The Shelter of Love
Somewhere between Karaj and Qazvin (two cities in Iran), in a dry desert, there is shelter for dogs.
A while back I befriended a very talented Iranian photographer on Instagram: Babak Gharaei. As our relationship developed on DM and WhatsApp, I realized how very few images we see of nowadays Iran here in the US. Hence, I asked Babak to collaborate for our magazine and send us ‘people stories’ from Iran. This touching reportage about the Vafa Dog Shelter is, hopefully, going to be the first of many. Babak’s black and white images have the powerful urgency and immediacy coupled with a poetic point of view of the great photojournalists of our times. Enjoy.
©Babak Gharaei
Somewhere between Karaj and Qazvin (two cities in Iran), in a dry desert, there is a shelter for dogs. A modest place made up of fences and a small main house.
They named it Vafa (Loyalty) Shelter.
I prefer to call it “The Shelter of Love”.
©Babak Gharaei
Meet Piggy, a blind dog; he has been living here for five years.
Piggy the blind dog ©Babak Gharaei
Piggy the blind dog ©Babak Gharaei
Garry, this boy was rachitic. Six years ago a kind man paid for all his surgery expenditures, he has lived here since then, with platinum plates in his four legs.
Garry, now cured ©Babak Gharaei
Workers at the shelter are driven by pure dedication and love.
A shelter worker and his friend ©Babak Gharaei
A shelter worker and his friend ©Babak Gharaei
A shelter worker and his friend ©Babak Gharaei
This is Mushka; years ago someone left five puppies near the shelter and ran away. Four of them died, but this boy grew up and is now living in the parking area. He is famous because of his size.
Mushka ©Babak Gharaei
The roof guards! They are living on the roof of shelter and never leave their post!
The roof guards ©Babak Gharaei
They call him Shazdeh (The Son of the King) because of his great behavior with people. He was previously in a horrible situation in a zoo, but the volunteers managed to bring him here, in the face of many obstacles.
Shazdeh (The Son of the King) ©Babak Gharaei
Some of the dogs are suffering from serious diseases and need to be quarantined.
Quarantine ©Babak Gharaei
This place was created as a home for dogs with disabilities and injuries, mostly from cars accidents and human misbehavior.
©Babak Gharaei
©Babak Gharaei
The shelter was designed to sustain four hundred dogs, but they keep almost seven hundred dogs here because of the overpopulation of these angels in this area.
©Babak Gharaei
©Babak Gharaei
The shelter is open and working all week long with volunteers helping the main workers.
©Babak Gharaei
©Babak Gharaei
©Babak Gharaei
You can see more of Babak’s work on Instagram
©Babak Gharaei
©Babak Gharaei
©Babak Gharaei
©Babak Gharaei
©Babak Gharaei
16 Responses to “The Shelter of Love”
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Verry pretty babak
Thanks for coverage and show off these beautiful photos
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so much dear Mehdi
What a beautiful and touching story, Babak!!!
Thank you so much dear Anne… I’m really glad you like the story
Big émotion and Great photos
Thank you so much Anne Melquiond .. thanks for visiting and i appreciate that
Babak!Your photos is superb as always…cheers bro! 😉 this is simple awesomeness this story published here!
thank you so much Ferenc !!!!!! I’m so glad you like the story
Thank you Sir. These photos are very nice and sensitive .Im so sorry for their lifestyle but I hope we help them for having a better life.
I should thank you for all your kind and warm words dear Kian
Babak.so best so best bro.
thank you so much Alireza 🙂
thanks so much for sharing this babak jan. i have been involved with vafa in the past 6 years and handle foreign adoptions and more .. would love to connect with you offline and share your story on vafa page too . thanks
hi Farah jan.. thank you so much .. just let me know if you need any help about it
من یک ایرانی هستمو به زبان مادری خودم ازتون تشکر میکنم,بسیار زیبا وعالی
فدات مجید جان… ممنونم ازت