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  • A woman (1974 b.)  sitting in her living room showing the picture of her house that burned a few years ago. She is housewife, her husband works as a driver.They have got four children.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0055.jpg
  • Children playing in the child center “Star picture” at the Caritas Center. 28 children (aged 4-16) tend to attend several courses such as Russian language, ethic, music and theatre. Three pedagogists look after them. Children coming from Russia, Uzbekistan, Tagikistan, and Azerbaijan. Some children need psicological support to deal with family problems such as poverty and alcohol.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0044.jpg
  • IMG_6466 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. Shir Abad clinic. Afghan patient standing behind a gate before coming in for a medical examination. MSF runs three medical clinics in the poor neighbourhoods of Zahedan, a city located near the Pakistan and Afghan border. Most of the refugees arrived in Iran in the early 80's, fleeing the war broke out in Afghanistan with the invasion of ex Soviet Union.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0007.jpg
  • IMG_6244 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. A young Afghan refugee and his mother sitting down in the waiting-room. The clinics have an average of a hundred patients a day, about six thousand a month.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0001.jpg
  • IMG_6730 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. Afghan children playing in the their courtyard. Afghan refugees live in mud-brick houses or in shelters, with one or two rooms, a court and a little stock; some of them have electricity supply, outside the building may find a dwell for the water, they do not have gas supply. They stay in poor neighbourhoods together with Iranian people.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0012.jpg
  • IMG_6593 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. MSF’s Afghan doctors visiting patients in their house. A mobile team seeks out people who are newly arrived to provide them with aid, as they are more vulnerable on a medical, social and economic basis. The domiciliary visit tend to take place a couple days a week.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0009.jpg
  • IMG_6320 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. Besat clinic. Afghan patients during a medical examination. Medical protocol provides for medical examinations, tests and medicines giving to patients.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0004.jpg
  • IMG_001 GEORGIA. Shavshvebi. 2009. A new settlement built down the road Tbilisi-Gori, where 167 families moved in from South Ossetia. After the end of the war with Russia of August 2008, it was started up a building program of 4.542 new houses in the regions of Kvemo Kartli, Shida Kartli, Mtskheta-Tianeti and Kakheti. The houses have three rooms and the supplies of drinkable water, gas, electricity and heating.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_001.jpg
  • IMG_6637 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. MSF's Afghan visiting doctors coming back to their car after domiciliary visit at Afghan refugees family who lives in the poor neighbourhoods of Zahedan.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0011.jpg
  • IMG_6604 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. MSF's visiting-doctors are writing down data about the Afghan refugee family during a domiciliary visit. A team of social workers identify those in need of medical care and ensure they get access to consultations, a total of 18,000 people were assisted through this programme so far.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0010.jpg
  • IMG_6292 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. Besat clinic. MSF’s staff measuring a baby up. The clinics offer free medical consultations and nutritional support for children. MSF also refers patients to secondary health facilities and covers costs for specialist consultations, treatments and hospitalisation.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0002.jpg
  • IMG_0410_GEORGIA. Zinobiani. 2011. A woman seen in the church located on a hill close to the village, according to the Georgian tradition. Udi people are Christian-Orthodox.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0028.jpg
  • IMG_1010715_GEORGIA. Tbilisi. 2011. Before the liturgy in the Cathedral of Sameba. The faith is one of the most important elements of the Georgian culture.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0025.jpg
  • IMG_6790 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. An Afghan girl bringing a tank of water. Some of house where afghan refugees live not to have water supply but they can drawing it from a dwell outside the building.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0013.jpg
  • IMG_6398 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. Karim Abad. Afghan woman arriving at clinic for a medical examination. Two general doctors, two nurses and one pharmacist work in this clinic. The clinic runs 6 days a week as the visit-time is from 07:30 a.m. to 01:30 p.m.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0006.jpg
  • IMG_6579 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. Shir Abad clinic. Afghan women and their children sitting down in the waiting-room. The clinic runs 6 days a week as the visit-time is from 07:30 a.m. to 01:30 p.m.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0008.jpg
  • IMG_6395 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. Karim Abad clinic. Patients and MSF’s staff waiting outside the pharmacy the opening of the clinic. The clinic runs 4 days a week as the visit-time is from 07:30 a.m. to 01:30 p.m.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0005.jpg
  • IMG_6306 IRAN. Zahedan. 2008. Besat clinic. Afghan woman laying down on a examination couch for a transfusion. The medical protocol provides with IDP (in Patient Department) for the bad cases: the patient may be recovered at hospital that has an agreement with MSF.
