Andrea Diefenbach was shocked by what she saw in a first-grade classroom in Cirpesti, Moldova, in 2008. When asked whose parents had emigrated to Italy, two-thirds of the students raised their hands.
Ms. Diefenbach, 36, set about to depict the daily lives of the Moldovan children who were left either to fend for themselves or live with grandparents, as well as the parents who departed. Her project, “Country Without Parents,” resonates with love and sadness — and a captivating contrast between devotion and abandonment.
Tiny Moldova is desperately poor. As many as a quarter of the 4.3 million people listed as living there actually work in Italy and other Western European countries, sending pay home to support their families. “They just have no other opportunities,” Ms. Diefenbach said. They do the jobs in agriculture, housekeeping and health care that others refuse to do.
It is not easy to emigrate. Often, Moldovans enter Italy on counterfeit visas that have cost $5,000 or more. They borrow the money from loan sharks. As the debt accumulates, the parents are forced to stay abroad to repay their high-interest loans. If they are lucky enough to get an Italian citizen to sponsor their legal residence, they must then save up enough to pay the high costs of bringing their children to live with them.
Parents continuously send money and food back home to Moldova, trying to compensate for their absence. But children are losing the notion of family, nationality and livelihood. They are, indeed, being deprived of their childhoods. Ms. Diefenbach photographed three sisters who rely on one other for survival. They wake up two hours before school every day to clean and cook. The oldest sister, who was 12 when Ms. Diefenbach began photographing them, had to take on the role of mother.
In the two years she worked on the project, Ms. Diefenbach saw no improvement in conditions. Moldova’s best educated citizens are now going abroad to perform unskilled labor. “The country is bleeding out,” Ms. Diefenbach said.
“But much worse is the disintegration of families.”
Class Discussion Questions:
1. Why do you think this image was chosen to be featured on the New York Times blog?
2. What does the image tell you about what's happening in this part of the world?
3. What did you learn while looking at this photo?
4. What do you notice about the photographer's remarks about his or her work?
5. What are some of the elements that make this a good news photograph?
Elements of great news photographs:
-Composition (background, foreground, placement and framing)
-Lighting and color
-Focus and depth of field
-Timeliness
-Point of view/objectivity/subjectivity
-Storytelling or narrative