A Country on the Road

Text: Matthias Lutz, Chişinău
Photographs : Zuryna Lee, Praha

Ion

“How shall I now get enough money together to raise my six children?” Ion is nervous; he takes in a deep puff of his cigarette and shifts gear in his mini bus, whilst driving through the moon-bathed city. Ion is a tall man wearing an old sports sweater. While talking, he is constantly lighting up a cigarette to do something with his hands, and forever looking around as if searching for something. Ion is now 52, and spent the past three years working illegally in Italy as a driver, where he earned around 1000 Euro per month. Recently he had to return to his native Moldova.

Photo gallery

Before he left for Italy three years ago he sold his house in Chişinău. With the money he got from the sale, he bought another cheaper house in the north of the country and then left. Leaving the rest of the money from the house sale with his family, and with the intention to go and earn more money, he migrated to give his family a nicer future.

Ion entered Italy with a tourist visa. When it expired he stayed undiscovered in the country for three more years, until one fateful day last summer when he had a car accident and the police were called. “It was a black day for me. The lady I crashed with had a relative in the police, so she called the police first and not the ambulance. They found out that I was staying there illegally. All the procedures then started and finally they deported me back here to Moldova”.

In Moldova Ion is now living in his sister–in-law’s house, together with one of his sons. He is working as a minibus driver on an outer city line. In this position he earns around 40 to 60 lei a day , dependent upon passengers, and works from early morning till night.

Alsia

”My father is in Russia and my mother in Italy. No, they are not there on holidays. They have been abroad since I was 15.” Alsia is now 19 years old and living by herself in a flat in Chişinău.

Her long dark hair falls softly over her face, hiding from time to time her deep brown eyes, that at some moments have the serious expression of a woman who has already seen many bad times whilst at others have the bright shine of a kid who explores and loves the world. In her nice apartment in the city you can find a new TV set, a stereo and even a computer, with whose help she keeps in contact by chatting with her friends.

Shyly serving the tea, Alsia continues to tell her story, while holding one of her teddy bears that she picked out of her large collection.
”In the beginning it was really hard for me, first my mother left and then half a year later my father also left. I felt very lonely and all of the things I had to do were very difficult for me, although my mother called me nearly every day. Even today I still feel alone sometimes and have no one to speak with about my problems. But it’s also strange when my parents come once a year to visit me. I am used to living alone and suddenly it’s like playing family again.”

Leaving Moldova

Ion’s and Alsia’s stories are typical for the Republic of Moldova. On the streets in Chişinău and in the bars one can hear thousands of similar stories. The fact is, according to the UN’s world migration report, in percentage terms Moldova is the planet’s second biggest exporter of labour migrants.

Every year thousands of Moldovan citizens go abroad to try their luck in foreign countries. They send their hard-earned money back home, in an attempt to ensure their families have a life free from the daily pressures of life.

Statistics try to estimate this enormous movement of people leaving the country to work abroad; the official number is around 350 thousand but local NGOs suggest a number that goes up to 1.2 million (around a quarter of the total population or a third of the working population.) The latter number might be the more realistic one, as it takes into consideration both legal and illegal migration.
The most popular destination for male Moldovians is Russia, where 72.9% go. For females it is also Russia (40.7%), followed by Italy (32.1 %).

People leave, money comes
The large-scale movement of Moldovans willing to work elsewhere is not a surprise if you compare the average monthly salary in Moldova of around 103 US$ (this is the official estimate, others put the estimate at 30-50 US$) to the average salary for labour migrants in, for example, the Czech Republic, which is about 527 US$. As the migrants who work abroad send much of their hard-earned money back home, the cash flow from migrants to their families is about 1 billion dollars per year. This is double the yearly state budget. In many cases the workers send home more than 50 % of their wages, in consequence they are often living in worse conditions abroad than what they had in Moldova, making this sacrifice to give the families they left behind a better life. Most of this money is brought home personally or by friends and relatives. Only 15 % of the transfers are made by bank transfers, with about the same percentage sent via rapid transfers such as Western Union.

Around 70 % of this money is spent on daily consumption within Moldova; most of the remaining 30 % is spent on educational expenses or special expenses like furniture, weddings or houses. Only a very small amount of the money is spent on business investments. Money used for investment purposes differs according to the educational status of the migrants between 1% and 6 %.

