Tribute to a Widow

Vladimir oblast, Russia -- As I looked back through my images from 2010, I paused at the images from Russia. For so long, that country called to me like no other. But upon my return, I quickly shifted focus to India and left for that country a few weeks later. I failed to give tribute where due. She'd worked her whole life on a collective farm. After the breakup of the Soviet Union and then that farm -- and her husband's passing -- she found a lawyer. That lawyer helped her through the bureaucratic mess to withdraw her "land share" from that farm, and then she sold the parcel for 10 times the value of the share. She continues to live off that income and her small pension.