    CEOLONI_IRAN_2009_IMG_0003.jpg
  • IMG 3741 GEORGIA. Ingiri. 2007. Woman cutting wood. Most of these lodgings are not supplied with drinking water, gas and heating. The refugees live in run-down buildings.The collective centers, where most refugees live, have become small islands apart from the rest of society, where people have jealously kept their identity and their set of values.<br />
The local population is indifferent and hostile to the fate of the refugees, who are considered as foreigners with special privileges who have come to steal housing and jobs.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_3741.jpg
  • IMG 2375 GEORGIA. Kutaisi. 2007. An old woman walking on the square in front of a sanatorium. There are 22 sanatoria dating from the Soviet era in the region of Kutaisi. These are now occupied by around 7,000 refugees. Pensions amount to about 12 lari (6 euros) per month, which means they are living below the minimum poverty level.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_2375.jpg
  • IMG 1043 GEORGIA. Tbilisi. 2007. A teacher during the lesson. Prospects are better for young people than for the rest of the population. They have excellent vocational training and many of them go to school or university.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_1043.jpg
  • Patients in their room at the ward for homeless in the hospital n. 9. Caritas staff and social workers look after them once a week. They provide sanitation items, medical treatment andused clothes to them too. Homeless people are a marginalized group in Russia who are detested in society. They are very often subject to minor assaults, aggravated assaults and even homicide; most cases are commonly not prosecuted. Homeless live in the pipes of the community heating system, in tents and makeshift cardboard houses, at landfills or parks. Homelessness affects men, women, young and old, babies and children. Their lives are in constant jeopardy.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0048.jpg
  • IMG_016 GEORGIA. Tbilisi. 2009. Georgian refugees from Abkhazia getting gas cookers and gas lamps by Georgian officials. 11 families stay in this collective center that don’t have the supply of drinkable water, of gas and of the heating.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_017.jpg
  • IMG_0021 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Tomsk. 2015. A mother with her children attending a psicological consulting meeting at the Family Center opened in 2000. Two psicologists look after them. Single and divorced women with their husbands, addicted to alcohol or jobless, attend the Family center. Women do not have a higher education. The educational attainment level of the household head is strongly correlated with poverty. Caritas provides used clothes and food to them.They do the shopping with the mothers to teach them how to save up. Some single women work, others have a steady job with a low wage other are jobless. Families usually live in rent flat. They get an unemployment benefit by the government.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0021.jpg
  • IMG_0011 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Novosibirsk. 2015. Children at the gym of the Franciscan Catholic Scool. It opened its doors in 1994. It is one of 24 private schools in the city and one of two Catholic Schools in the Russian Federation. Fra Guido Trezzani, the pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, began the school in response to the expressed wishes of parents anxious to provide for their children a quality education inspired by Christianity and the Franciscan vision of life. In addition to the required core curriculum, the school offers complementary elective courses in art, languages, music and culture. There is also a program of computer learning in the school. At the heart of the School is education for human, moral and Christian values. Education in Russian culture is highly valued.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0011.jpg
  • IMG_1010978_GEORGIA. Tsinamdzguriantkari. 2011. Internal displaced persons seen at a meeting with officials of the Georgian government. They continue to face harsh living conditions with little hope of ever going to home in South Ossetia.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0004.jpg
  • IMG_0003 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Slavjanka. 2015. A boy at the Caritas Child Center “Hope”. Children and teens tend to attend several courses such as Russian language, behavior, ethic, cooking and theatre. Slavjanka is a small village about 160 km south of Omsk, in the county of Novowarschavka, near to the border with Kazakhstan. Half of the adults have no jobs and have low paying casual jobs. The alcohol consumption grows with the lack of any prospects. Almost every family is touched with alcoholism. The adults and children feel completely out of place and have difficulties integrating. Caritas assists children and teenagers whose families have been hit especially hard by poverty and lack of prospects. Some children need psicological support to deal with family problems such as poverty, domestic violence and alcohol.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0003.jpg
  • IMG 4154 GEORGIA. Zugdidi. 2007. Woman on the UNOMIG bus (United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia) crossing the border with Abkhazia. The refugees cross the border to cultivate the land or to do small jobs in Abkhazia. The lack of opportunities has driven some of the IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons), who formerly lived in the region of Gali near to the Northern border, which is now de facto closed, to return spontaneously to Abkhazia in search of work, at considerable risk to their lives, in the hope of earning a minimum income for their families.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_4154.jpg
  • IMG 3278 GEORGIA. Ingiri. 2007. Refugees drawing water from a well. Most of the dwellings are not connected to drinking water or to gas supply for heating.The collective centers, where most refugees live, have become small islands apart from the rest of society, where people have jealously kept their identity and their set of values.<br />
The local population is indifferent and hostile to the fate of the refugees, who are considered as foreigners with special privileges who have come to steal housing and jobs.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_3728.jpg
