WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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Previously in life.

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Poverty continuous to exist. Globalization has created
greater disparity in some parts of the world.

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Governance means to use a very simple analogy making sure that you
don\'t abuse that wife or your children taking care of human rights.

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It\'s a way of describing achievement
of some sort of stability,

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some sort of decency, some
sort of predictability.

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[music]

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[music]

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The economic and social turmoil that followed the collapse of the
Soviet Union has resulted in untold numbers of personal tragedies

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while the end of communist
rule has led to many positive,

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political and economic changes in people\'s
lives. It\'s also led to family breakdown

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growing poverty and an
increase in alcoholism.

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[music]

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One of the saddest social indicators is the
number of children now forced to live who\'d work

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on Russian streets.

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It\'s a totally new phenomenon. Today, estimates show, there
are a one million homeless children throughout Russia.

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In St. Petersburg alone, there
are 16,000 street children.

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It\'s a situation Russian President
Vladimir Putin has summed up as

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the most threatening

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of his country\'s economic
and social indicators.

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The whole system was destroyed and the system of Ernest was destroyed
as well. And many people, they don\'t believe in their future,

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they don\'t have any deals because they don\'t believe in
that ideals which existed in the former Soviet Union.

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And the new idea was uh…
hadn\'t been invented for them,

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but relations of people are destroyed, and
parents uh… don\'t take care of their children.

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[sil.]

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Max is 13, and Yuriyy, 11. They live in
the eastern suburbs of St. Petersburg.

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[sil.]

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They sleep in the attic at the top
of this eight story housing block.

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In the winter, they sleep in the basement.

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[sil.]

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[non-English narration]

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This is our cushion. We sleep on it.
We use it instead of a pillow.

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When it is warm, we use our jackets as a
pillow while the cats sleep on this one.

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[non-English narration]

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This is our typical food for the day.
We eat macaroni, dry pasta.

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We don\'t eat hot food because we\'ve got no
one as a cooker. [non-English narration]

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This is our hiding place. We hide
all the most important things here,

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but they always go missing.
[non-English narration]

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This is our bed. We only got it today
because the previous blanket here was

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well, someone privatized
it, but it was nicked.

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And these are our kittens, we took them away because the
woman wanted to drown them. We felt sorry for them,

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and took them to live with us. They live here.
We feed them when we have food obviously.

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[non-English narration]

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This cat is mine by the way.
I have a female cats and he…

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This is my cat. He\'s is a Tom.

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Max and Yuriy have been living here for the last eight
months. They\'ve run away from home for different reasons.

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Yuriy was being beaten by his alcoholic
stepfather. Max\'s mother is dead,

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and his father was never at home. They\'ve abandoned
school, and neither wants to return home,

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or to move to the government shelters which have been offered
to them. They met on the streets when they were begging.

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[non-English narration]

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If me you has to protect him.
Yes, usually he protects me,

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but this all depends. Sometimes, I feel sorry for him.
Especially, when his mom tried to take him home the other day,

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and he started crying, and tried to run away. And
then I felt sorry for him. He only just escaped.

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[non-English narration]

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It all starts with little things. My step father gets
drunk, starts beating me up things for things like

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I haven\'t thrown the rubbish away or
done the dishes, just for little things.

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Three months ago, my mum met me, and I
told her that I\'m not coming back home.

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She tried to frighten me by saying she would tell the
police. I told her either live with me, or the stepfather,

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but she didn\'t care enough, and walked away.
Sometimes, I cry, when I think about my mom.

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[sil.]

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Most street children in St. Petersburg
hang around the metro stations

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to beg from passing pedestrians, but these are
some of the most dangerous places in the city

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and a magnet for criminals.

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We come here every morning, day and night. We
come here to these Chaos and we start begging.

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Sometimes, we ask for change,
and sometimes we ask for food.

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Sometimes, we have to collect empty bottles

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whenever we can find them.
And then we sell them.

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[sil.]

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From 6:00 or 7:00 in the afternoon, we
try to get money for the computer games.

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We get back from the computer club about
8:00 in the morning, and sleep until late

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5:00 or 6:00 in the afternoon.

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Computer clubs have sprung
up throughout Russia,

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frequented by young boys, and
teenagers, they stay open all night,

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a haven for paedophiles. And yet sometimes, Yuriy nd Max feel
safer staying here at night than sleeping in their attic,

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there men have already
threatened them several times.

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[non-English narration]

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For me, the most dangerous thing about living on
the street in attics and celis is paedophiles.

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That\'s the most dangerous thing.

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I know lots of people who have been abused.

