What I see
What I see is the name of the exhibition, organised by the SPOLUŽIVOT Foundation. It represents the world through the eyes of children living in children’s homes, who, thanks to host care, can experience what it’s like when a specific adult gives them their time, attention, and closeness.
These children received disposable cameras, allowing them to show the world what interests them, and what they wanted to remember from their meetings with hosts. They took pictures from trips they went on together and from completely ordinary situations. And those are often the ones that mean so much to them. Children in institutional care often don’t have photo albums full of family pictures. Host care gives them a chance to create new memories. Not just for one day, but repeatedly, and with a person who looks forward to seeing them and to whom they are unique.
Here’s a dog that always runs around somewhere, as if you always belonged together.
Here’s a trip to the zoo, where the most important thing is who you go with rather than what’s behind the cages.
Here’s a small hamster that you got into your hands simply because someone knew you’ll take care of it.
And here is a schnitzel, which smells completely different when you know it was made just for you.
The exhibition presents a visual testimony of ordinary moments from eight children, aged six to seventeen. Simple visual recordings are complemented by personal stories inspired by the real-life experiences of children living in children’s homes.
As a whole, the exhibition is a small peek into the children’s world of institutional care – a world behind the walls, which, thanks to the hosts, blends with our outside world. We believe that more than five thousand other children who are still waiting for their host in children’s homes will also leave their marks on it.
With respect to the safety of the children and the privacy of the host parents, the names used in the stories have been changed and the details adjusted.
Photographs and stories from children in host care
SPOLUŽIVOT was founded in 2024 on the initiative of Tereza Šindlerová, who has many years of experience volunteering in children’s homes and host care. Her vision was that every child should have someone with whom they feel unique, loved, and safe.
After a year and a half of its existence, SPOLUŽIVOT has moved the subject of host care to the centre of public discussion. It has connected experts, volunteers, and institutions and shown that personal relationships can dramatically change a child’s life. It continues to build bridges between the world of children from institutional care and the people willing to give them their time, energy, and interest. It supports host relationships from the very first meeting through long-lasting development.
The foundation’s work stands on a simple belief: even a small step can have a huge impact. A relationship in which a child can experience acceptance and assurance can change not just their everyday life, but also the direction that they take in the future.
Support us – even with a symbolic amount equivalent to the price of one lunch. Even a little has power.
SPOLUŽIVOT Foundation
A child from a children’s home and an adult who is not a relative, but becomes a part of their life – that is host care. It means weekends together, holidays, trips, or even ordinary days when someone is close. Because sometimes being present is more important than any activity.
Unlike adoption or foster care, the child in host care stays in the children’s home. But they have someone to look forward to, someone to tell their achievements to, and someone who is there when things don’t go well. The opportunity of host care is often opened to children who have fewer chances for placement in foster care – for example, children aged eight and over, groups of siblings, or children from Roma backgrounds.
Host parents give children more than their time. They allow them to experience normal family life, security, and the feeling that they are important to someone.
Host care
Exhibition Curator
František Ortmann, an eccentric visionary behind the lens
He is one of the most distinctive figures in Czech photography. A multiple Czech Press Photo award winner, he is the author of a retrospective portrait exhibition at the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art of the National Gallery in Prague, where he became one of the youngest photographers to hold a solo exhibition. Over the course of more than thirty years, he has created over four hundred magazine covers for prestigious publications, and his photographs have appeared in numerous books and exhibitions.
His lens has captured both Czech and international music legends, such as Karel Gott, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, and Michael Jackson. He was the very first photojournalist for the magazine Reflex. For seventeen years, he has been documenting the Letní Letná festival and mapping the contemporary circus scene across Europe. For eight years, he has run a studio at the Anděl Music Awards, where he has created a unique portrait gallery of nominated and awarded musicians.
A significant part of his professional career is devoted to theatre photography. He exclusively documented the musicals Monte Cristo and Joan of Arc. At the State Opera in Prague, he captured productions of La Traviata, Don Giovanni, Aida, The Polish Jew, Adriana Lecouvreur, Bluebeard’s Castle, Cirkus Terra, The Elephant Man, the ballet Hamlet, and the symphony From the New World. He has also photographed several seasons of the opera stage at the National Theatre in Prague.
He is the author of the charity exhibition Hoši děkujem (“Thanks, Boys”), featuring portraits of the Nagano ice hockey champions, the proceeds of which supported Czech Paralympians. He collaborated on the book Secrets of the Best Chefs, photographed campaigns for fashion brands, and worked on dozens of advertising projects. His long-term series Tattoo Names gained significant recognition, breaking stereotypes about tattoos and telling the personal stories of people for whom tattoos are symbols. The project culminated in the publication of a book with approximately 250 portraits, which sold out completely.