  • IMG_023 GEORGIA. Gori. 2009. The main square with the Stalin’s monument and the City hall in the background, the city of Gori is 70 km west of Tbilisi. After the outbreak of the war, the Russians took over the city for two weeks, the 80% of the population was forced to flee, the Russians shelled the city and its district too.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_022.jpg
  • IMG_011 GEORGIA. Tetriskaro’s district, 70 km west of Tbilisi. 2009. An elderly georgian refugee in the courtyard of her house in this new settlement, she moved in from the Kodori Gorge, in the Upper Abkhazia. In this new settlement of 29 houses staying 9 families, at the moment, the houses and the surrounding lands were bought by the Georgian government. With a population of only 4,4 million people, this harsh situation for refugees has affected in impressive way at the general situation of the georgian society and has put serious problems and impediments at its development.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_012.jpg
  • IMG_0163_GEORGIA. Dodo Gareja. 2011.  Monks meeting friends. The monks live in a rock-hewn monastery complex (Lavra in Georgian) on the slopes of Mount Gareja, in the south of Kakheti, about 60-70 km south-east of the capital Tbilisi, near the border with Azerbaijan. The complex includes a dozen cells and a refectory hollowed out of the rock face. The monastery was founded in the sixth century by the Syrian monk Dodo, one of the 13 Syrian Fathers who founded monasteries in the regions of Kartli and Kakheti.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0030.jpg
  • IMG_0306_GEORGIA. Zinobiani. 2011. Inside the village. The Udi came to Georgia 80 years ago from the village of Vartashen in Azerbaijan.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0022.jpg
  • Children playing at home. Their mother is housewife, her husband works as a driver. A few years ago their house burned in a fire.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0056.jpg
  • Woman in her bed at the ward for homeless in the hospital n. 9. Caritas staff and social workers take care of them once a week. They provide sanitation items, medical treatment and used clothes to homeless too.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0046.jpg
  • IMG_0024 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Barnaul. 2015. Every early morning, Tatiana attends Mass in the Caritas’ chapel along with her Christian Orthodox and Catholic colleagues. She works as german interpreter for Caritas. Barnaul is the capital of the Altai region, the city is 180 km south of Novosibirsk. Caritas center is close to the train station in one of the troubled city suburbs but is active throughout the city. Caritas office in Barnaul has a paid staff of 12 employees to carry out its services.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0024.jpg
  • IMG_025 GEORGIA. Karaleti, near Gori. 2009. The distribution to the refugees of used suits picked from UNIQLO (a brand for the young apparel) and Save the Children, an international NGO, in a new settlement, where 480 families moved in from South Ossetia and Kodori Gorge, in the Upper Abkhazia.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_025.jpg
  • IMG_0790_GEORGIA. Nikosi. 2011. A group of boys seen at the local parish church. Nikosi is located less than a kilometer from Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway province of South Ossetia. This area has been the stage of intense firefights during the 2008 war against Russia, now the tension remains high along the “de facto” border. Many of the inhabitants of the area are still living beyond the last Georgian checkpoint, in a "no man's land" between Georgia and South Ossetia.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0003.jpg
  • IMG_020 GEORGIA. Tbilisi. 2009. Disable persons’ centre. A group of disable persons in a corridor. They lost their limbs during the war with Russia of August 2008. The refugees fled from the South Ossetia and Upper Abkhazia have a medical insurance that covers the costs for the admissions to hospitals.<br />
These disable persons get a benefit of 100 lari per month, about 50 euro from Georgian government.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_019.jpg
  • IMG_0594_GEORGIA. Gurjaani. 2011. A boy of the local parish church during the harvest of grapes in the fruitful Alazani valley, in the region of Kakheti. Gurjaani is one of the most important centers for the production of wine in the country.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0019.jpg
  • IMG_1010959_GEORGIA. Tsinamdzguriantkari. 2011. Internal displaced persons and an officer of the Georgian government seen at the collective center. They were forced to flee from Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway province of South Ossetia, after the war with Russia in 2008. They continue to face harsh living conditions with little hope of ever going home.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0013.jpg
  • Children playing at Child Center “Country of Joy“. 28 children (aged 4-16) tend to attend several courses such as Russian language, music, cooking and theatre. They are from Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan. Three pedagogists look after them every day from Monday to Friday. Some children need psicological support to deal with family problems such as poverty and alcohol.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0036.jpg
  • IMG 1898 GEORGIA. Kutaisi. 2007. Church of Saint Thecla. Portrait of members of the faithful during the Liturgy. Faith is one of the people’s most important values for the Georgians. Among the Christian communities of the Near East, Georgia is one of the most ancient, for in 327 Christianity was declared to be the official state religion.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_1898.jpg
  • IMG 1713 GEORGIA. Gori. 2007. Boys walking in a courtyard. Prospects are better for young people than for the rest of the population. The young people have excellent vocational training and many of them go to school or university.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_1713.jpg
  • IMG 0654 GEORGIA. Tskhneti. 2007. The wife of the sick man is crying. Free health care extends only to diagnosis and visits to the area polyclinic for the poorest refugees and children, medicines have to be bought. For urgent cases entailing hospitalisation, the State covers 75% of the cost of operations and the patient must pay 25%, and here too these sums are beyond the economic means of the refugees, while 100% of health care costs have to be borne by the rest of the population.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_0654.jpg
