"Left alone, but still on the right path" - Said's story

(Name changed to protect identity)

“My name is Said, and I am 19 years old. As a child, I lost my parents, ended up in an orphanage and was then adopted. I got a mother, sister, uncle, and aunt, but, unfortunately, my happiness did not last long. When I turned 13, I lost my adoptive mother. After her death, my uncle kicked me out into the street, leaving me without a house or a family.

I ended up on the streets, without anyone to care for me. When neighbours heard how my family had treated me, they called the guardianship authorities. One of the neighbours wanted to adopt me herself, but for some reason, she didn't succeed... I was sent back to the orphanage.

I felt really bad. I was lonely and hurt that I had become an orphan all over again. Emotions overwhelmed me and I could not find a place for myself in the world. I got into quarrels and fights easily and once I even tried to steal a neighbour's car. After this incident, I was sent for three years to the specialized educational correctional institution for boys in Bakht town. I was 15 years old at the time.

It was difficult in the closed facility. I felt unjustly and badly treated. In difficult moments, I would isolate myself from everyone and write poetry.

When I turned 18, I left the institution and went back to the orphanage. I spent only two months there— everybody treated me differently because I’d been in Bakht and I was discriminated against a lot. When I left the orphanage, I did not have anywhere to live, and my passport had been lost. I tried to find a job to earn a living, but no one wanted to hire someone without a passport or residence permit. I had to ask for food from the store just to survive. I already owe the shop keeper three million sums.

Now I live, temporarily, in the two-room apartment of a friend, with his brother and wife. Social workers have helped me to find a job. I feel better as now I have fewer problems. The residents of the mahalla like me, and they even invite me to celebrate the New Year with them.

Project specialists are constantly in touch with me and are helping me to stick to the right lifestyle. They have helped me to get a passport and a one-time settlement allowance for having left Bakht. I was also helped to enter a college of vocational education, as well as being reinstated in the housing queue. I hope that soon I will have my own apartment. The specialists are also helping to solve my health problems. Thanks to their support, I have gained some faith in myself.

In the future, I dream of entering a law school, becoming a lawyer, and helping people who have faced the same difficulties as me.

This story was written as part of a project funded by the UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund for COVID-19 Response and Recovery and UNICEF “Support and reintegration of children returning from zones of armed conflict, children of migrants and children leaving specialized educational institutions / republican educational institutions (closed institutions) after COVID -19”.

The project is being implemented by the Ministry for Support of Mahalla and Family of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Thanks to these joint efforts, about 400 children from closed institutions are receiving social services to help them reintegrate into their families and local communities, and to prevent them from re-entering closed or other institutions.