Ukrainian caregivers in Italy feel affects of war from afar
Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, among European Union member states, Italy was home to one of the largest communities of people of Ukrainian origin. According to data from the EU, over 200,000 Ukrainian citizens were living in Italy as of late 2020. This migration made them one of the most rooted foreign groups in the country, largely composed of women employed in family and health services for the elderly.
Photographer Chiara Negrello's grandmother Lidia Maggiolo was one of them. In 2020, after spending several months in the hospital due to COVID-19, when Lidia returned home, she was no longer autonomous. For this reason, her family decided to hire Lyubov Mala, a middle-aged Ukrainian caregiver. The project "Caring for our Past" begins in Negrello's childhood home, where she was curious about Lyubov's choices to live and work in Italy.
In March 2022, one month after the conflict in Ukraine started, part of Lyubov's family lived at Lidia's house. At that time, six people from four generations and two different cultures were living in a small apartment in Rovigo, Italy. Cohabitation was not easy due to different languages, habits and needs. Living together was a collision in some ways, but also a solidarity encounter at a time of tremendous suffering.
The profession of caregiver is a low-paying job in Italy, even though most people who apply have a good level of education and many were qualified workers before emigrating. They experience a work experience characterized by isolation, subordination, high intensity of work and emotional stress. Within the domestic walls, many live-in caregivers are in close contact 24 hours a day with the person they care for. The inevitable consequence of this circumstance is a negotiation of privacy, which on both sides is a very thin line. Caregivers are there at the elderly person's most vulnerable moments: they change them, wash them, feed them.
The caregivers experience their employers' homes as if they have always been part of them, sleeping in their children's old rooms and moving from place to place as old family photos hang on the walls watching their movements. However, they are also forced to compromise their personal space, finding themselves in an environment they call "home" but that is not entirely accurate. When they are allowed to take a break from work, they continue to sense the presence of the person they care for, and are on the alert if the person calls out, in need.
With the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, many caregivers have decided to stay in Italy and assist their own families, financially, from afar. However, experiencing conflict at a distance causes great tensions that can also undermine the relationship with the elderly person they care for. They are often nervous and have less patience, isolating themselves with their phones and reading the news, moving to other rooms to text or make a quick call.
The caregivers share their fears about the war with the elderly people they care for, who empathize with them but are uncertain what to say to provide comfort. Bedrooms become the live-in caregivers' shelters, and although they are places where they had to adapt, today they are the rooms they have decorated and where they feel protected.
Caregivers' days are punctuated by the phone ringing and the latest updates coming in from the many chats. Ukrainian women always check the areas where Russia has attacked, for fear that their friends or family might be affected. The caregivers are especially concerned about the elderly and children close to them, since they are the most vulnerable. They regularly write and call to ensure that all is well and want to be updated on anything that happens.
Familiar terms arise when referring war or conflict, such as invasion, borders, loss, compromise, withdrawal and irruption. In their own way, caregivers also experience these terms in their daily lives while caring for people in an unfamiliar country: invasion of physical and emotional personal space, negotiation between the two sides, loss of their intimacy and withdrawal from their homeland and family. They are living through a war from afar and facing a conflict within themselves.
Chiara Negrello is a documentary photographer based between Italy and Southeast Asia.
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