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Two of a kind
22 February 2010
Damek is 12 years old. He’s lived in the institution for ten years now.
The home is situated in a small village in the middle of a forest. He shares a room with four other children, where he keeps his only possessions on the shelf above his bed.
“In the morning, we get up,” he says, “have breakfast and so on. Then we go to school and when we get back, we do our homework and then we can watch TV – we are allowed to do that. At the weekends, it depends on what day it is: on Saturdays we tidy up; on Sundays, we have big bathing. Otherwise, it is always the same.”
Damek is one of the 48 children who live here. Lydia is another. She’s 13 years old and has been in the institution for the same amount of time as Damek – eight years. She shares her bedroom with one other girl and, although she likes most things about the home, she doesn’t like “the way the little kids behave”.
Lydia’s 11 year old brother also lives there, although she’s not sure why they’re there. “I get on well with him,” she says, “and when I grow up I would like to take care of him.”
Damek is also uncertain as to why he’s there. He has four siblings, aged from 9 to 16. They all live at home with his Mum and Dad.
“The social service people thought that I was repeatedly beaten,” he says, when he talks about why he’s there. “I would fall on the stairs all the time. I would be all bruises and they thought I was beaten.”
