June 17-18 charity flea market Kurazh Bazar will be held in Kiev, which will publicly touch on the theme of socialization of children with disabilities. The goal is to raise 600 thousand hryvnias for organizing two inclusive camps for children. And while there is active preparation, I want to tell you how the charity flea market last year changed the lives of 10 children with heart disease and a photographer.

Last year, we collected money for occluders - cardiac implants that would save children from low-income families from heart disease. At the collected 500 thousand hryvnia we managed to buy 10 pieces and save 10 children from different regions of the country. A year later, I decided to ask how they are doing. My parents sent me photos of healthy children that I published on facebook, and after a while I was photographed by Oleg Gubar - he was so filled with history that he proposed to make a photo project. For a month he traveled half the country to photograph these children. When Oleg returned, I decided to talk to him about what prompted him to take such a step and how this trip affected him.

- Oleg, tell me why did you decide to make a photo project "Courage Bazar, dyaku for heart"? Free, on bare initiative.

I saw a post on Facebook, and he very much hooked me. I wanted to show that thanks to the charitable organization children with heart disease who do not have money for an operation can live. Show how beautiful they are, give them extra faith in themselves, draw attention to the problem, inspire. My wife and I used to help other people, but to collect a small photo-expedition and go alone in Ukraine - no. This is the first trip with such a filming project, and I hope not the last one.

- How did the parents of children react to your desire to make a photo project?.

At first it was difficult for me to make contact with them - they were very cautious about our first communication. They, of course, were embarrassed that some stranger calls them and seeks contact with children. But thanks to Tanya Raikova from UBB, who after her charity flea market stayed with her parents in a warm relationship, everything became possible. She explained the situation to them, helped them find a common language.

- How did the idea of ??shooting come about?.

I long thought about the style of shooting. He had to unite the children into one picture, but I did not know what was waiting for me and as a result I would get it, so I brought with me a huge amount of equipment that was not needed later - colorful backgrounds, racks, holders, transparent fabrics and so on. On the spot, I decided to shoot as easily as possible - just illuminated the child from behind, so that around him formed a kind of glow, and this light could be perceived as the same "light at the end of the tunnel". I even have a favorite photo when the baby turns around and looks at the light.

- Tell us about your impressions of the trip.

On the route the first on the list was a two-year-old baby girl, whom I saw on Facebook, from the Ivano-Frankivsk region. I was shocked by what I saw on the way - no words and photos can not convey it: abandonment, poverty, devastation. I remember how long I rode in the rain along a narrow country road, where there was an abyss on one side, and on the other, a ditch into which water from the houses. As a result, it ended with a rutted tractor rut with layers of mud of enormous height. I had to slowly pass back, listening to the stones jumping out from under the wheels, and look for another road. My shock impressions were reinforced by the fact that in Ukraine I went after a month of life and filming in Britain, Germany and Poland. I thought that I was mentally ready for certain tests on the road, but as the trip showed, not until the end.

Another vivid impression was the trip to the village between Vinnytsia and Khmelnitsky regions, where I had to drive 25 minutes through a dense forest from a so-called highway, and after it went the ruins of a hut - about 12 or 14 yards, I did not count. Among them were several houses in which people still live. Communication caught very poorly, and when I returned from there, I dreamed that God forbid the wheel did not fall off.

- How did this project affect you?.

After I took a picture of the first baby, it seemed to me that I was getting lighter, it was somehow easier. It's an amazing feeling to look at these children and think that they live, they have their own joys, interests and dreams. And all this thanks to charity.

With the families of the kids parted very cordially - they offered tea, fruit. In one family, I waited until the rest of the children came from school and also pofotkal them for the company. With me I was given home wine and Transcarpathian vodka - at first I refused, but then agreed and took with me.

I very much want all the kids to be fine. If they are already lucky to be born a second time, then certainly not just. I have felt these children and I am sure that they will make our society better.