'Daddy' Gaddafi was good psychologist: ex-Ukrainian nurse
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Fallen Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi was perhaps a good psychologist and had the knack of understanding people from just a handshake, one of his five Ukrainian personal nurses has said, strongly denying reports that they were part of his 'harem'.
25-year-old Oksana Balinskaya said that Gaddafi's foreign nurses called him 'daddy'.
"Daddy gave us jobs, money and a good life," Balinskaya said, adding that she would feel sorry for him if he were killed or captured.
"I don't know how he made the choice; perhaps he was a good psychologist," she said, recalling her recruitment and her first meeting with Gaddafi in 2009 during one of his state visits to the country.
All the Ukrainian nurses called Gaddafi 'Daddy'. It was a nickname they used to speak about him among themselves, without attracting attention.
"Gaddafi was quite considerate to us. He would ask us whether we are happy and whether we have everything that we need," Balinskaya was quoted as saying by CNN.
Balinskaya, who has served Gaddafi for two years, said she learnt that Gaddafi understood people from that first handshake, from that first gaze into their eyes.
She knew little about Gaddafi in 2009 and felt nervous at their first meeting. Three of the six nurses had already worked in Libya and knew Arabic. Balinskaya thought she did not have a chance.
Gaddafi greeted them but Balinskaya found nothing special in the selection process. The rules were strict. The attractive Ukrainian nurses wore no flashy makeup or revealing clothes.
"Our appearance was very humble so as to not attract anybody's attention," she said.
"We would never put on lipstick going to his house and have vivid colours in our clothes," she said.
She had checked his blood pressure, monitored his heart, stuck him with a needle to draw blood, gave him vitamins and pills for his ailments, though he didn't seem to have many. He was a healthy man.
Every September, on the anniversary of his rise to power, Gaddafi presented souvenirs to his Ukrainian nurses and other members of his inner circle. Balinskaya received a medallion and a watch etched with his picture.
She took turns with the other nurses accompanying him on foreign trips, sometimes sparking rumours spread in the media about Gaddafi's 'harem'.
Her job now lost to Libya's civil war, she pitied the oil-rich nation.
"If it were not for Gaddafi, who else would have built it?" she asked.
"It was he who constructed it. He has transferred Libyans from camel-backs into cars."
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