Inner Disorder








Paweł Śmieszek, a production worker at a manufacturing plant. “The pressure from the management is mounting. People get sick, get quarrantined and we have to step up and work double shifts. We've had accidents but if you want to report it they let you go”.
Kozy, Poland, Oct 18, 2020.

Ania Avdiushchenko, PhD, Univeristy lecturer originally from Ukraine. “Not beeing able to see my family as the borders are closed” is what upsets her the most. Ania, pregnant with her second child, is due in December, during anticipated second wave. “I don't even want to think about it now” she says.
Kraków, Poland, Sep 27, 2020.

Sasha, an engineer, originally from Ukraine. “My grandmother died and we couldn't attend the funeral as the borders were closed. My daughter never met her”.
Kraków, Poland, Sep 27, 2020.

Agnieszka Foryś, high school teacher. “I have been concerned about my students from the beginning, how they're coping. I knew the second wave would come, that what we had during the summer was temporary. I knew dark days would come. And they have.” Both parents and teachers have been reporting growing number of mental health disorders among kids and teenagers.
Kraków, Poland, Nov 24, 2020.

Zbigniew Słota, paramedic at a county hospital in Brzesko, Poland. “We're operating at 120% capacity. They don't even test us anymore, if you don't have symptoms, you keep on working”. Zbigniew finds stress relief and solace in gardening. Decades of healthcare budget cuts and delayed reforms have resulted in a system both underfunded and understaffed. “Our fight against Covid is largely based on experience and dedication of healthcare professionals” Zbigniew adds.
Jadowniki, Poland, Oct 22, 2020.

Katarzyna Gorczyca, postdoc at Jagiellonian University and a mother of a 2-year-old.. Both her parents have serious underlying conditions and her sister is an anesthesiologist and works at an ICU ward in John Paul II hospital in Kraków, Poland. “I fear for my relatives. It's paralyzing.”
Kraków, Poland, Dec 31, 2020.

Robert Ciszewski, an administrative specialist in a hospital in Sheffield, UK, witnessed, through a web cam, his mother having a seizure and losing consciousness in her apartment in Kraków, Poland back in March. “I felt completely helpless” he said. Eventually, with the help of both his partner and brother, they managed to call an ambulance and a locksmith to open the door. Robert's mother arrived in a hospital in a critical condition just in time to get help. She survived what turned out to be a severe diabetic seizure. Robert was unable to visit her for several months until restrictions on international travel were lifted.
Kraków, Poland, Aug 07, 2020.