Ortmann is not only a photographer with a precise technique and eye for detail. He is an artist who seeks the stories behind faces and images. Whether he stands behind the lens in the light of a studio, backstage at the opera, or on a concert stage, he always strives to capture the moment that reveals a person as they truly are.
Faces of the SPOLUŽIVOT Foundation
Tereza Šindlerová, founder of the SPOLUŽIVOT Foundation, tireless initiator of change, and the heart of the project
Entrepreneur, volunteer, and advocate for systemic change in the field of host care. She started her first business at the age of eighteen, when she and a classmate from the University of Economics founded a company renting radio transmitters. Later, she also took over the management of the family business. In 2024, she initiated the creation of the SPOLUŽIVOT Foundation, inspired by her personal experience of volunteering in children’s homes.
Through her involvement in host care, she experienced firsthand the crucial role a stable adult can play in the life of a child growing up without a biological family. She works to ensure that other children also have the opportunity to build and develop long-term, safe, and supportive relationships with adults outside institutional care. She is the mother of two boys and a foster parent (formerly a host parent) to Natálka.
Sylvie Slováková, host care coordinator at the SPOLUŽIVOT Foundation, gentle support, and the soul of the project
For more than twenty years, she has been supporting women, families, and children in challenging life situations. She is the mother of a six-year-old son, the adoptive mother of an adult daughter, and a host parent to three other children. At the SPOLUŽIVOT Foundation, she leads introductory meetings, supports new applicants for host care, and accompanies host families throughout their journey.
She has personal experience with adoption as well as long-term host care, has completed training in Therapeutic Parenting, and attended dozens of specialized courses in crisis support, attachment, and somatic care. She is a certified doula, craniosacral therapist, and massage therapist. She also provides lactation consulting, birth and postpartum care, and works with parents after perinatal loss. She has lectured at professional conferences, collaborated with neonatologists, and continues her studies in a biosynthetic approach.
Šárka Nácovská, Executive Director of the SPOLUŽIVOT Foundation, and the architect of the project
After fifteen years in business, she decided to use her managerial experience for a project with deeper meaning. In the USA, she co-founded the nonprofit organization MOONSHOT PLATFORM, supporting young talents, and led it for two years. When the opportunity came to help children from children’s homes find a close and caring person, she didn’t hesitate. Together with Tereza Šindlerová, she co-founded the SPOLUŽIVOT Foundation and strives to make host care a natural part of the child welfare system for children in institutional care.
She draws on her experience in leadership, team building, and change management to create an environment where every child has a stable relationship with an adult who provides support. At the foundation, she focuses on strategy, partnerships, communications, and the development of the host care program. She is the mother of two daughters and believes that systemic change begins with concrete relationships and honest everyday work.
We thank the other members of the SPOLUŽIVOT team and everyone who have trusted us, supported this project, and helped make it a reality.
We began in 2024 with a simple idea: what children in institutional care miss the most is ordinary closeness.
At that time, only 256 out of 4,298 children were in host care.
Within a year and a half, nearly five hundred serious applicants for hosting reached out to us.
We produced a short film with Bára Mudrová, showing what host care means, and won third place in the Donors Forum Awards for public benefit campaigns.
We took part in professional debates on institutional care, for example, at the screening of the movie Amerikánka.
We also brought the topic of host care to the stage through performances such as Takže asi tak and Snowflakes.
At the Český slavík awards, our message reached the largest audience yet, and we received support worth half a million crowns through the ‘Nova Helps Children and Hosts’ project.
We organized the first community gathering, bringing together hosts and supporters of SPOLUŽIVOT.
We helped arrange a concert for children from children’s homes at Prague Castle under the auspices of the First Lady of the Czech Republic, Eva Pavlová, where nearly fifty children performed on stage.
This exhibition is part of the Most Ordinary Campaign, which tells stories about the power of everyday moments that change lives. We want to show that it is precisely the ordinary things - cooking together, laughing over spilled cocoa, or reading bedtime stories – that hold the greatest power.
By the end of the year, we would like to reach 650 applicants.
Help us get there: Become a host | Support us | Spread the word
Where We Started and Where We’re Going
Thanks to Those Who Contributed to the Realisation of This Exhibition
This exhibition was made possible thanks to the dedication and collaboration of many people. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all of them.
At the SPOLUŽIVOT Foundation, Tereza Pácaltová managed the project and coordinated all preparations.
Slávka Turková from the SPOLUŽIVOT Foundation authored all texts and ensured their alignment with the photographs and the overall theme.
The graphic design of the panels and the overall visual concept were created by Tomáš Červenka, while the initial concept was developed by the creative agency DDB.
Foto Škoda donated disposable cameras to the children, which they used to take the photographs for this exhibition, and also handled the development and digitisation of the films.