  • IMG_9961_GEORGIA. Dodo Gareja. 2011. A monk seen at rock-hewn Georgian Orthodox  monastery complex (Lavra in Georgian) on the slopes of Mount Gareja, in the south of Kakheti, about 60-70 km south-east of the capital Tbilisi, near the border with Azerbaijan. The complex includes a dozen of cells and a refectory hollowed out of the rock face. The monastery was founded in the sixth century by the Syrian monk Dodo, one of the 13 Syrian Fathers who founded monasteries in the regions of Kartli and Kakheti.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0027.jpg
  • A patient with her daughter in the ward for mentally disabled women at Hospital n. 3. Two social workers provide used clothes and medicaments to 55 mentally disabled women. This building used to be a military facility during the former Czarist period.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0038.jpg
  • IMG_0027 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Barnaul. 2015. Palina  (1988 b.) works as nurse at the Caritas Center. Two nurses provide health assistance for disabled, old, sick and poor people. Caritas signed an agreement with local Policlinic to care people without health coverage. Caritas social services provides sanitation items and medical treatment to poor, distributes medical equipment such as wheelchairs and crutches for the disabled, provides rehabilitation activities for people with special needs. Caritas center is close to the train station, in one of the troubled city suburbs but is active throughout the city.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0027.jpg
  • IMG_0026 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Jurga. 2015. A girl at the Child center “Happy kids”. Caritas opened the center ten years ago. About 20 russian catholic, orthodox and buddhist children (aged 5-16) tend to attend several courses such as Russian language to prepare public school, ethic, cooking and theatre. Two pedagogists and five social workers look after them, the social workers cooperate very closely with the public school. Some children need psicological support to deal with family problems such as poverty and alcohol. Some families live in a tiny room with three or four children. Caritas provides used clothes to the families too. Jurga is a small city with around 85,000 inhabitants, it is located in the Kuzbass region, along the Transiberian railroad, about 100 km from Tomsk. Main employer was a machine factory which was relocated here from during the II World War. When the factory closed tens of thousands lost their jobs. Without any alternative around 20,000 people left the city.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0026.jpg
  • IMG_027 GEORGIA. Akhali Kheoba. 2009. Some georgian refugees coming back home. 140 families stay in this new settlement, they moved in from the South Ossetia.The way of life of the Georgian refugees is subsequently deteriorated after the outbreak of the war with Russia in August 2008. The community of the refugees asks for a great attention, understanding and compassion to give the opportunity to live in dignity and safety. This dramatic social situation is becoming an unsustainable burden for the society and the Georgian government without the support of international community.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_027.jpg
  • IMG 015 GEORGIA. Polnisi. 2009. A refugee coming from the Kodori Gorge, in the Upper Abkhazia, sitting on a chair in her flat. She gets a benefit from the Georgian government of 22 lari per month, around 11 euro. The Georgian refugees were obliged to accept a radical change in their life-style, leaving behind them not only their material possessions but also something even more important:  what had given a meaning to their existence.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_014.jpg
  • IMG 3287 GEORGIA. Zugdidi. 2007. Storeroom of a collective center’s flat used for mais conservation. In 1999 the government inaugurated the “New Approach” policy with the aim of creating conditions for the communities to become self-sufficient, via financial aid for setting up small economic activities, agriculture and livestock rearing.  Unfortunately, the economic development of these communities has ground to a halt because of a lack of funds and infrastructures.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_3287.jpg
  • IMG 2698 GEORGIA. Zugdidi. 2007. Ophthalmic consultation in a polyclinic, 75 doctors offer unpaid work in these structures for visits, diagnoses and vaccinations. Health care is free for the poorest refugees and children in a series of polyclinics but only as regards diagnosis, visits and vaccinations, medicines have to be bought. For urgent cases entailing hospitalisation, the State covers 75% of the cost of operations and the patient must pay 25%, and here too these sums are beyond the economic means of the refugees, while 100% of health care costs have to be borne by the rest of the population.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_2698.jpg
  • IMG 2060 GEORGIA. Tsqaltubo. 2007. Early in the morning the refugees try to sell their meagre vegetable and fruit produce in a courtyard. Their per capita income is of only 14 lari (7 euros) per month, which is below the minimum poverty level. In 1999 the government inaugurated the “New Approach” policy with the aim of creating conditions for the communities to become self-sufficient, via financial aid for setting up small economic activities, agriculture and livestock rearing.  Unfortunately, the economic development of these communities has ground to a halt because of a lack of funds and infrastructures.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_2060.jpg
  • IMG 2030 GEORGIA. Tsqaltubo. 2007. Women sitting in a corridor in the evening.  With an income below the poverty level, there are no opportunities for amusement or travel.There are 22 sanatoria dating from the Soviet era in the region of Kutaisi and these are now occupied by around 7,000 refugees.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_2030.jpg
