Daniele Gussago fotografia di reportage e fotogiornalismo.

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The courage of the desert

The Youth of Bucharest

From dance a challenge to the wheel chair

Working in Pakistan

The Youth of Bucharest

In order to get close to the youth of Bucharest, stray youths that live on the streets, I had to have the help of an ex-stray. Rafael knows Bucharest like the palm of his hand, he knows its alleys and backstreets, all the lairs of his ex-street mates. He does not deny his past. He uses his knowledge and experiences to keep an eye on the groups, the new arrivals, the children.
We travel light, a camera with only one fixed lens, the wide-angle lens is carefully hidden in a nondescript backpack. No high-tech bags. We move close to the groups with a cheery greeting, the usual questions: how are you? Have you eaten today? Sometimes we bring something to eat, other times we must get medicine or call an ambulance to have the entire group seen to or to admit a boy who is feeling ill into hospital. The light of day shows a part of the life of the strays, perhaps the worst part because the light shows all their instability and the degrading environment in which they live.  Nighttime seems more in keeping with their life. They are more invisible and active at the same time, more alive. Rafael peers into dark corners where bushes and trees hide the lamplight. Yes, that girl is one of them. She is sitting on a wall, immobile. A short distance away there is a kiosk that sells drinks and sweets. We buy some. We discover that she is pregnant, we wonder whether she is happy, and ask her if she is well. Smiling widely she answers, yes, I am happy.  Are you alone? No, the others are here, close by. We leave.  We find the rest of the gang that are having party where there is a market during the day, with bus stops and taxi ranks. We saw it today when it was full of people, at night it is deserted. With a radio – cd they listen to music, many dance, someone sleeps in a deep sleep. A suspiciously deep sleep. A bag of glue is always present, each one has his own. We are brought into the dance and the photographs are part of the party.  They compete to be photographed without embarrassment as they inhale their glue, as if it were a trophy to be shown off, a status symbol. At a party one also eats and so we buy food from a supermarket that is still open. We continue exploring, we have been told to try near the station, typical. We find two youngsters stunned by glue. This time they don’t want to take us to their areas. What are you doing here? We’re working. Where? Here at the bar.
We look perplexed at the girl who runs the bar. With a smile she confirms this, the youngsters clean the sidewalk, empty the rubbish bins and remove the rubbish.  We do not need to ask where they take the rubbish, it is quite clear. We return to the centre, to Universitade Square that we have understood is the meeting point of many groups. Here we see what is most probably a paedophile at work. He is sitting next to a little boy with icy eyes who is smoking a cigarette.  No glue. They are sitting very close and speak softly, laughing every now and then. The others stand further away. We begin joking with the group leaders and at last I can take out my camera. A little girl poses immediately. I have to insist that she closes her legs. The poses have a 0-18 age restriction. Bad sign, she must have posed for those kinds of photographs so many times that to her the sight of a camera means work. Perhaps on Internet she is a small star. These youngsters live in an apparent state of total freedom. There are no adults or structures they must answer to. Many of these children have run away from home and have found refuge and fascination in the freedom on the streets. No-one thinks of tomorrow, only the present counts and the next raid through the streets of the city.

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