Seliger, Russia
“I cried every night. For a month, two, three months. This is not for me, I can’t get used to it.” – Anya was seventeen when she lost her parents and was sent to a convent. When she arrived it was already winter. The covent was сut off from the town by heavy snowfalls. It was surrounded by the frozen Seliger lake and endless white will. She felt very lonely on this island where she had to obey the new rules and forget about secular life. Anya is sharing a room with a Ukrainian refugee, a disabled woman who, like other women in the convent, came here to seek help in moments of hopelessness. This place is a salvation for many women and kids who were left alone.