she was 18 months old: “It’s no big deal!”
Andrea Monjarás Taméz is nine years old and Carlos’ and Ivonne’s middle child; her brother Diego is almost 11, and Fernanda, Andrea’s sister and trusting devotee, is six. The family live in Cuernavaca, a town located 1,542 meters above sea level in the mountains south of Mexico City. Her passions include washing her beloved dog Scrubby, investigating any animal or insect that comes her way (which she describes as research for when she becomes a vet), playing with her Barbies, visiting her grandfather on the weekends, swimming, and pretending to be an acrobatic gymnast.
This vivacious girl considers controlling her diabetes as second nature and never allows it to get in her way. Each day begins with a smile, and at night she bows her head, counts her blessings, issues a simple thank you, and drifts off to sleep with yet another smile coaxing dimples into her cheeks.
