Veronica in winter

In winter, Veronica cannot be free, and winter is already here

Help hope to help

More than anything, Veronika Paramonova loves to walk alone. Waking up in the morning, she washes the floors, takes a shower, paints and leaves the house. Enters grocery stores, compares prices. Or calls the theater of the young viewer and goes to the first performance. And sometimes he turns off the phone and leaves for the opposite area of ​​the city. Veronica’s mother is very angry with her:

- If you turn off the phone, I will not let you go anywhere!

“I don’t control you,” Veronica answers her, “and you don’t control me.”

Veronica is thirty -nine years old, and she never lived on her own, only with her mother. At the pink certificate of disability, its diagnosis is written: oligophrenia in the degree of accountality. Walking alone is almost the only opportunity Veronica to feel like an adult, an individual person. And this right is to be independent - it defends all her life.

Father's heart

Mom’s anger is justified by fear. A few years ago, a friend of Veronica, the same adult guy, left the house to take out the garbage, and when he returned back, he was caught by courtyard boys and crushed his fingers with stones.

At nine months, Veronica was already walking along the crib and spoke the first words. “I carried it to a planned vaccination, and the vaccination, despite the cold, did,” says Lyubov Andreevna. “And on the way home, she lost consciousness.” As doctors later say, important brain cells died as a result of oxygen starvation. When Dad Veronica, Vadim Andreevich, came to the hospital, Veronica looked at one point, did not recognize anyone and did not express any emotions. Mom cried and howled. Dad said: "Get ready, we are going home." From this day, Veronica’s father took all the problems of the outside world.

Veronica at home photo: Anton Klimov for TD Veronika rolled wool photo: Anton Klimov for TD

Lyubov Andreevna did not claim to be a regular school for her daughter, she dreamed that Nick would be taken at least to the correctional class. The psychological and pedagogical commission decided: the child is untreated. After the commission, the psychiatrist took Lyubov Andreevna aside and said:

“You know, your husband is so penetrated, he has so many connections, I want to give you good advice.”

- What advice?

- Rent your child until it's too late, to a specialized house. She will live, and you will visit her.

“Why should I take my child somewhere?”

- You understand, your child is worse than a dog. You will go on vacation, neighbors, acquaintances can stay with the dog, no one will remain with your child. It will be such a burden until the end of your days, it will never become normal, it will never study or work, you will constantly be attached to it.

Your child is worse than a dog. You will go on vacation, neighbors can stay with the dog, no one will remain with your child

Lyubov Andreevna came home in tears and told everything to her husband. His answer was simple and a couple.

- Calm down. I want you to have one thought in your head: this is our child who will be our child until the end of days, and we will not give it anywhere. She will live with us.

Then he himself went to school and achieved that Veronica was taken to first grade.

The guys drive a round dance in honor of Aleshin's birthday photo: Anton Klimov for TD

And then the military unit, where the father served, was disbanded. The family was left without a livelihood. Vadim Andreevich, who had never shared his feelings before, having lost his position in society and the opportunity to provide his family, completely closed, became silent, twitching and nervous. He began to earn extra money by a taxi driver and was very ashamed of this. Two years later, he had a heart attack.

Mom could not say anything to Veronica. The older sister brought Nick to the street and began:

“You know, Nika, it happens that people are dying ...

- Zhenya, I know, dad has died today.

Lyubov Andreevna, protecting Veronica from experiences, did not take her to the funeral. It's a shame when someone decides for you whether you go to your father’s funeral.

Shelf in the refrigerator

Twenty -year -old Pasha, a guy with mental retardation, worked as a loader in a store where Veronica often went to see prices. He saw her and fell in love. And when his stepfather began to beat him every evening, he asked Lyubov Andreevna to spend the night, wait out the western anger. And once he stayed for good.

Most of all Pasha liked to play children's cars. I bought them with a disability pension, different: racing, passenger, freight, firefighters. I put a battery into the cargo body - and the gas outlet was obtained. The bus wrote the schedule, how much he was serving, how much he arrives - the bus park turned out.

