A number of women had bottles raised to their lips or were already in such a state of drunkenness that they were vomiting on the filthy straw.
They were all of them in a state of dishevelment, half-naked and some appeared to have no clothes on at all.
The straw on the floor was thick with excrement. In the far corner some women were cooking and the smell of grease and oil mingled with human odours made Syringa feel as if she was suffocating.
There were two women near the door in the act of stripping a dead child of its clothes.
They looked up as Syringa stared at them and screamed abuse, though for what reason she could not understand.
Their cries were taken up by other women and now several reached out their dirty claw-like hands towards Syringa as if they would drag her in amongst t
