It has been very cold in Pavlodar these days. Temperature outside was as low as -46 degrees centigrade. However, it is very warm in Lyubov Afanasova's house. Specially for my arrival the table was laid and I was not allowed to stay in a hotel - Lyubov Vassilyevna did not want to hear anything about it.

"I am a mother of six sons, aged from 14 to 30", she said during dinner. "Although at some point it was very hard. In 1997 my husband was gone missing and being 6-month pregnant, I was left alone. There were neither benefit nor help from the government. Officials brushed me aside saying that they had millions of the likes of me. Therefore the same year I started to look for mothers of large families and together with them organised currently existing public fund Mothers Of Large Families Association."

The following day we came to her son Viktor's house. He lives with his wife and daughter.

"In 2009 my eldest son Sergey died. He was just 25 years old. I dropped out of the public fund activity for two years", says Lyubov Vassilyevna. "There was one more thing that offended me a lot. I was due to receive Kumis Alka medal, which is given to mothers who have raised 6 children. Sergey died 10 days before the date when I was to get it, and Social Protection Administration workers decided that even though I was still a mother of a large family, because of my son's death I was not worthy to receive a medal."

"Now I am gradually coming to my senses and am ready to return to work again. Atmosphere at home is getting better. The eldest son got married, my granddaughter makes us joyous, and what else do I need to be happy? Just children..."

"I do not get salary for my work for the fund, I have benefit for loss of breadwinner, but mostly my children help me. When I just started to look for large families, there was no data on them neither at Social Protection Administration, nor at regional court. I had to look for them myself. I was taking all the lists to the Administration, where they were copied and put into folders. I have found 300 such families in Pavlodar. Then these families started to be given presents. Not big presents, but it is pleasant nevertheless!"

Lyubov Vassilyevna's method of the search of large families in very simple. She divides the city into parts and goes around houses. And there compassionate Pavlodar residents gave her a tip about such families. This time again she stumbled upon single mother of four Lyuba by pure chance when she knocked at her door. Younger children Daniil and Kirill happened to be at home with their mother, whereas elder sons were out.

The first thing that interested Lyubov Vassilyevna was whether the woman was getting benefit? Having received a negative reply, she consults the woman and writes down all the information about her.

"My first husband was drinking heavily", Lyuba tells her story. "It was that bad that he sold a flat to pay off his debts and turned us out of the second flat which he had inherited from his mother. And so we left. Now I am working as a cleaner in a shop. We rent this flat for 6 000 tenge. Our monthly income in 30 000 tenge. Husband does not help us, on the contrary, he sometimes comes to beg for money to buy booze."

"Then I got married for the second time. Sasha did not drink, was helping us a lot, but he died not long ago."

"Sometimes we do not have enough money. Children need new clothes. Cheap shoes get worn very quickly, but we do not have money for expensive things."

Lyubov Vassilyevna says goodbye to the family and promises to help with the documents to get benefit.

And this is Sasha, mother of five.

"We met 11 years ago", says Lyubov Vassileyvna about her chargee. "Her husband, who is also called Alexandr, was taking her to a sect where they were taught to worship their husbands as if they were God. Alexandr was controlling her every step at home up to a point that she could not open a fridge without his permission. When I came to their house for the first time Sasha was very shy: a stranger came to visit them for the first time in so many years."

From left to right: Milena, Yevnika, Yelissey and Korney. The eldest daughter is standing in for her mother at the shop.

"My husband was very handy with tools, he made this thing himself", says Sasha pointing at a yellow box on the ceiling. "Alexandr was working as a decorator, had his own company and earned well. When success came, he started to drink. Then it turned into everyday drinking feast, he lost all his clients, but did not stop drinking."

"I was abiding by all this, taking care of him and tried to be understanding, but he just got more brazen. I was afraid he was going to hit me and tried to keep the distance. I was hiding knives and forks from him."

"Once he hit his head so that he could accuse me of doing it later. He was throwing everything around the house, breaking dishes and furniture. When the police came for him he took off his clothes and put all this clothes in the water. When we got divorced, he tried to sneak into the house. If he could not enter through the door, he once tried to penetrate the flat through the window, where he was stuck."

"The police did not come at once. For them it was a simple case of family argument. Thanks to Lyubov Vassilyevna, when we needed help we used to call her and she used to come at once. She was talking to him, making him embarrassed and trying to hold him back. He simultaneously hated and feared her."