  • IMG_1010916_GEORGIA. Alaverdi. 2011. The wine cellar (marani in Georgian) of Metropolitan David of Alaverdi, Telavi and Tusheti. The vineyard is in the fruitful Alazani valley, 415 meters above sea level and 110 km east of Tbilisi. The vineyard produces a red wine, the Saperavi and a white wine, the Rkatsiteli.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0024.jpg
  • Children playing at the Caritas child center “Kristall”.About 20 russian catholic, orthodox and buddhist children (aged 5-16) tend to attend several courses such as Russian language to prepare public school, art-therapy, ethic, dancing, cooking and theatre. Some children need psicological support to deal with family problems such as poverty, domestic violence and alcohol. Twelve people tend to work for the Caritas center.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0057.jpg
  • Unemployed single mother, she currently lives with her two children at the Caritas shelter “St. Sophia”. She left her household because her mother could not look after them. Single mothers with children can stay for up to two years at the Caritas center. Caritas supports single moms and families in their effort to create a healthly environment for the development of children. The intention is to break the vicious cycle of helplessness and to keep families together. According to official statistic 18% of the population live in extreme poverty. 32% of all families are single mother households with one or more children whose situation is especially difficult.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0054.jpg
  • IMG_0030 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Omsk. 2015. Poor people receive used clothes provided by Caritas in cooperation with the social welfare offices. Caritas supports families with children and people in crisis situation in the city and in 32 counties within the province. The standard of living in Omsk is well below the surrounding provinces.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0030.jpg
  • IMG_0018 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Novosibirsk. 2015. Young catholic taking part the procession around the Cathedral of Transfiguration in the dowtown area during the 2nd Eucaristic Russian Catholic Congress that took place in June 2015. The Roman Catholic Church in Russia is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. According to the most recent figures in Annuario Pontificio, there are approximately 773,000 Catholics in Russia.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0018.jpg
  • IMG_0013 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Novosibirsk. 2015. A Kirghiz man standing near his house. He lives with his wife and their five children in the downtown area of Novosibirsk. He works in the countryside collecting fruits and vegetables, his wife cleans and tidies up private houses. Caritas signed an agreement with local Policlinic to care people without health coverage. They have got water supply in the summer only, in the winter they are forced to go to Caritas. Their children tend to attend Caritas center and go to school. Novosibirsk, capital of Asiatic Russia, has a population of two million people. According to official statistic 18% of the population live in extreme poverty. Some children need psicological support to deal with family problems such as poverty and alcohol.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0013.jpg
  • IMG 2976 GEORGIA. Zugdidi. 2007. A mother attending vaccination for newborn infant, 30% of refugees are children who are entitled to free medical care.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_2976.jpg
  • IMG 013 GEORGIA. Tserowani. 2009. A mourning in a house during a funeral. The Georgian war toll were in total 413 of which 169 soldiers, 228 civilians and 16 police officers, the wounded were 1.745, of which 1.198 soldiers and 547 civilians.<br />
The Russian authorities have confirmed 133 killed and 220 wounded instead.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_015.jpg
  • IMG_009 GEORGIA. Tbilisi. 2009.  Avlabari’s metro station. As a result of the war with Russia in the August 2008, 35.000 ossetian refugees fled in the North Ossetia and 167.000 Georgians were forced to leave their houses ( 25.000 refugees from South Ossetia and 6.000 from the Kodori Gorge, in the Upper Abkhazia).<br />
Georgian refugees moved in 448 IDP shelters across their country. The majority of them, 296, are in Tbilisi.<br />
Public schools, kindergartens, research institutions, higher education institutions and student dormitories are typical of the buildings pressed into service to help them. <br />
Initially, 202 of Tbilisi’s public schools sheltered IDPs. These were later transferred to other buildings, including kindergartens, freeing up 164 schools. A further 24 establishments have been partly vacated. It has not been possible to vacate every school; to date; sixteen of them are still used as emergency accommodation.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_009.jpg
  • IMG_003 GEORGIA. Tbilisi. 2009. Refugees coming from Kodori Gorge, in the Upper Abkhazia, she is hugging each other. They stay in a flat that can host up to three-four households. The collective centers are decaying building and they don’t have the supply of gas, heating and potable water.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_003.jpg
  • IMG_0100_GEORGIA. Dodo Gareja. 2011. A monk seen at the rock-hewn monastery complex (Lavra in Georgian) on the slopes of Mount Gareja, in the south of Kakheti, about 60-70 km south-east of the capital Tbilisi, near the border with Azerbaijan. The complex includes a dozen of cells and a refectory hollowed out of the rock face. The monastery was founded in the sixth century by the Syrian monk Dodo, one of the 13 Syrian Fathers who founded monasteries in the regions of Kartli and Kakheti.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0010.jpg
  • IMG_1020177_GEORGIA. Tsilkani. 2011. Boys playing football in a training ground near a new settlement along the road to Gori. The settlement houses about four hundred families coming from Tskhinvali and Akhalgori, in South Ossetia.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0006.jpg
  • Children playing in front of the History of Tomsk Museum, up on Resurrection Hill. About 40 children (aged 6-16) russian orthodox, catholics and muslims, attend the “ABC” child center, opened in 2000 by Caritas. They tend to visit museums, play, sing, attend several courses such as Russian language, ethic and theatre. Three pedagogists look after them. Their parents may be single, divorced or jobless. Poverty, alcohol and domestic violence are the problems that especially affect children. Caritas provides used clothes to the families too.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0058.jpg
