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Pavel turns 50 this year.
He arrived in Italy 12 years ago to look for a job, but he never got called back from the employment office. Paolo, this is how I friendly call him in Italian, was a bricklayer and was an expert in restoration of stucco and decorations. In Romania he worked for several restoration of Churches, but in order to survive he ended up counting only on his manual skills. For years he recovered iron and metal from abandoned factories for selling it back to Italian companies, and by doing it he often come into contact with contaminated materials, hydrocarbons and dioxins. His work was very hard and often cigarettes and alcohol are not enough to withstand the burden of fatigue. Pavel has been in jail and been at war, but his only thoughts are for his kids who are now in France with their mother and he hasn’t seen them for years now. Today he is sick and his kidneys are failing, dialysis is getting more difficult every day. Sleeping in a cottage both in summer and winter becomes tougher every year but the dream of seeing his children still goes beyond all these challenges.