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[non-English narration]

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If someone I don\'t know approaches me, it\'s
really scary. That\'s the most frightening thing,

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but that man with a knife last night, he
was really dangerous. I was petrified.

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We had to run away from him to lose him.

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[non-English narration]

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To tell you the truth, I know people who are working as
prostitutes to find money for themselves, and their families.

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For instance, Masha, her mother
drinks, she hasn\'t got a father.

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And she has a small brother to look after.

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[non-English narration]

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In the last few years, the St. Petersburg\'s authorities
have set up a force of special child friendly police

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to help, and protect

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the growing number of children
who live on the streets.

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I personally know Frigo policeman.
I can\'t stand the rest of them.

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We run away from them, of course,
and try to hide from them

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because if they pick us up, they take us
to the police says young offenders unit.

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And then the pile of papers
grows, and grows, and grows.

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And then, oops! Right boy, it\'s your turn.
And then it\'s special schools,

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reform schools, shelters, orphanage,

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and then possibly prison depending on how
old you are, and what you have done it.

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[sil.]

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New teams of social workers have also
been introduced, but they are very few.

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And like the police, they\'re not always trusted
by the children they\'re supposed to be helping.

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The solutions they offer like state
shelters are often not appreciated.

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[non-English narration]

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There are lots of social workers, and
people who pretend to be social workers,

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I don\'t trust them. Some of them
can work for rapists, or maniacs.

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Even if they\'re good people, what can
the social workers offer anyway,

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special school, shelter or a flat
where you can live with a family,

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but it\'s dangerous. I mean
we\'re afraid to go there.

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[non-English narration]

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Our children\'s homes are outdated

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big prison like institutions
that house 150 to 200 people.

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The children live in huge rooms like army barracks,
and there is no personal attention to anyone.

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Children, of course, run away from this life, partly
because of the violent behavior of other children,

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the older children or the supervisors.

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[non-English narration]

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Vera Smirnova works for the NGO,
the protection of children.

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[sil.]

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She and her social work colleagues visit the children on
the streets several times a week to offer their help.

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Social work in modern meaning that has
never existed in the Soviet Union.

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That\'s why are all methods to work
in our approaches had to be changed.

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I think that we need
more social workers now.

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Sometimes, we need to visit this children several times, many
times because some of them don\'t feel uh… don\'t rely upon adults,

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and we need to keep uh… to hold many points

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with them before they start believe us.

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There are both (inaudible), different
kinds of job children are doing.

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Children usually start collecting bottles or begging when they first come to
the street but very soon they\'re getting involved in uh… criminal activities

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involved in prostitution. Uh…

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they start using drugs, drinking, smoking.

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Many children turn to glue sniffing as a way of
coping. They say, it also helps to reduce hunger.

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But prolonged use of glue
can cause brain damage,

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and affects both their
emotions, and intellect.

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[non-English narration]

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You become funny, you hallucinate.

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First of all, you feel weak,
and then the other way around.

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You feel good.

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You can do whatever you like hallucinate

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like you think of something you want,
and then it feels as if you got it.

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[non-English narration]

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This drop in center run
by Medicins du Monde

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offers girls and boys who live on the street
medical, social and psychological support.

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The number of diseases contracted
by children is escalating.

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[non-English narration]

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We have to deal with a high number of burns, and
injuries. Several illnesses connected to drug addiction,

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Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B,
and then this HIV and AIDS.

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We get many girls coming to our center
who are involved in the sex business

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to make money for drugs, and for the
things they need by selling sex.

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The blood test results in 2001 showed

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that every 10th child whose blood
was tested was HIV positive.

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And don\'t forget, we\'re talking about
children aged between 14 and 18.

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[non-English narration]

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[sil.]

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Dima has been living on the
streets for the last four years.

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He frequently runs away from state
shelters. He\'s been ill several times,

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and visits this center when he needs help. His
parents like many others in St. Petersburg

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sold their city center apartment to opportunists
leaving the entire family homeless.

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They were alcoholics and beat him.

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Michael, the center\'s psychiatrist uses
tests to gauge how Dima is coping.

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He has all sorts of mental problems. and…

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He\'s lot of combat experience, beating
and some sexual interpretation

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because he met umm… all adult…

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I mean some men

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who exploited to him,

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we bought him. He has spent a lot of time

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and invested. He can\'t
stay into any shelters

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uh… more than five days

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because he\'s very aggressive person.

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I think he will learn criminal
in two or three years,

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he did send to the prison
or to the hopefully

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with some of the desire. I think,
and there are known on their way.

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[sil.]