The Prague City Hall provided the panels and arranged the printing and installation of the entire exhibition.
Lída, age 16
‘I never believed that someone could love me as I am.’
She went through hell. Her father used to beat her, and her mother used drugs. When she was five, she could sense when things were about to get bad. At the age of six, she wished to become invisible. She was taken away from her family when she was seven. Her father went to prison, and her mother ended up homeless.
After her arrival at the children’s home, she couldn’t speak properly. She had to learn. Her eyes were fixed on the ground, so that she wouldn’t provoke anyone. She was startled every time someone raised their voice.
‘Run away with me and be homeless. Together we can beg for more money.’
Her mother always made sure to remind her of herself. One day she wrote messages saying that she loved her, the next she was full of insults. Sometimes both at the same time. She frequently blamed her for what had happened to her. Her messages echoed in Lída’s head every night. She didn’t sleep. She pulled her hair, banged her head against the wall. She didn’t know how to survive the pressure any other way.
She met her host Lenka when she was sixteen. Lída didn’t understand why Lenka took an interest in her. What was in it for her? Why didn’t she leave when she was disagreeable or not talkative? With time, trust built up between them, and Lída started to confide in her things she had never told anyone else.
‘I don’t want to live my mother’s story. I have the right to my own.’
Lenka became her support and gave her a feeling that Lída had never experienced before: safety. For years, she thought she was responsible for her mother’s life. After thousands of conversations, she understood that it was not her burden.
Today, Lída laughs more often. Her will to live has come back, and she’s making plans for her future. She wants to become a carer. Always be there for someone who wants to give up. Support them. Caress them. Just like Lenka has been doing for a few years now.
Natálka, age 17
‘I was a lonely girl who hoped for her parents to come back and to forgive them. That everything would be like it used to be. But no. They didn’t come back. I was left alone.’
Natálka’s mother grew up in a children’s home. After leaving at the age of 18, she became pregnant. The father disappeared, and what was left was a crying baby and an empty wallet.
Shortly after, her mother found a new partner. With him came two more children. However, their home was far from idyllic. Her mother started using drugs, and her stepfather beat her mother. It ended with her running away to a shelter. Then one morning, her mother just disappeared. Her siblings went to their grandmother, and Natálka went to her aunt. After a few weeks, she went to the children’s home.
‘I packed my little pink suitcase, thinking we were going on a trip. Instead, I ended up in a children’s home.’
She spent weekends within the walls of the children’s home, sadly watching how other children packed their bags to go home. She envied them. In the city she occasionally met her grandma, rarely her mum or dad.
A few years later, she went on a trip to the mountains with other kids from the children’s home. It was there that she met Tereza. Tereza was different from all the other adults she had met before.
‘I didn’t know why she chose me. I didn’t think I was special. Quite the opposite. But she saw me differently than the others. She trusted me. And because of her, I started to trust myself.’
They started spending time together. Sometimes they cooked, other times they went for a walk. Or they just watched TV and laughed. Just these ordinary moments were worth everything for Natálka.
With Terezka, for the first time ever she finally saw what a normal family looks like. After months of visits, trips, and weekends together, the decision was made. Terezka took Natálka into foster care and became her second mother.
Tomáš, age 13
‘We used to sleep wherever we could. I missed my bed and bedtime stories from my grandma.’
His mother was young, and his father disappeared before he could even remember him. His grandmother was the one who took care of him – his beloved grandmother. Only after she passed away did his mother get into drugs. They moved around more than they stayed. Sometimes there was food, sometimes there was nothing. He got used to beating hunger with water. But his packed bag was always at hand. He would fall asleep dressed in case they had to go quickly. He learned how to be invisible and wait, to see if things got better.
Men in dark jackets came one day and told him to pack a few things. He took a T-shirt, sweatpants, and a stuffed toy from his grandmother. They took him to the children’s home. Everything was foreign there: the people, the rules, the smell of the bedsheets. After months of chaos, this order felt almost surreal.
She spent weekends within the walls of the children’s home, sadly watching how other children packed their bags to go home. She envied them. In the city she occasionally met her grandma, rarely her mum or dad.
A few years later, she went on a trip to the mountains with other kids from the children’s home. It was there that she met Tereza. Tereza was different from all the other adults she had met before.
‘I didn’t know why she chose me. I didn’t think I was special. Quite the opposite. But she saw me differently than the others. She trusted me. And because of her, I started to trust myself.’
During an event at the park he met Jáchym. He fixed his bicycle chain and they got to talking. They didn’t speak about his family, and he wasn’t trying to be a hero. Because of Tom, his visits to the children's home became more frequent. Sometimes they just played with a ball, fixed bikes, or just sat down and talked.