Staying for Good

The consequences of migration in such large numbers can be seen all over the country. The population in the villages increasingly consists of old people and young children whose parents went abroad.

The amount of people going abroad to earn money also creates a lot of problems for the people left behind that have no relatives working abroad. The permanent cash flow in remittances has meant that the prices in the country rise and rise, especially in the housing market. Thus, the prices for estates in Chişinău rose on average by 40 per cent last year, doubling in some parts of the city centre.

Rodica, 26, works as a teacher of foreign languages and states: “My parents have worked and lived here since their birth. They always pay their taxes and insurance on time, but they get nothing back. For them it’s impossible to buy a new car or other luxuries. Compare this to the people who go abroad, they often do not pay taxes here; they just bring back the money and force up the prices. So they do not help the country, they just slow down development. The people who stay are, in the end, the stupid ones. Even though they are the ones who really want to help the country”.

Another big problem is created by the growing shortage of educated people. For such people it is much simpler to go to another country. They have knowledge of foreign languages and are welcomed in good positions in companies abroad. As more and more people leave, it has meant that the overall level of education is dropping and the economy is not growing as fast as it could.

The way to the Czech Republic

The problem of brain-drain is further aggravated as a lot of countries have started programmes to attract legal workers from Moldova into their countries. The Czech Republic, for example, is running a pilot project for qualified workers. It started four years ago and was initially established primarily for highly educated people. This year, however, the scope of the programme was widened and in Moldova there are already many advertisements for it in the press and on television. Additionally, and in co-operation with Moldovan organisations, there is a 24 hour telephone hot line for interested participants. .

This widening was undertaken because of its popularity, however in the end not so many people managed to succeed. Hopeful candidates have to answer several questions, about their education, their work experiences and material status. For every question they are given a number of points. If the candidate reaches the minimum points required, then they pass the first step. In the second stage they have to prove that they have found employment in the Czech Republic. If all this is done, then they are allowed to go to the Czech Republic to work. As a benefit of this programme, the chosen candidate receives indefinite residence status in the country after only two and a half years rather than the usual five.

While the programme is taking away some educated people from the country, the people who make it are often content with their fate, and it has led to some of the more successful migration stories, like that of Lidia L., who was originally from the town of Telenesti, but has now been living in the Czech Republic for five years. She works as a medical assistant in a hospital in Prague. When she emigrated five years ago, she at first found it hard, because of the language barriers, and she also had to retake all the medical exams in the Czech language. But Lidia says the people in Prague helped her a lot in doing this and the psychological support from her family who went with her was a massive help. She also states that her children are very happy there and are fully integrated. But Lidia is an exception. It is not easy to take part in this programme. A lot of people call the hotline. In reality it is only a very small circle of people who get to take part.

Other Ways to the Czech Republic

The official number of legal migrants from Moldova to the Czech Republic was around 4000 in 2005. In Czech Republic the amount of male and female migrants is equal. Men work mainly in construction and agricultural services whilst women are mostly employed in cleaning and kitchen work.

All Moldovans wanting to go to the Czech Republic have to travel elsewhere first. Up until now there has been no Czech embassy with a visa department in Chişinău, interested Moldovans have to take the 12-hour trip to Bucharest.

When applying for visas they also have to deposit 450 Euros at the embassy, which they get back after returning from the Czech Republic. So, on average, these migrants have to travel at least three times to Romania to legalise their trip to the Czech Republic.

The Czechs will soon open up an Embassy in Chişinău, so this should ease the procedure. In the case of other destinations, such as Italy, things will become more complicated as Moldovans will soon need a visa to enter Romania: a visa for a visa.

But there are also a lot of illegal migrants, most of them men that work in the construction sector. They do not have the security of migrants who have friends or relatives in companies that allow them to get visas. Most of them enter the country with a tourist visa and then begin to search for work. Another problem that they are often confronted with is police checks at the sites. But this is not their only fear. There are the continual worries which exist from one day to the next: will the employer pay their salary as he promised this evening or not? What if an accident happens? Where will I sleep at night? Some are lucky and everything turns out okay, sometimes they might even make good contacts with companies, so that if they want to come again they will be able to enter legally with their friends.

