It is already three days that four-year-old Tehmine has been asking her mom for candy, but her mother can’t afford to fulfill her little one’s elementary wishes. Stifling her emotions from the child’s waiting looks in tears, the mother, 38-year-old Larisa, continues to rock the cradle with her 9-month-old Amalik, speaking about her past under the accompaniment of the rusty metal cradle’s extraordinary creak.

“We found this cradle inside one ruined house… it’s a half-ruined thing, but it is good to lull the child. I have to rope up the baby tight from several places to prevent it from falling, but my attention is wholly drawn to the cradle while the baby is there asleep,” Larisa says.