Mrs. Halyna, 80

All her life she worked: as a street sweeper, a cleaner, a foreman at a bakery, a shop assistant. A considerable record of service, and the pension is meagre. Her husband has long been gone. Then, one after another, she lost her two sons. She was left entirely alone.

The body cannot cope: diabetes, hypertension, thyroid problems, psoriasis, operations on both eyes, severe joint pain. To keep going at all she needs regular drips, which are expensive, and her eyesight is weakening anyway. The pension barely covers either medicine or food, and she often has to choose.

Halyna Oleksiivna endures in silence and does not complain. She gets up early, tidies the house, cooks porridge and whispers: “If only I can live to see tomorrow.” She still believes that there are kind people.