SOCIAL REALISM PART 6 - LOOK TWICE

I ask you to take time to read my write up today since this in not one of my ordinary portraits.

And before you read, please look twice on the photo of this lovely girl

Last week I notice a girl sitting some steps from the bakery I use. She has sent me a gentle smile and I have smiled back. But I have been worried. She looks too young to beg on the street. Maybe she has run away from home? Today I approached her and asked if I could talk to her. I had mistaken her for being Norwegian. She has no addiction. She is from Budapest. Her name is Irena and she is 23 years old. She speak some words in english, some french and tiny bit Norwegian. We talked for one hour, I sitting beside her, she close to my shoulder and putting her hands in mine.

She didn't want any money since a Rumanian mafia in Oslo try to take what she gets in her paper cup. They are after her all the time, offering her a room for the night (shared with 25 others baggers), they want her name and address and are threatening her. She get some protecting from the Norwegian police and tells me that they always treat her nice, and the Norwegian people are friendly. The sweater she has on she got from the shop on the corner, and she has food in her bag. I was not allowed to take a photo of her, that will increase her problems with the mafia and it will also put me in danger. My camera will be stolen and they will beat me.

Then Hosanna arrives, but she hides when she sees me. Irena tells me that she is her friend, and after a while we go to find her. Irena assures her that I want them no harm. I reach out my hand, and she shakes it introducing herself as Maria. She works as a living statue (the mask are hard on her skin). She is 16 years old and calls her 7 year older friend Irena, for Mum. Hosanna/Maria are happy to see a stranger as me. I ask if she is hungry and she proudly show me that she has food. I ask if she will allow me to buy them some more nourishing food.

They eat, we talk, we laugh and she shares with me that it is so hard on the shoulders, knees and legs to be a statue and now she has asked Mummy if she could take a break. When I see the outfit in her bag I tell her that I have taken pictures of her and that I'm so happy to see her face and get to know her. Irena looks at her with great tenderness and we laugh when she copy how Hosanna/Maria scares children that goes by to make them laugh and to get some rest in her legs for the short seconds. And Hosanna/Maria laughs even more when I show her how I will make funny moves in front of her to make her lose concentration next time I see her.

I give them a long hug before I go, and they kiss me. Hosanna/Maria has no problem to be taken photos of and she is happy when she looks at them on the camera. (I saw no one around that could make problems for the girls and I considered it safe).

Later that evening I pass Hosanna/Maria statue spot, but she is not there. I'm happy. That means they have enough food to keep them of the street untill tomorrow. But I'm deeply concerned about these two girls on their own in a foreign country, sleeping in parks and nothing else than food to put in their mouth. Do they want to go back to Budapest? How are they going to get home to their families?
not sure I will sleep well tonight.

People passing me and the girls today would think I took a photo of a happy girl - living a life that in misery. Her happiness is real, but how many minutes or hours does it last? We could look like a jolly family - if they didn't look twice.

if you are still reading - thank you so much. This portrait means a lot to me.

EDIT:
Today I spoke to the police. They will contact Irena and try slowly to get her trust and try to get the Embassy to help her home if that is what she wants.

The police will contact the Norwegian Child Welfare and tell them about Hosanna/Maria.

I hope this will make a change to the better for the girls.