Pavel, 84.
The medals don’t warm him, neither does the camouflage jacket - faded now, fraying at the seams. He fought a war, came home, and found another waiting: poverty.
Pavel wakes up on stone, not soil. His enemies now are bureaucracy, loneliness, and cold nights. And no one salutes him anymore. They pass him, only to cross the street and never look at him again.
He served with pride. Gave decades of his life to a cause, to a country. Now, he begs quietly on corners, wearing symbols of sacrifice that no longer mean anything.
ALKOTÓ x Stichting Goud refuse to romanticize service and ignore the aftermath.
When we don’t care, warriors become statistics.
And heroism turns into hunger.
