The young woman trying to adopt her friend
BBC Russian follows Nina, a care home patient, and Arina, a volunteer who decided to become her guardian, on their journey to an unusual friendship.
By Zlata Onufriyeva.
In Russia, people with special needs are often obliged to live in huge institutional care homes, cut off from the outside world.
Nina was 28 and had spent most of her life in institutions, but when the Covid pandemic struck everything suddenly changed for her. As Moscow went into lockdown, Arina, a charity volunteer, invited Nina to move in her flat with her.
When restrictions were lifted, Nina started joining Arina on outings with other young people. She discovered for the first time what it's like to have a normal life.
The charity Arina volunteers for wants to help more people like Nina to move out of care homes and into assisted living, to give vulnerable adults more freedom and independence.
The film "My Friend from the Care Home" was released in 2021.
What happened to them since? Find out after watching the film.
Nina Torgashova continues to live in an assisted living facility run by the "Life Route" foundation. After the release of the film, it took Arina exactly one year to finalize her status as Nina’s guardian.
Their story not only inspired others but also set a precedent, after which the social services started to more willingly consider similar guardianship requests. Thanks to this, several more people were able to leave institutional care and move into assisted living flats after their guardianship was arranged by other staff members of the organization.
Nina now works in ceramic, carpentry, and environmental workshops, as well as in the cafe kitchen. In 2024, she took part in a photo shoot for a collection of chokers created in the foundation’s workshop. The sale of these accessories helped raise funds to support adults with mental disabilities.
She and Arina are very close; they see each other several times a month and celebrate all the holidays together, but at the same time they try to live their separate lives as well.
This story was also published on BBC News.
