Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.04.2008, Síða 38

B14 | Reykjavík Grapevine | Issue 04 2008 | Article
“The girl injecting herself in the video was notori-
ous on the streets of Odessa. She was an amazing
girl. One of the toughest I’ve ever known. Her dad
killed her mother and sexually abused her since
she was four. At the age of six, she ran away from
home. She ate stones and needles because she felt
so bad and ended up in hospital. She lived on the
streets since then. [At sixteen], she overdosed.”
So describes documentary filmmaker Tjörvi
Guðmundsson one of the street children featured
in a disturbing music video he made to the new
Mínus single ‘Throwaway Angel’ (posted on the
band’s Myspace). Tjörvi, who has spent the past
five years living with the children on the streets of
Odessa and Ukraine’s capital Kiev, dedicates the
video to fallen friends and those still struggling to
stay alive in horrific inhumane conditions where
violence, torture and crimes are everyday occur-
rences. On May 1, he will open an exhibition at
Gallery Startart on Laugavegur 12b where he pres-
ents both photographs and videos with these chil-
dren as the subjects.
Hidden Community
While Ukraine has experienced economic growth
for the past years, the number of homeless chil-
dren continues to be a serious problem. Although
it is nearly impossible to find accurate numbers,
Tjörvi says hundreds of thousands of children live
on the streets without any adult protection. He has
met thousands and describes them as the stron-
gest and most wonderful people he has ever met.
To tell their story and make a documentary that fo-
cuses on a reality ignored by governments world-
wide, he has been harassed by local authorities,
received death threats from the mafia and had to
bribe the police multiple times.
“Why did I decide to do this? There are a
couple of reasons, mostly personal. Nothing I
want to explain in detail. I wanted to do a docu-
mentary about this subject and took the next
plane to Kiev. At that time, I had no idea what I
was getting myself into,” Tjörvi explains: “I got to
know a strong group in Kiev. Children from age
eight to seventeen. They live under a bridge dur-
ing the summer and hide down in the sewers dur-
ing the winter, when the temperature can drop to
minus 20 degrees.”
To be able to get to know the underground
world and show the tragic reality of their lives as
accurately as possible, Tjörvi had to become one
of the group. He slept in the sewers, became their
friend and observed their every move. But earn-
ing the children’s trust took time.
“They don’t trust people easily but when you
spend time on the streets, you slowly start to un-
derstand their daily routine, where they hang out
and at what time. At first I followed them around.
Then I tried to approach them. After about one
year I had become part of the group. Then a whole
new chapter began.”
“I got to know a new community, shaped by
their world and the dangers they face every day.
They have their own laws and rules and each
member has his own role. Some may be good
fighters while others are better at negotiating with
the cops, begging for money or stealing. There is
strong affection between them and they look af-
ter each other. They also play around and do fun
things together, just like all kids do, and are often
really happy. The difference is that all their games
are a matter of life or death.”
There are many reasons why the children
ended up on the streets. Abandoned or forced
out of their homes by parents who are either drug
addicts or alcoholics. Some of them ran away
because of violence and sexual abuse. Others
escaped from orphanages, where they are often
victims of even more brutality. Thousands of chil-
dren became homeless at such an early age that
they don’t know whether they have parents or not
and life on the street is the only thing they know.
“When these children have lived on the
street for so long they become addicted to it. Some
of them are fostered but run back to the street.
After living among them and experiencing their
lives I can understand that in a way. These are just
kids that have lost their friends on the street and
feel obligated to defend their territory. The street
becomes their world, their mother and home.”
The Underground Kids of Ukraine
“I wanted to do a docu-
mentary about this sub-
ject and took the next
plane to Kiev. At that
time, I had no idea what I
was getting myself into.”