  • Social workers provide food to homeless people behind the railway station. They receive a warm meal, clothing and medical care and are being helped in their social rehabilitation. Homeless people are a marginalized group in Russia who are detested in society. They are very often subject to minor assaults, aggravated assaults and even homicide; most cases are commonly not prosecuted. Homeless live in the pipes of the community heating system, in tents and makeshift cardboard houses, at landfills or parks. Homelessness affects men, women, young and old, babies and children. Their lives are in constant jeopardy. According to Lenin and Khrushchev policy, homeless, poor and disabled people would have to stay far away from ordinary people, the Soviet man had to be healthy, strong and brave.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0041.jpg
  • Homeless people receive food behind the railway station provided by Caritas. Caritas provides food and medical care to homeless people. They receive a warm meal, clothing and medical care and are being helped in their social rehabilitation. Homeless people are a marginalized group in Russia who are detested in society. They are very often subject to minor assaults, aggravated assaults and even homicide; most cases are commonly not prosecuted. Homeless live in the pipes of the community heating system, in tents and makeshift cardboard houses, at landfills or parks. Homelessness affects men, women, young and old, babies and children. Their lives are in constant jeopardy. According to Lenin and Khrushchev policy, homeless, poor and disabled people would have to stay far away from ordinary people, the Soviet man had to be healthy, strong and brave.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0039.jpg
  • A man living with his daughter (born in 2005) in a small wooden house. He works as a truck driver but now he is jobless. His wife died three years ago. He did not get aid for his daughter by the governement, because he had not done the paperwork for the documents in time. The standard of living in Omsk is well below the surrounding provinces. Especially striking is the low life expectancy among men. Most die before they reach retirement.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0035.jpg
  • Patients in their room at the ward for homeless in the hospital n. 9. Caritas staff and social workers assisting homeless people once a week. They provide sanitation items, medical treatment and used clothes to them too. Homeless people are a marginalized group in Russia who are detested in society. They are very often subject to minor assaults, aggravated assaults and even homicide; most cases are commonly not prosecuted. Homeless live in the pipes of the community heating system, in tents and makeshift cardboard houses, at landfills or parks. Homelessness affects men, women, young and old, babies and children. Their lives are in constant jeopardy.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0031.jpg
  • IMG_0009 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Novosibirsk. 2015. Orphans in their room at St. Nicholaus Orphanage runs by “St. Elisabeth from Hungary” nuns. 20 children and adolescents (aged 3-18) live at the orphanage. Children and adolescents tend to attend the public school. This years, it should be forced to shut down according to Putin policy towards orphanages.The Russian families will have to look after orphans.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0009.jpg
  • IMG 3561 GEORGIA. Jvari. 2007. In certain collective centers workshops have been set up, thus providing work for the refugees living in the area. In 1999 the government inaugurated the “New Approach” policy with the aim of creating conditions for the communities to become self-sufficient, via financial aid for setting up small economic activities, agriculture and livestock rearing.  Unfortunately, the economic development of these communities has ground to a halt because of a lack of funds and infrastructures.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_3561.jpg
  • IMG 3330 GEORGIA. Zugdidi. 2007. An elderly deaf mute woman is making bread in her flat. They use portable electric stoves to cook. Most of these lodgings are not supplied with drinking water, gas and heating. Many old people live alone and are among the most vulnerable members of society, together with children. Poverty and malnutrition are common phenomena, as are psychological traumas resulting from the experience of armed conflict. Pensions amount to about 12 lari (6 euros) per month, which means they are living below the minimum poverty level.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_3330.jpg
  • IMG 2572 GEORGIA. Tsqaltubo. 2007. A refugees family living in a collective center’s flat. Each apartment may house up to three or four families. Most of these lodgings are not supplied with drinking water, gas and heating, the refugees live in run-down buildings. The collective centers and the sanatoriums, where most refugees live, have become small islands apart from the rest of society, where people have jealously kept their identity and their set of values.The local population is indifferent and hostile to the fate of the refugees, who are considered as foreigners with special privileges who have come to steal housing and jobs.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_2572.jpg
  • IMG_024 GEORGIA. Shavshvebi. 2009. A group of georgian refugees in front of the World Food Program’s office. 167 georgian families stay in this new settlement, they moved in from the South Ossetia.They have a per capita income of only 22 per month, about 11 euro, which is below the minimum poverty level.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_023.jpg
  • IMG_012 GEORGIA. Tbilisi. 2009. A mother is looking after her child with flu in his bed. They moved in from the Kodori Gorge, in the Upper Abkhazia. She is unemployed and gets a benefit from the Georgian government of 22 lari per month, around 11 euro. Her husband has left his family looking for a job. The refugees fled from South Ossetia and Upper Abkhazia have a medical insurance that covers the costs for the admissions to hospitals.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_011.jpg
