I am just like you
JULIA BOGACHEVA'S PHOTO PROJECT DEVOTED TO KIDS LIVING IN SOS CHILDREN VILLAGES
The project "I Am Just Like You" started in 2018. The focus is on the children who are deprived of their biological parents' love and care. Now these children reside in the SOS Children Village. They are getting ready to live on their own when they grow up. For a Children Village kid this is a hard and scary thing. They are afraid of loneliness, afraid of failure.
Why do we cringe when we hear the words "an orphanage kid"? Is it the law that renders these kids invisible, or is it ourselves? Is it other oeople we are trying to protect these kids from, or is it ourselves? We want to help the kids, but in fact we are just helping ourselves. Who are these kids, what are they like?
Why do we cringe when we hear the words "an orphanage kid"? Is it the law that renders these kids invisible, or is it ourselves? Is it other oeople we are trying to protect these kids from, or is it ourselves? We want to help the kids, but in fact we are just helping ourselves. Who are these kids, what are they like?
When you stop to notice, you end up with a ton of inconvenient questions.
Photo by Julia Bogacheva
Reflections on life: kids in SOS Children Villages
Estonia, 2018-2020
ACCORDING TO STATISTICS, ABOUT 900 CHILDREN LIVE IN ORPHANAGES ALL OVER ESTONIA
I saw that there was a large dark cloud outside. I took the tape and measured it.
ABOUT 200 CHILDREN LIVE IN FOSTER FAMILIES
I sniffed my washed socks, they still smelled of mom.
1800 CHILDREN LIVE IN TREATMENT FAMILIES
If I had to choose between you and my life, I would give my life for you.
I wish you were my real mother, so that you are I could really live together.
EVEN IN A COUNTRY AS SMALL AS ESTONIA, ALMOST 3000 CHILDREN DO NOT LIVE WITH THEIR BIOLOGICAL PARENTS
You are the only person in the village whom I can tell all about how I feel.
Mom, take the dream out of my eyes!
AS OF JANUARY 1ST, 2020, THE POPULATION OF ESTONIA WAS 1,328,976 PEOPLE
If you had easy children, you would have left a long time ago.
One doesn't need to talk about love. One needs to act.
Every child needs someone they can call “Mom" or "Dad"!
