The End of the Year

Days are drawing closer now, to the end.
The end of all things was bundled, mostly, into Christmas. There are always loose ends that trail behind.

The rush of events that followed were, then, surprising: competing with the end, but necessarily taking 2nd place- a hard race to run well.

Landing on a bus, in a window seat- noting that the scenery read “Perth” in unambivalent terms; feeling proverbially short of breath, and the with all being- unprepared.

Unprepared (and uninformed) for the next few days- promising to be tumultuous, emotional, sleep-deprived;
Take a breath now, while you’re on the bus with a minute: suck it in and hold it- it may have to last days.

Yet- hopefully not. Blaringly energetic and memory-making as that would be, I want- need- crave the time to capture it. To not only see, but to think, and then to feel. And keep, so a later me might remember, too.

Italianetz

Italianetz (The Italian), (2005). Director: Andrei Kravchuk. Film, Russia.

The opening scenes of Italianetz took me back 2 years, to the time I first arrived in Far East Russia.

Walking across the icy tarmac, trying not to huddle against the other surly travellers- taking in an astounding landscape of white and gradual shades of grey.

The film follows Vanya, a 6 year old boy who lives in an orphanage. The orphanage of the film could have been any that I have visited in Russia. The same painted concrete walls, bulky staircases, big iron gates.

Vanya is lucky to live in the orphanage of the film. Sure he can’t read, he’s usually cold, has no parents, and the elders he looks to for help are the 14-15 year old orphans, led by Kolyan.

Kolyan and the older orphans rule over the other children, control the money and anything that could fetch a price (including the girls), administer discipline at their own discretion and decide the futures of the children.

But to Vanya, Kolyan seems fair and tries to give him direction. The older children don’t abuse the younger ones in this orphanage- the director is only selling the children in illegal adoption rackets, not to the mafia or the sex industry. As far as he’s aware.
No one is trying to hurt Vanya- until he runs away, in search of his birth mother.



Vanya’s story is one of courage and hope. But what about the others?

There are over seven hundred thousand (700 000) of orphans living in orphanages throughout Russia today, sleeping on the same rickety bunk beds; eating the same gruelish kasha day in, day out; running through the same grey concrete buildings with heavy wooden doors- they also live in hope that someday, someone will come for them.

A mother, a father- someone they can belong to. But until that golden day arrives, they continue going about the business of surviving.

Push your toes into the Sand

A visit from an honoured guest from foreign shores gives rise to an excursion- out of the ordinary.

The shame is mine, to live so close to such place, yet visit it rarely.
One November day in 2007, four of us paid our respects.