  • IMG_006 GEORGIA. Tbilisi. 2009. A young refugee playing in a collective center's courtyard. The perspective for the youngest are better than the rest of population, young people are very skilled, many of them go to school or attend the university. Unfortunately during the last war with Russia, many scholastic buildings have been destroyed, burnt and ransacked, the scholastic facilities and the surrounding grounds were mined and there are still cluster unexploded bombs, shed on the ground. Many students and their teachers are refugees themselves and they will not be able to attend regularly the lessons, this could jeopardize the regularity of the school year.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_006.jpg
  • IMG_0846_GEORGIA. A new settlement near Gori. 2011. Internal displaced persons are repairing their home. Most of the IDP come from Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
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  • IMG_0365_GEORGIA. Zinobiani. 2011. Udi people seen at their house. Udi people practice agricultural and livestock breeding.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2011_IMG_0008.jpg
  • The ward for homeless in the hospital n. 9. Caritas staff and social workers take care for them once a week. They provide sanitation items, medical treatment and used clothes to homeless too.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0049.jpg
  • IMG_0025 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Jurga.  2015. A woman (age 57) in her living room. Her german relatives were forced by Stalin to move from Volga region to Jurga in the early 1920’s. She lives in a small house with her husband and their three children. She is housewife and her husband works in a car factory that it should fail and go into bankruptcy. Some children need psicological support to deal with family problems such as poverty and alcohol. Jurga is a small city with around 85,000 inhabitants, it is located in the Kuzbass region, along the transiberian railroad, about 100 km south of Tomsk.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0025.jpg
  • IMG_0022 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Schegarsk. 2015. Some people in the hallway at Schegarsk Internat, founded in 1950. Most of them can't walk. This Internat receives many of the most deformed babies soon after their birth. Many of disabled person are the awful legacy of  the nuclear plants in the region. Some 200 disabled persons stay at the Internat. Some of them have a little deformities, if they would have had a good education they could have had an ordinary life.  “The Little Arc” visiting service in  Schegarsk’s home for handicapped runs by Caritas since 1990. In Russia by burocratic reasons disabled person can not leave the Internats. Until very recently they would spend their live out in the Internat. From two-three years the politicians are talking about a “inclusion policy” to allow disabled persons to live in the society.These days “The Hidden World”, a NGO that collaborates with Caritas with social workers visit the Shegarsk Internat every forthnights. They provide used clothes and food to disabled persons and take care for them some day in the summer camps in the countryside.  Most of the relatives and parents of disabled persons who live at the Internat do not want to come and see their sons. According to Lenin and Khrushchev policy, homeless, poor and disabled people would have to stay far away from ordinary people, the Soviet man had to be healthy, strong and brave. There are eight Internats run by the Government in the Kuzbass region. There are Internats in every Russian region. Schegarsk Internat is about 100 km from Tomsk.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0022.jpg
  • IMG_0019 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Omsk. Caritas social services provides sanitation items and medical treatment to poor, distributes medical equipment such as wheelchairs and crutches for the disabled, provides rehabilitation activities for people with special needs. The standard of living in Omsk is well below the surrounding provinces. Especially striking is the low life expectancy among men. Most of them die before they reach retirement.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0019.jpg
  • IMG_0016 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Barnaul. 2015. Caritas provides food to the homeless people behind the railway station. They receive a warm meal, clothing and medical care and are being helped in their social rehabilitation. Caritas center is an officially recognized social welfare organization since 1997.  It is close to the train station in one of the troubled city suburbs but is active throughout the city. Caritas signed an agreement with local Policlinic to take care for people without health coverage. Homeless people are a marginalized group in Russia who are detested in society. They are very often subject to minor assaults, aggravated assaults and even homicide; most cases are commonly not prosecuted. Homeless live in the pipes of the community heating system, in tents and makeshift cardboard houses, at landfills or parks. Some homeless may spend the night at shelter of the government. The alcohol and drug consumption grows with the lack of any prospects.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0016.jpg
  • IMG_0014 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Novosibirsk. 2015. A patient in her room at the ward for mentally disabled women at Hospital n. 3. Caritas provides used clothes and medicaments to 55 mentally disabled women at Hospital n. 3. This building used to be a military facility during the former Czarist period.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0014.jpg
  • IMG_0001 RUSSIA. Western Siberia. Slavjanka. 2015. Adolescents standing in front of the Caritas Child Center “Hope”. Children and teens tend to attend several courses such as Russian language, behavior, ethic, cooking and theatre.<br />
Slavjanka is a small village about 160 km south of Omsk, in the county of Novowarschavka, near to the border with Kazakhstan. Half of adults have no jobs and have low paying casual jobs. The alcohol consumption grows with the lack of any prospects. Almost every family is touched with alcoholism. The adults and children feel completely out of place and have difficulties integrating. Some children need psychological support to deal with family problems such as poverty, domestic violence and alcohol.