Nika and Lyubov Andreevna in the kitchen photo: Anton Klimov for TD Veronika bed photo: Anton Klimov for TD

With Veronika, they everywhere went by the hand: either it was the only way to show tenderness, or the two of them was not so scary to go into an aggressive society.

Veronica often said that she wants to do everything herself and live with Pasha separately. In a fit of quarrels, the mother shouted: “Pasha and I will rent an apartment, we will live ourselves!” But this would not have been enough for this, no for the strength, no worldly skills, no mental resources. Their independence was limited to a separate shelf with products in the refrigerator.

Freedom inside the fence

And then near Irkutsk, a village for adults with features opened. And Veronica and Pasha asked to move. There they had a separate room, and they healed like a family.

There, far from the big world, only one thing was good: there were no near those who pointed with a finger, laughed, could push or, worse, beat. There was no fear.

But there was no freedom. A clear daily routine, responsibilities that cannot be abandoned, and the inability to go for a walk wherever you want and as much as you want.

In the distance from the big world, only one thing was good: there were no near those who pointed a finger, laughed, could push or, worse, beat

Once Nick washed in the village of Paul, slipped and broke the ankle. They brought it to the city, knee -deep, it was impossible to walk, Veronica became a lying for six months.

Lyubov Andreevna was pulling her several times a day and raised her to help to go to the toilet on the ship, wipe the body instead of a shower, and process the beginning faults. For Lyubov Andreevna, it was a difficult, exhausting time, and for Nicky - time full of rage. She understood that her mother was washed by her adult woman. And she so wanted to be independent and independent!

Laying of wool. Masha, Alyosha, Danila and Nika are lying for snowmen photo: Anton Klimov for TD

Once, Lyubov Andreevna returned home, and gypsum, torn to shreds, was lying under the bed. It took Nick for six months to re -learn to walk.

Pasha remained to live in the village. Choosing between love and personal freedom, Veronica chose freedom. She really wanted to be able to leave for the other end of the city and turn off the phone, make a schedule for a day and go to the theater. And then "Hope" appeared in her life.

Slippery and cold in winter

Veronica's favorite thing is a clock. If you ask you to call it back in 49 minutes, it will call back a minute later. In addition to the possibility of disposing of the time, it is important for her to spend money herself. She puts part of the pension on the balance of the phone, calls the reference pharmacies and asks the prices. If cereals or sugar end, it reminds mom in advance: you need to buy.

I meet with Veronika during her classes in the Hope Center, she carefully and carefully cuts old cotton sheets, then to make rugs out of them on the weaving machine.

- Nika, what is freedom?

- When you walk alone.

- Are you not cold to walk in winter?

- I don't walk in winter.

- Why?

- Because slippery.

- What will you do in winter?

- Sew.

Learning to sew is now Veronica's main dream. In winter, she will spend the whole pension on a taxi before "Hope". This is the only place where she feels independent, and mother is not afraid for her safety.

Veronica at home photo: Anton Klimov for TD

A year ago, “Nadezhda” huddled in a small basement, where there was not a single window, and mold grew on the walls. Previously, correspondents of “such cases” came to Irkutsk, wrote about wards of “hopes” - adults with developmental disabilities and asked you to subscribe to a monthly donation. And you know what? In one year, we completed the Hope House. This is not a figure of speech, this is a two -story building in which there is already water, the light and in which the first floor is residential! The house that arose so that adults with developmental disorders in Irkutsk can learn simple household skills, find craft and begin an independent life. And we built this house with you, having thrown off 100-200 rubles. Can you imagine?

There is already a lot in the house, but there is no central heating, and there are no heaters either. It is very cold there. And the second and third floors are also unfinished. Please, let's continue to build "hope"! The feeling that you are managing your life begins with the feeling that you can be a master in your house: you decide where to put a closet, how to arrange mugs in a kitchen cabinet and where a Christmas tree will stand.
Please subscribe to a monthly donation of 50, 100 or 200 rubles. And then in the house of "Hope" it will be warm, and Veronica will stop freezing and endlessly thinking about winter.
We have already done a lot, let's continue to help!

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