Valeriu

This is the sad story of the last old people living in the deserted villages of western Romania. Even if in the village of Cristioru de Sus there is no longer publictransport, medical assistance or food stores, some elderly people do not leave their degraded homes and continue to work their land to provide food. Valeriu is one of them. He lives alone in a house, made of wood and plastic, with only one room. It has no running water and is heated to a small wood-burning stove. I meet him when I went on a photo tour with my friend with the intention of capturing the beautiful landscapes of the great Apuseni mountains. Instead, we met in the desert streets a man so happy to be able to share his life story with anyone who comes his way. We always used to take some bread with us to share with the animals we met during our walks.This time we gave it to Valeriu. I read so much joy on the face of this old man but also distrust. He thanked for the bread and rushed to store it in his house. He stood at the doorstep looking long after us, hoping that we would fulfill our promise to return to visit him. Valeriu is just one of the elders forgotten in Romania's deserted villages. Their children went to big cities or foreign countries in search of a better life. These photos show only a fragment of the reality of the Romanian rural environment where rest only isolation, resignation and perhaps a minimum of hope that the society will pay more attention to this desolate phenomenon.

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