I can see the whole world

Victor has a developmental disability that makes him seem like a young child, innocent and vulnerable. Unfortunately, he also has the health problems of a much older man. Nearly blind and homebound, Victor lives alone in a small apartment and requires constant care.

Desperate, yet Cheerful

Victor spends his days pursuing two passions. He loves to draw detailed, realistic depictions of cars, trains, and airplanes. Victor’s poor vision requires him to press his face close to the paper he is working on. His artwork takes much time and focus to complete.

Victor’s other interest is music. He has an old accordion that he plays, singing along in his deep baritone. An elderly family friend calls him occasionally to provide him with new music, dictating notes and lyrics that Victor slowly writes down and then learns on his own. All of the music Victor plays is from memory, as the written music is hard for his failing eyes to make out.

Friendly and social, Victor enjoys being with people. The monthly support of IFCJ has been essential to Victor’s survival, allowing him to remain in his home thanks to the assistance it provides. Volunteers of The Fellowship sometimes find him near his window, looking through binoculars into an empty square outside. While the homecare workers see dull, snow-covered Soviet-era architecture, Victor envisions a magic garden and much more.

 “I can see the whole world through my binoculars,” Victor says.

Pictures and interview created on assignment of The Fellowship of Christians and Jews

My work in numbers

I’m taking my time during the current lockdown to reflect on what I’ve accomplished so far in humanitarian photography. One of the most unbiased way to do this is to crunch some numbers. So I went through all the folders with the assignments accomplished for aids organizations, and here’s what came out:

• My collaboration with the first humanitarian photography client began in January, 2013. It was JDC and this work changed my whole life.

• Since then I’ve been to 43 overseas locations for humanitarian photography assignments.

• The geography of the assignments covers 15 countries of the former USSR and the Middle East.

• I’ve conducted 626 interviews with the recipients of the humanitarian programs.

• Altogether I’ve supplied humanitarian organizations with 18 000 pictures.

This overview, these numbers are mind-blowing to me. The most exciting is the number of people I sat with to conduct an interview. I’ve listened to 626 life stories. More importantly, due to this body of work 626 voices were heard by a community of donors willing to ease the struggles of those and thousands of other people.

I can’t wait for the pandemic to loosen its grip so I could continue doing the humanitarian work.