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When Dima isn\'t staying with
some man he met on the street,

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he lives here in this derelict car.

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[sil.]

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Russia should think about
its children, all right.

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Those children can still be… become uh… normal
citizens can become, martyrs can become,

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soldiers can become uh… workers who
will work for the prosperity of Russia.

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All right. And uh… if we
do not support them now,

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they will become street people, uh… useless
people who will be a burden to the state.

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Now we\'ve got only one generation of street
children who are uh… in the age break it off,

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let\'s say 7-18. All right. And
most of them will grow up,

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and have their own children,
and this will create

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uh… street people.

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Street children miss out on their education.
(inaudible) one of the lucky ones.

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She\'s back at school and has a future. She\'s
safe, and has been reunited with her family.

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It wasn\'t long ago that she too was
on the streets looking for food

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when her mother became
too ill to care for her.

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When mom didn\'t have any bread,
we went to collect bottles.

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The baby didn\'t have any milk.

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So we went to collect bottles
so we could get food.

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Street social workers rescued Switlana,

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and the family has been enrolled into a year long program which
supports them until her mother Natasha can get back on her feet.

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Every week, they meet up with other
families who faced similar problems.

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[non-English narration]

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These classes that\'s really
useful, and interesting for us.

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We learn lots of new things. We
have to talk about our experiences.

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And now we are like one big happy family.

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[non-English narration]

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We got two major aims. First of all, just
to uh… help street children directly.

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And the second aim is to sensitize
uh… the public at large

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and politicians on the
issue of child labor.

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Uh… the biggest frustration is in difference of state
officials. This issue is still underestimated.

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It is underestimated, how grave it is,

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how uh… dangerous it is for the future of the country. Uh…
drug open-minded politicians that already understand that

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addressing social issues can be
beneficial for… for the future

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can provide a stable development, sustainable
development of the country in 20 years,

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but not everybody understands this so far.

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[non-English narration]

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In the transition to the market economy, our
country founded self in a charted territory.

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So as we walk down this path,

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it is very important to learn about
the international experience.

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The international organizations
bring their knowledge.

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They also sponsor the beginning stages
of the new innovative projects.

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[non-English narration]

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Back in her office, Vera tries to contact Yuriy\'s mother to
see if she could meet up with her and provide any support.

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[non-English narration]

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I think that she\'d drunken a lot before talking
to me. It was… it was obvious, she was drunk.

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She says that uh… sometimes she\'s drunken
but that\'s not the main reason why

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our son has had left their house.
In fact, there are some

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difficulties in the relations between uh…
her son, and his stepfather. Frankly,

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I haven\'t felt that she… she\'s really
sort of that her son is not 12.

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Yuriy knows it\'s only a matter of time
before things on the street could get worse.

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He told us that maybe he could live with
his grandmother in the countryside.

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Two hours drive from St. Petersburg.

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I\'ll be so happy to see my grandma.
I\'ll give her a big kiss.

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I\'ll be very happy to see her.

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[non-English narration]

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I want to live with my grandma.

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She\'s lovely, but I feel sorry for Max.
I don\'t want to leave him alone.

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Max and me are friends. We\'re good friends.
And I don\'t want to leave him alone

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because he would feel bad about me.

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[sil.]

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Oh, dear, no lock, the doors locked.

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Unfortunately, Yuriy\'s
grandmother had gone away.

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[sil.]

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[non-English narration]

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Dear granny,

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I came to visit you, but you\'re not at
home. I miss you very much. Kisses, Yuriy.

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[sil.]

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If you stays here in this village

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without… without school, without any ability
to get job in future with his grandmother.

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
If he moved mostly college, he could have
comfortable for him, and he wants to stay here.

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
But on the other side, if he lives in St. Petersburg, sure, he
will want to have family confirm, he will live at the street.

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
The ultimate solution can be either to
find a guardian for him in St. Petersburg,

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
or to take him to a shelter, but
I\'m not sure that it will be easy.

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
So it\'s disputable what situations
better for him. Frankly, I…

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
I don\'t see any future for
him in both situations.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
[sil.]

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
[non-English narration]

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
I know that to become a doctor you need to enter a medical
institute. But I don\'t know whether it work out or not.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
If I really wanted to become a doctor,

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
I would have been in home, studying now.

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
[non-English narration]

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
So something\'s stopping me.

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
I wish everyone can have a home with
families that don\'t fight, nor argue.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:18.000
[non-English narration]

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
What I\'d really like is to live with my
mom, and real dad, without my stepfather.

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
That would be the best thing.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:35.000
[music]