Photo: Bogdan Dinca
In rural Romania, the small house the Stoicheciu family rents has never been connected to the electricity grid. Cristina (13) still has to help her mother, Ileana, carry water from the woods, an unheard-of chore for a most teenage girls in Europe. The family moved here three years ago, when Ileana decided to leave the girls' father, being one of the >20 000 victims of domestic violence reported annually in Romania. Currently in the divorce process, Ileana works in a slaughterhouse. Together, her wages and social benefits for the children come to about €400 per month.