Photojournalist and Documentary Photographer / Resident of Ukraine since 2014 / speaking Ukrainian and documenting the war in Ukraine for The Wall Street Journal
Biography:
Christopher Occhicone is a documentary photographer and photojournalist based in Kyiv, Ukraine for the last 14 plus years. He covers general and breaking news, as well as the war in Ukraine. For more than four years, he has been working on an...
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Focus:Photographer, Photojournalist, Journalist, Health, Environment, History, Documentary, News, Domestic, Foreign, Portraiture, Humanitarian, Human Rights, Artist
Skills:Digital Printing, Photo Assisting, Color Correction, Film Scanning, Photo Editing, Black & White Printing, Color Printing, Print Making, Curating, Copywriting, Exhibition Design, Photojournalism, Film Photography
Andriy's stepmother Vika shows a photo from the day he was rescued from his orphanage. He was severely malnourished and doctors at the internat gave him hours to live. Kim and Jed Johnson, an American family living in Ukraine as working as advocates for children in the internat system petitioned government officials in Kyiv in order to be allowed to remove Andriy from the orphanage. The orphanage director did not want to release him. If Andriy were to die in the orphanage, there would be no autopsy or investigation.
Andriy spent several years in a typical internat, located on the outskirts of a small village. The vast majority of disabled children live in similar institutions. Members of the public are not used to seeing children like Andriy.
Vika feeds Andriy at their home in Zhytomyr. When Andriy left his orphanage he was close to death from starvation. Many such children never resolve their issues with food, never learning to eat patiently or to chew their food. Fortunately \, Vika has helped Andriy overcome these issue.
Vika straps Andriy into his wheelchair before going out to run errands. There is no room in the apartment for her chair so she leaves it in the hallway. She says that normally, anything left in the hall would disappear but because there are so few disabled children living in the city, there is no point to stealing it.
Institutionalized children rarely or never have the chance to go outside. Andriy loves to go outside, ride public transportation, and watch the world around him.
Vika take Andriy to the post office. Few buildings in Zhytomyr are handicapped accessible and even those that are, are to ideal. The pitch of the ramp is much steeper than American standards and is requires great effort to negotiate.
Vika takes Andriy out as often as possible, However, Public transportation is not handicapped accessible and she relies on the good nature of others for assistance every time she gets on and off the bus.
Vika holds Andriy's hand. Children in the internats rarely experience human touch. They are usually bathed and handled by nurses wearing rubber gloves.
Oleh and Masha, who work with the Johnson family, dress Andriy before going out. Oleh works for the Johnsons, teaching their older adopted boys life skills. Masha is a university student working as an intern with the Johnsons. She is staying social work and her job with the Johnsons earns her university credit.
Kenny and Masha feed Andriy before bringing him home to Vika. Kenny works for the Johnsons, helping them navigate the complicated and corrupt Ukrainian legal system.
Andriy's favorite place to visit is the local shopping mall where he enjoys people watching. The general public are not used to seeing disabled children and many also watch Andriy with apparent curiosity.
While Vika cannot provide all of the types of therapy that will be available to him when he eventually joins his adoptive family in the US, the physical affection she gives him has helped him overcome the natural distrust of people he learned while living in the internat.