Alcoholism and Anxiety Are Rife
Not surprisingly, cancer rates are high. Alcoholism and anxiety are rife. Though many of their neighbors and husbands have died off throughout the years, these babushkas (Russian for “grandmothers” or “old countrywomen”) steadfastly stay put. Somehow these tough broads, now in their 70s and 80s, eek out an existence in this abandoned, contaminated, uninhabitable region that most wouldn’t dare to visit without a hazmat suit.