    CEOLONI_RUSSIA_2015_IMG_0001.jpg
  • IMG 4181 GEORGIA. Zugdidi. 2007. Refugees crossing the border with Abkhazia. The refugees wanted to return to their houses in Abkhazia, but the political process of re-pacification has ground to a halt after outbreak of war with Russia.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_4181.jpg
  • IMG 3765 GEORGIA. Ingiri. 2007. A man stripping maize in a storehouse. In 1999 government inaugurated the “New Approach” policy, giving refugees the right to acquire land with the aim of creating conditions for the communities to become self-sufficient, via financial aid for setting up small economic activities, agriculture and livestock rearing.  Unfortunately, the economic development of these communities has ground to a halt because of a lack of funds and infrastructures.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_3765.jpg
  • IMG 3550 GEORGIA. Jvari. 2007. Boy drawing water from a well.  Most of the dwellings are not connected to a drinking water supply. The collective centers, where most refugees live, have become small islands apart from the rest of society, where people have jealously kept their identity and their set of values.<br />
The local population is indifferent and hostile to the fate of the refugees, who are considered as foreigners with special privileges who have come to steal housing and jobs.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_3550.jpg
  • IMG 3133 GEORGIA. Rukhi. 2007. Woman grieving for her son who died in the civil war in Abkhazia. As a result of this political event, after the Abkhazian civil war  (1992-1993), some 300,000 Georgians were obliged to abandon their homes and livelihoods in Abkhazia.  Most of them left by sea, but others fled over land, across the mountains of Svaneti, where many of them, around 30,000, died in the difficult climatic conditions.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_3133.jpg
  • IMG 3103 GEORGIA. Rukhi. 2007. Family of refugees in a collective center, each apartment may house as many as three or four family groups. <br />
Most of these lodgings are run-down buildings and are not supplied with drinking water, gas and heating. The collective centers, where most refugees live, have become small islands apart from the rest of society, where people have jealously kept their identity and their set of values.<br />
The local population is indifferent and hostile to the fate of the refugees, who are considered as foreigners with special privileges who have come to steal housing and jobs.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_3103.jpg
  • IMG 3064 GEORGIA. Rukhi. 2007. Elderly women in a collective center. Most of these lodgings are not supplied with drinking water, gas and heating. Pensions amount to about 12 lari (6 euros) per month, which means they are living below the minimum poverty level.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_3064.jpg
  • IMG 2039 GEORGIA. Tsqaltubo. 2007. A girl is making cakes in her flat. Most lodgings have no gas or drinking water supply, each apartment may house as many as three or four family groups. Prospects are better for young people than for the rest of the population, they have excellent vocational training and many of them go to school or university, but they have great difficulty in finding work, the unemployment rate among the refugees is very high;  the lack of better perspectives for the future has disoriented and demoralized them.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_2039.jpg
  • IMG 1222 GEORGIA. Tbilisi. 2007. Pupil in the corridor of a school. Prospects are better for young people than for the rest of the population.They have excellent vocational training and many of them go to school or university.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2008_IMG_1222.jpg
  • IMG_026 GEORGIA. Gori’s district. 2009. The ceremony of delivery from the German Government, represented by the German ambassadress Patricia Flor, to Koba Subeliani, Minister for the Refugees of the Georgian Government, of 300 new houses for Georgian refugees fled from the South Ossetia and Kodori Gorge, in the Upper Abkhazia. After the end of the war with Russia of August 2008, it was started a building program of 4.542 new house in the regions of Kvemo Kartli, Shida Kartli, Mtskheta-Tianeti and Kakheti. The houses have three rooms and have the supply of electricity, gas, heating and potable water. International community has given Georgian government 4,3 million dollars, of which 700 million dollars destined for the housing and the facilities.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_026.jpg
  • IMG_014 GEORGIA. Polnisi, a new settlement about 90 west of Tbilisi. 2009. Elderly georgian refugees stay in their flat. Most of the elderly live alone and they are the most vulnerable people of the community, together the children. 20 families moved in this new settlement from Kodori Gorge, in the Upper Abkhazia. The way of life of the Georgians refugees is subsequently deteriorated after the outbreak of the war with Russia in August 2008.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_013.jpg
  • IMG_007 GEORGIA. Tbilisi. 2009. An elderly georgian refugees coming from the Kodori Gorge, in the Upper Abkhazia staying in a decaying building. Most of the elderly live alone and they are the most vulnerable people of the community, together the children. Poverty and malnutrition are social phenomenons, as even psychologic traumas caused by experience of armed conflict. The income pro-capita of retired persons is 22 lari a month, 11 euro, which is below the minimum poverty level.
    CEOLONI_GEORGIA_2009_IMG_008.jpg
  • IMG_9890_GEORGIA. David Gareja. 2011. A rock-hewn Georgian Orthodox monastery complex (Lavra in Georgian) on the slopes of Mount Gareja, in the south of Kakheti, about 60-70 km south-east of the capital Tbilisi, near the border with Azerbaijan. The complex includes hundreds of cells, churches, chapels, refectories and living quarters hollowed out of the rock face. The monastery was settled in the sixth century by the Syrian monk David, one of the 13 Syrian Fathers who founded monasteries in the regions of Kartli and Kakheti.
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