Imagine your children or grandchildren being given a lift to school with a horse and cart. That would be exciting for them, wouldn’t it? But for five-year-old twins Liviu and Livia, it’s an every-day occurrence.
The median salary in Kosovo for those lucky enough to have a job equates to less than £500 per month. But there are many on the margins of society whose standard of living does not come anywhere near that level.
Evdokia has been poorly rewarded for a lifetime of hard work. Born in 1937, she lives in a village in southern Moldova and spent her life working on a collective farm, which was typical of the soviet era. After it was shut down, she worked wherever she could, mostly labouring in the fields around her village.
Since the early days of Blythswood’s Shoe Box Appeal – the 1990s – some of the gift-filled boxes have gone to Pro Vita Medica, an organisation in Romania’s Banat region which helps young women to cope with unwanted pregnancy.
Vladyslav (7), Dmytro (5) and Taras (6) are three brothers growing up in Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. Their father was seriously injured while defending his country and the family lives in a village, in difficult circumstances.