"It now seems that all there was happened with some other people and not us, I do not even want to remember it. I live for the day, trying not to think about tomorrow. Thanks to Lyubov Vassilyevna I realise that a lot depends on me as a mother and as a person, whereas before my whole world depended only on my husband. Lyuba has helped me not only to grow as an individual, but also explained my rights as a single mother of a large family."

"According to the law, mother of a large family gets benefit of 1300 tenge a month for each child. However, to receive this benefit you have to submit a heap of references and certificates, including divorce confirmation, absence of alimony and your income. If I had a sidejob and did not provide a document stating my income I can be fined, and the fine might be larger than the size of monthly benefit. We were breeding rabbits, and they deducted part of the allowance."

"We do not need as much money that the kids live a luxurious life, but just so that they could eat normally. I buy sour cream once a month. White cheese is too expensive for us and I just do not have money for meat. But vegetarians live like this! And I take chicken in a shop on credit, and pay it off later. Actually, about 300 thousand tenge per month is needed to provide for five children. Our monthly income, including my salary and benefit for children, constitutes 26 thousand tenge. However, my parents help us, for instance, they pay college fees for my eldest daughter."

"There are grants covering tuition fees for children from large families, but they exist only on paper. I always tell my kids that we have to be satisfied with what we have and it depends only on us how we will be living in the future."

"I do not even want to remember about father", says the eldest daughter Alina. "I do not remember anything good. They divorced when I was 10. I do not remember him hitting mum or us, but he was shouting and growing hysterical."

And this is Gulya, she is also Lyubov Vassilyevna's chargee.

"I remember our first meeting", fund founder says. "A neighbour brought me to her house. My knock was answered by a young beautiful woman, who asked me warily, 'What has happened again?'. I explained everything to her and she invited me inside."

"Gulya told me that she was married for the second time. Her first husband stole her at the age of 16. They seemed to be living well, but he did not want to work and she had to provide for the family. She had three children in her first marriage and two kids in her second. Her second marriage did not go well either as her husband was not working and was drinking heavily. I remember that while she was telling me all this her drunk husband came home. He started to shout at me. I realised that there was no point talking to a drunken man and decided to come some other time. When I was leaving he sharply jerked my shoulder. I shook a fist at hime and said, "I will hit you and you will fly down...". Later I found out that he went to the police and complained that I supposedly had threatened to throw him out of the window. Gulya divorced him very soon. Her parents did not want her to be alone, and prompted by them she got married for the third time."

Gulya was unlucky again. Children did not love their stepfather as he did not only drink, but also hit their mother and made younger children fight each other. If they did not do what he wanted he hit them too. Gulya's eldest son Azamat had to come to the defence of his younger siblings, and his stepfather was beating him up too. Gulya's husband was taking loans promising that he would buy clothes for the kids and start redecoration works at home, but instead he either gave the money to his sister or spent on drinks.

"I remember one Sunday, Gulya called me at 9 in the morning and pleaded, "Lyubov Vassilyeva, help me please! He is beating up the kids!". Having arrived to her house, I saw that the door was broken and there were shouts heard from inside. In the kitchen the man was pulling Gulya by the hair, wound her hair on his arm and was hitting her against the wall. I grabbed his hand. It was the first time we fought. My husband was a military man, therefore I knew some defensive moves. I have to admit, I had to beat the man. After this occasion I started to come to their house more often. Even though her husband assured me that all was well, Gulya's teaful eyes told me otherwise."

"Once she called me and said something briefly, cried and hung up. I decided to come to visit her. It was quiet inside. There was a rope hanging from the ceiling in the corridor. Gulya was standing nearby and shaking all over... She confessed that she called to thank me and to bid farewell. Soothing her, I explained that this is not a way to solve the problems and that her children would never forgive her..."

"Gulya sued him and I helped her win a room in a hall of residence which they had been given as a family with many children. Her husband had some acquaintances in the police and I threatened them with such scandal, that they put a neighbourhood police inspector in charge of him. On the tenth occasion of him beating his wife he was convicted for one year in prison. Having served half of the term, he returned home and immediately broke the door, but did not manage to get inside."

"It is all in the past now. She has Grigory who loves her. He accepted her five kids and they call him father. He even asked for several days off at work so that he could accompany her to Astana where she was due to have C-section. They have bought a car recently. I can see that her life is getting better and I am sincerely happy!"

P.S. Yesterday Lyubov Vassilyevna called us and said that Gulya gave birth to a boy. We congratulate the mother and her family!

Vox Populi would like to thank Air Astana company for helping with the flight to Pavlodar city.