This is a story of how all our strength, gathered from the love given to us in childhood, can become a reservoir of endurance for years to come.
Rayana, 8 years old, was born and lives in the mountain village of Engenoy in Chechnya. She is growing up surrounded by the mountain air, snow-covered beech forests, and the noise of pebbles washed by the river. Rayana lives with her mother Raziyat, who’s a school teacher in the village and her grandparents.
Her grandfather Shahruddi Orzamiev is a forest ranger. Shahruddi is a man of few words. He is deeply connected to nature and familiar with every animal trail on his land, despite the scale of his territory. Shahruddi says: “A wild animal never attacks first. Human does”.
Rayana is brave because sometimes she accompanies her grandfather in the forests up steep hills. Rayana is very studious and curious and she has enabled me to also bring out my childish curiosity in my photography.