Five years ago, a 36-year-old rescuer from Novorossiysk, Alexei Efremov, took custody of a homeless old man.
“In 2014, for a month I was sent from work to retraining for advanced training, and at home a pregnant wife and an old grandmother. It was necessary to find them a person to help with the housework, - says Alexey Efremov. - A friend advised to hire a peasant who guarded the garages in the village of Vladimirovka. I went to talk to him. Immediately I realized that this was a homeless person, but he was sober and tidy enough. In general, we knocked on his hands. ”
So in the life of Efremov appeared the former joiner of the Novorossiysk car-repair plant Victor Kargin.
Alexey is a professional lifeguard, working in the Novorossiysk municipal budget institution Rescue Service.
“He is a lifesaver in life,” said Natalya, Efremova’s wife. - Once brought home a toy terrier. He says: “Together with the police, an apartment on call from the neighbors was opened, and there a dog whined near the deceased owner, how could I leave it?” Well, I have a good one. ”
“Good man, yes vodka killed”
In the suburban village of Gorny, where the family of Ephraim lives, the Kargina was put in order, fed and settled in a small house, standing separately on the site. Previously, an elderly man lived in a shell without heating and slept on a mattress.
“He was happy and tried to repay good for good,” recalls Alexey Efremov. - I called my wife every day, asked how he behaves. I will not hide, at first, Natalya took Victor unkindly. But then she reported to me that he also looks after the woman Nina, and feeds the chickens on time, and fulfills any request. ”
- © Photo from personal archive
Victor Kargin was not only a good worker, but also a great storyteller. The neighbors of Ephraim also ceased to fear him, and soon, meeting on the street, they talked to him for a long time.
“After returning from my studies, I decided to help Viktor with the restoration of his documents,” says Alexey Efremov. “As a human being, I felt sorry for him. A good man, yes vodka killed, as many. "
According to Alexei, about 40 thousand rubles was spent on the payment of lawyer services and receipt of certificates. Kargin received a new passport to replace the lost. At the Novorossiysk car-repair plant they helped to restore the work book. The problem arose with the design of the pension: the man was registered in the narcological register. Alexey drove a homeless man to take tests and an appointment with a narcologist, after which Kargin was removed from the register.
“And suddenly I realized that all this is monkey labor,” says Alexey. - He will go outside to the street, where he will start drinking again and will lose his documents again. I went to social protection, they were advised to arrange custody of Kargin, in the Krasnodar Territory there is a law that allows it. So I Vitya and "adopted."
Fatal mistake
After that, problems started with Victor.
“I made a fatal mistake,” recalls Efremov. - I gave Victor his entire first pension, nine thousand rubles a little. I come in the evening to him, and on the table is a “gentleman's set” of an alcoholic: port wine, beer, hawthorn tincture. And he himself is already drunk. ”
Alexey took all the unfinished liquor from the ward, poured it on the beds. At night, Kargin disappeared.
Occasionally, Alexey was informed that, it seems, Viktor was seen in Novorossiysk, then in suburban settlements. The rescuer went on a search, but each time he returned with nothing. Kargin found in six months.
“They called me, I went: for sure, he lies in the mugs by the road,” says Alexey. - Mom dear! Dirty, smelly, scabs on their feet. "
Efremov called an ambulance. Victor was treated for a long time: both the liver is sick and the heart is not in order.
After the hospital, the old man began to drink alcohol again. He stole a chainsaw from Alexey, sold and drank some money. After a serious conversation with the guardian, Kargin stopped dragging things from the yard, but quickly found another source of income.
“In our village there is a well-known church in the whole district,” says Alexey. - People come to the Mountain even from afar. Here is our ward and got into it begging for alms. They give him more than other beggars and willingly: a blessed person, he is a friendly man. Even now, from time to time, he is begging at the church, and he carries the bottles home in his sleeve. I do not always have time to withdraw and pour alcohol. ”
“Although he is not related by blood, he is no longer a stranger”
For custody of the recent homeless rescuer monthly receives 3,000 rubles. He also manages the pension Kargin. According to Yefremov, all funds are spent on food, clothing and medicine for Victor.
“You won’t earn money on it, and there’s a lot of trouble with ordinary old men,” says Efremov. “A lot of patience is necessary for the guardian.”
Once Alexey Efremov went to his relatives. “I thought maybe the children would want to see their father?” He explains. “The former wife was surprised that Victor was still alive. All property rights were void upon divorce, and both daughters refused to meet with their father.
“I first drank at 35,” says Victor Kargin. “Then dad died, then my sister left me, then my wife.” Here Lyosha with Natasha do not leave me. I help them in their moods, but sometimes I violate what they ask of me. Today here is a little broken. "
- © Photo from personal archive
Natalia Efremova asks not to believe the words of the ward.
“He’s a“ storyteller, ”he invents on the go. We struggle with his drunkenness constantly, but this is not his habit, but a disease. I got used to it, because in Russia many people live with drinking relatives. For us, even though he is not related by blood, he is no longer a stranger. Drunken does not brawl, but sober, he is like a calf. Not picky, milk just does not drink, and so we give, it eats. Our daughters, ten-year-old Sonya and five-year-old Masha, call him Vityok, he plays with them
Can not force
At the special meeting of the Council under the President of Russia for the development of civil society and human rights held in March, the issue of transferring homeless retirees to foster families was discussed. At the same time, the head of the HRO, Mikhail Fedotov, said that the mechanism of such guardianship has already been worked out on foster children.
However, there are more illustrative examples. In particular, in the Kuban lonely old people began to take custody in 2012. Now this process is regulated in accordance with the order of the regional Ministry of Social Development and Family Policy "On the organization of a foster family for senior citizens and people with disabilities in the Krasnodar Territory."
“During this period, 18 people were taken to foster families in Novorossiysk,” says RT Deputy Director of the State Budget Institution of Social Services of the Krasnodar Territory Novorossiysk Center for Social Services of the Population Irina Matsokina. “Guardians take care of older people who are left without family or the help of relatives.”
Irina Matsokina believes that taking custody of the homeless cannot be forced.
“This is a very difficult decision that a person must take on his own, having weighed in advance all possible risks and consequences,” she says.