Their first weekend together was spent roller-skating and baking pancakes from a recipe. Tom memorised it step by step. Since then, he has made them by himself. Sometimes Jáchym asks what he enjoys at school. If Tom doesn’t want to answer, Jáchym will gladly wait. This always makes Tomáš smile. Here, no one was pushing him.
They made a schedule for their calls and visits. Tom caught himself saving stories for the next time they saw or heard from each other. A grade B on a test. A shelf he repaired. A goal he scored in training. It is not a new house or address. It is the certainty that someone will come back. And he doesn’t intend to stop.
Kristýna, age 15
‘When my mom said she had a surprise for me, I thought she had bought me something. Instead, a lady came from social services.’
In her first years, all she remembers is fighting. Her father was drinking and fighting with her mother, and money disappeared into slot machines and liquor bottles. When she was seven, her mother broke up with her father. For a while, it looked like everything would be good again, but she found a new boyfriend and Kristýna had to move away. She lost her friends, school, and her well-known world. Her mother spent time with her sister, her boyfriend, and his son, and she felt like a burden. Fights and slamming doors were an everyday occurrence.
The social worker decided to send her to a youth care centre. After returning, she tried to keep it together, but old habits quickly resurfaced at home. Her next stay was longer, and after that she went to live with her father.
‘My dad didn’t forbid me to do anything, he just covered for me. I smoked, drank, stole, and lied. So what?’
After a few episodes of running away and coming back, she ended up in the children’s home. For the first time, Hana saw her. In the middle of all the other children, Kristýna was the loudest. A few people tried to warn Hanka that it wasn’t going to be easy, but she didn’t let herself be discouraged. At first, Kristýna cut her off, pretending she didn’t even know her, or changing plans at the last minute.
It took them a year to set boundaries and start showing each other that they needed the other. Kristýna still tried to act like she didn’t need anyone, but she knew it could only take one person for things to be different. She learned to ask for help sooner, before it could end with another setback.
‘I used to be proud of not needing anyone. Now I know it’s better to have at least one person whom I can rely on.’
Oliver, age 10
‘I never knew what kind of mum I was going to have in five minutes.’
His mother had days filled with laughter as they built a whole city out of blocks on the carpet together. On the following days she spoke only about being watched, and her fear of going out. Curtains were drawn at noon, laundry scattered all over the flat, dinner thrown into the bin. Laughter, tears, arguments – moods changed faster than the weather.
One night his father screamed that he couldn’t do it anymore. He accused his mother of beating his little sister, so he called the police. Oliver arrived at the children's home in pyjamas with a missing button and rain boots. At first, he spoke very little and hid under a table when there were too many people in the room. For the first time, he found out that you don’t go to bed hungry, and bedtime stories are read from beginning to end.
‘The first gift that I ever gave her was a pebble. Because I really liked them.’
He met Gábina a year later. She was tutoring kids in Czech at the children’s home. At first, Oliver just watched her from a distance. When she asked him if he needed any help, he mumbled: ‘No’.
‘I have my own bed with a blue duvet cover. A photo album from our trips. I feel at home there.’
Oliver knows he has a place to stay. And even though he always has an escape plan in his mind for what to do if things go wrong again, he’s beginning to believe that with Gábina, nothing can go wrong.
Matyáš, age 11
‘I never thought that I'd be one of those kids who lost their home. This kind of stuff only happens on TV.’
His father worked as a professional driver, and his mother worked in the supermarket. He had three younger brothers, and they lived together in a small flat, but they were happy. Then came the day when everything fell apart. Matyáš was eight years old when his dad died.
His mother had to take two extra jobs. She came home late at night, tired. Even though she tried very hard, the money wasn’t enough. When he was nine, his mother collapsed. Matyáš went into the children's home, while his little brothers went to their relatives.
It was supposed to be just for a little while. He hid his stuff under a pillow and was ready for his mother to come and get him. At night, he imagined a phone ringing while lying with his eyes open, and his carer coming quietly to tell him he was going home.
‘Every night I imagined my mum coming back for me. I kept telling myself: tomorrow, tomorrow she’ll definitely come back. And we’ll all be together again.’
Days went by and nothing changed. Matyáš went to summer camp where he met Radek. He led arts and crafts lessons there. Matyáš showed him his Ferrari drawing. Radek was excited and asked him to teach him how to draw it.
Since then, they have spent their Wednesday afternoons together. His wife Eva makes a great bábovka (Czech bundt cake) and always has time to listen to Matyáš’s ups and downs.
His mother is still in rehab, and he visits her. Sometimes she’s sad about not being able to give him what he needs. But he sees relief in her eyes when he speaks about Radek and Eva, knowing he is not alone. And that is enough for now.