23 March, 2009,
Monday
Ruben Mangasarian.Black Life
[ 2009/03/23 | 18:10 ] HETQ society
Extreme poverty, no means for living, a stove with a defective stovepipe, fueled by plastic and polyethylene, and producing heavy smoke in the apartment, has turned the life of Lida Gadyans family into a black life.
Lida Gadyan (44 years) is a refugee from Baku, Azerbaijan where she worked as a dishwasher in a canteen. 7 year she has moved from a wagon, where she used to live, to an apartment built in the Bagratashens district (Armenia) constructed especially for refugees.
In the 90s Lidas husband left her and together with her son and mother she came to this village. Until recently Lida was prostituting. As a result of her work she gave birth to seven children in Armenia. Two children were left by her in hospital. Two others died - one at birth and one at age five months from hunger.
Now she lives with her sons Armen (17 years) and Artur (8 years) and daughters Mariam (15 years) and Maria (5 years), both named after the Blessed Virgin Maria. Lidas mother, Asya, alsi lived with them, but she died 2 years ago. Armen and Mariam never attended school. They almost never leave the house, becoming wild and unsociable.
Lida cant afford firewood. She collects garbage for her stove. Smoke produced by the plastic is very heavy and consequently it soon choked the stovepipe. Instead of leaving the house through the chimney, smoke penetrates through the holes in pipes fills the rooms. Black smoke fills the apartment and paints everything. It is hard to find any color in the house except black. Walls, curtains in the corridor, bed linen and people living there are black.
Before moving to the new apartment Lida was able to earn some money. For every sexual service she used to get 2 000-2 500 drams (about $4 or $5).
Later Lida afford some money buying cigarettes cheaper and reselling them a with a little higher price. However, the money she earned wasnt even enough for bread. The whole family is hungry. Now she doesnt work and gets social welfare 30 000 drams.
I have been shooting this family since 2003. During this period the story was published in local and international media and exhibited during festivals Visa Pour LImage (Perpignan, France), Photoquai (Paris, France), Interfoto (Moscow, Russia), and Days Japan (Tokyo, Japan).
Seeing these photos, many people from different countries suggested their support. When this story appeared on BBC online news we received active feedback from the readers. Many people from USA, Great Britain, Australia, Russia, and elsewhere sent money, food, and clothes for this family.
But unfortunately, in spite of all this support, their life has not changed. This family is not able to leave their black life on their own. They still live with a stress of the Karabakh war, they are isolated from the rest of the world. Their mother has psychological problems, the grandmother has already passed away, and the children live without even primary education. If nobody helps them, their future is predicted to the same black life.
Now I have created a group in Facebook, with the help of which we are organizing an action of solidarity to change this familys life. I believe we can do something for them, and I want to show the way their life changed. This all aims to show how photography can help socially vulnerable people. This can serve a good example for the society to understand that they can change the life to better. This story can develop a tradition of solidarity in Armenia.
Charles K. Paskerian
1750 Taylor St., #1502
San Francisco, CA 94133-5414
e-mail: paskerian@comcast.net
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