MICHAEL BIACH PHOTOGRAPHY
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The Kids from Lunik IX
Lunik IX is an apartment complex in the southwestern suburbs of Košice, Slovakia. Originally build as home for middle-class families with a capacity of 2,500 people, the Slovakian government started to resettled thousands of Slovakian people affiliated to the Roma minority in the 1990s. Today Lunik IX is home to an estimated number of between 6,000 and 8,000 Roma making it the largest Roma community within Slovakia.
Over the years Lunik IX evolved into an urban slum. The unemployment rate is nearly 100%, inhabitants aren’t able to pay their water, gas or electricity bills. The waste disposal isn’t working, inhabitants constantly throw their trash right out of the window.
Several buildings are in an unacceptable condition and at risk to collapse. Between my last two visits one complex has been demolished for ‘security reasons’. The toxic standard of the waste disposal has reached a dangerous high level even starting to harm the town’s ground water. Only during certain hours a day people are supplied with freshwater.
The children from Lunik IX are the first who suffer from these horrible conditions and they should be the last to blame for their situation. Lunik IX is overcrowded, more and more flats become uninhabitable, winters are long and cold. Open fires inside the flats, rat plagues, diseases, malnutrition and worse hygiene standards are among the fatal threats threatening the children in Lunik IX.
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Roma girl sitting on the stairs of one of Lunik IX’s apartment buildings.
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The apartment buildings of Lunik IX where up to 8,000 Romas live under harsh conditions.
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Karmena is a teenage Romni living in Lunik IX. Devastated and frustrated she is standing in a recently abandoned flat in Lunik IX. More and more apartments become uninhabitable.
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Roma kids play in the back of one of Lunik IX’s apartment buildings next to a several meter thick layer of garbage. The garbage’s toxic level is even starting to harm Kosice’s groundwater.
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Roma kids burning trash in Lunik IX.
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Karmena, a teenage Roma girl is sitting on a balcony of one of Lunik IX’s abandoned flats. The garbage thrown out of the window has already reached the first floor.
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Roma siblings in Lunik IX.
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Josip, a teenage Roma boy is standing in front of the house he is living in with his family. Electricity is not working and during winter Lunik IX’s inhabitants heat with self-made ovens.
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Tap water is only available during a couple of hours per day.
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Roma boy with his dog next to Lunik IX’s dumpsite.
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Roma boy playing in the dumpsite of Lunik IX.
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A stray dog in Lunik IX’s dumpsite.
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A young Roma boy searching the dumpsite in Lunik IX.
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Roma girl next to Lunik IX’s dumpsite.
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Diseases, malnutrition and worse hygiene standards are among the fatal threats threatening the children in Lunik IX.
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A Roma boy is standing on a balcony of one of Lunik IX’s abandoned flats. The garbage thrown out of the window has already reached the first floor.
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The apartment buildings of Lunik IX where up to 8,000 Romas live under harsh conditions.
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A young Roma boy is searching the dumpsite for valuable clothing and other stuff that still can be used.
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While I was photographing Roma kids in Lunik IX this young boy grabbed an old VHS tape from the dumpsite and started to imitate me.