The Czech Republic is not such a desirable destination for everyone however. As Ion drops of his last passengers from the beaten old bus he shows little interest in the country. He falls silent, deep in thought as he winds his way home. Shortly before arriving at his house, his eyes begin to shine brightly in the moonlight and with a big smile on his face he says, ”I will soon start to take some English classes, because Canada is running a programme to migrate there. I’m going there… and to work legally!”

Episodes:

An Alien from outer space

Suddenly, wildly gesticulating people on the street. Gazes are cast in the same direction people signal to each other in whatever way they can. What is there on the street that attracts even the deaf-mutes? Is there a celebrated movie star? Is it a new attraction in the city? Or an incredible clearance sale in a shop? Still people are moving their heads, sticking them together to inform their friend of what they saw. It must be really special. What by the God of All Good Wines could it be? Something unreal is walking through the streets of Chişinău and waving her greetings to shy little kids who cannot decide if it’s better to risk a look or to hide behind the legs of their fearless parents.

Cricova, the wine capital of Moldova, or even the world. The Object appears again. Is it going to steal the wine reserves? Hopefully not, it would cause an increase in wine prices, and effect important economies much worse than any war in the Middle East.
A little boy riding on his bicycle cannot avert his eyes, so he doesn’t see or hear the barking dog in front of him. The inevitable happens; they crash. It’s not certain whether the short shock that follows is caused by the boy’s downfall or by The Object. The boy himself could not be asked, as quick as he could make it on to his feet again he had disappeared. Yet, for all that worry about the wine reserves, The Object only precured two litres. And that in the legal way. The 1.25 million bottles in the deep caves remained untouched.

Over the next few days, neutral sources reported, The Object appeared again in a little village, the so called Vadu-la-Voda. In this village, a brave pensioner even invited The Object into his house and gave the invader some presents which came from his agricultural business. He proudly presented his injured arm, under the strong view of his wife – love is nothing for her anymore – and began to talk about the war. Is it possible that Star Wars was not invented by George Lucas? That this guy took really part in it, as he was talking about a war he allegedly fought on the territory where The Object was born? The Object began to smile and suddenly seemed to be devoid of all the horror and fear it had spread in the last few days.

So who is this horrible fearful alien that came to planet Moldova – a state that has only around 24 000 tourists visiting a year, according to official sites? No, no it’s not the long searched and hoped for extraterrestrial intelligence! It’s only a little Korean girl with a camera around her neck that is nearly as big as herself.

A bus trip back from Prague, or how to transform a minibus into a beer tanker

After a long night, I was happy to finally get to the bus that would bring me safely back home. Arriving at the station I encountered my first surprise: A brand new bus was waiting for me. Was that possible? I began walking faster towards it, full of the pleasant anticipation of a comfortable bus trip. But when I finally approached the bus I saw that it had a Ukrainian registration plate. I asked a nearby lady if the bus to Chişinău had already arrived,say said it hadn’t. After half an hour of waiting a little blue something approached the bus station, the minibus to Moldova. As the advertisement had promised there was a little TV set installed inside, only the air conditioner was a bit more old-fashioned than had been claimed – it worked by opening and closing the windows. Half an hour passed at the station without anything happening. Finally the bus drivers decided that I was probably their only passenger this time.
As fast as a bus from 1990 could leave the city we moved towards the highway. I comfortably placed my feet on the seat in front of me and watched through slitted eyes the landscape passing by, faster and faster, but suddenly slower and slower again. What happened? Did we already arrive at the border, after only an hour of driving? That was impossible. Opening my eyes a bit more, I saw the sign of a big supermarket. Ah, OK, I thought, we have to get some petrol. But wrong again, our minibus stopped right in front of the supermarket’s front doors and the drivers told me: let’s go shopping!

So three men entered the shop and made their way to the beer shelf, where all prices were compared and discussed before the big decision was made. Then, there was a busy movement, two shopping trolleys had to be loaded as full as possible. On our way to the cash desk we passed the fruit department and, what a surprise, the pineapples were on sale: Take two for the price of one! What a nice offer! What little space was left in our trolleys we filled up with pineapples.

Back at the bus, there was already a lady waiting for us, who gave the driver a package meant to be delivered to her relatives at home, and soon we continued our travel.
For the rest of the journey the boxes of beer and pineapples would be the quiet passengers beside me. After crossing the border we finally entered the green landscape of Moldova again. But the journey was not over yet. In nearly every second village we stopped, handing out packages to people, and those receiving the beer were the happiest to obtain their post.