Silver 2017 / Book / People (Non-Pro)

Their Fight

  • Photographer
    Krassimira Vassileva
  • Prizes
    Silver in Book (Series Only)/People

The pictures were shot in 2016 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The specific project presents the dramatic story of a child - an orphan, raised by his grandmother and his blind grandfather. A drunk driver killed his parent on a pedestrian crossing when his mother was in her 8 month of pregnancy. The baby was rescued but due to lack of oxygen remained impaired for all life. His father is long months in awake coma and died in November without out of it. His mother died in the crash. Ljubcho is 14 years old now. The life of Ljubcho is a string of struggles and everyday small victories. His treatment and numerous operations are organized by his grandmother and supported mainly by the charity. The need for civil support and charity is the result of lack of adequate state policy to protect the rights of children with disabilities. These children have no social integration and access to education. For them, caring parents, which receive scanty work as personal assistants. Paid for 2-3 hours a day. Approval for a personal assistant and financing becomes more European programs. Regulation is unclear. Parents can`t work otherwise, because there is nobody to care for their sick children. And children and parents are doomed to a miserable existence.They live on the charity of people. Sustainable and accountable public policy is lacking. The future of these children is absolutely unclear after they turn 18. They receive paltry pension. Some of them remain living corpses until the end of his life. The rights of these people have long forgotten. When Ljubcho become 18 years old, his grandmother and his grandfather would be very old. He has no other relatives. His future remains unclear. Ljubcho is one of many children with disabilities in Bulgaria without a future and a hope for a decent life.