Four migrant stories from BrusselsAlla, Olivier, Pant Liladhar, Orlando – the stories of four migrants in Brussels Massimo Bortolini | Pictures: Claire AllardAlla, Olivier, Pant Liladhar, and Orlando came from the Ukraine, Chad, Nepal, and Cuba respectively, and, on a larger scale, from Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central America. All of them, with the exception of Orlando, came as the asylum seekers; however, they were unsuccessful in their applications and so tried to find a path for staying in Belgium legally. All four have lived through hardship; in this new country, they had to find a new life with a home and work. Today, they all have permanent residency; however, they still vividly remember what it is like to start alone and from nothing in a foreAfter more than 10 years, they have decided to stay and live in Belgium. Their personal accounts capture the difficult life of a migrant. After more than 10 years, they have decided to stay and live in Belgium. Their personal accounts capture the difficult life of a migrant.

City of ShadowsDaiva Tereščenko | Pictures: Cyril HorisznyPoland’s capital is the destination for a large number of Ukrainian workers. In order to work legally in Poland, Ukrainians are required to have a visa and a work permit. However, in reality, many migrants circumvent these regulations by travelling on a tourist visa and working without proper papers. Paradoxically, working illegally improves the migrants’ economical situation as many migrants would not be able to support their families if required to pay all their taxes from their low wages. However, the irregular status represents a crucial obstacle for further integration. Working illegally makes them vulnerable to exploitation and does not allow them to find jobs that match their skills and qualification. Accordingly, especially among those who have been in Warsaw for a longer period, many of the migrants interviewed hope for amnesty for illegal migrants. It is also true, that many Ukrainian migrant workers do not even consider the possibility of settling in Poland; one does not live here, it is only a spot to make money for life, which is lived at home in the Ukraine.

Welcome to the Grey Kingdom!Martina Křížková | Pictures: David KumermannPilsen is the Czech Republic’s industrial power house. However, the industrial boom of the past couple years is not based on the work of Czechs, but of thousands of migrant workers, mainly from the Ukraine, Mongolia and Vietnam. These workers are often victims in exploitative recruitment practices that have become known as the “client system”. Constitutive elements of this system are: bad legislation, corruption, mafia-like recruitment agencies and employers that seek profit at any price. As a consequence of the economic crisis, Czech authorities refused to prolong the permits of many workers from non-EU countries in order to open up jobs for Czechs. But once again, Czechs were not interested in working on assembly lines. Instead, Pilsen experienced the inflow of Bulgarians, Rumanians, Poles and Slovaks. However, the “client system” adapted to the new situation and works the same way as before.

Solitude. The way to a brighter futureTomas Janeba | Pictures: Iva ZimovaMongolian labour migrants often come to the Czech Republic planning to begin a new life and to secure their children a better career and future. They pay inordinate fees to middlemen for organizing their documents and work; they work from dawn until dusk in conditions that neither Czechs nor other migrants are not willing to take on. However, many of Mongolian children are not as happy as their parents would like. Their parents come home only at night and so the children are responsible for the domestic duties and their own lives. Moreover, they also encounter a language and cultural barrier. They are different. They are alone. Furthermore, the children of those from non-EU countries are burden again: a newborn must be very expensively insured before birth. If they are born early without insurance, at the hospital check-out they already owe about a million Czech Crowns for for healthcare.

La dolce vita? A visit to an “Italian village” in the Philippines Rica Agnes Castañeda - Panelo | Pictures: Jay Panelo

“We Filipinos see property ownership as a major achievement. It marks you as a successful person. The bigger, the better of course”, explains Susan, who has been working in Rome, Italy, for more than ten years and has just returned to her village of Pulang Anahaw in Batangas, a province in Southern Luzon. The people in the neighbouring villages know Mabini Batangas as “Little Italy” because of the big and colourful houses, each perched on a hill along a narrow road only fit for one-way traffic. Susan takes me up the hill to a wider and paved street, which goes to a Catholic chapel. She shows me a stone marker, which informs the reader, in elaborate words, that this road was build as a collaborative effort from the village women working in Italy.

Recently this village has gained national attention, thanks to media coverage, and has become a symbol for the way migration has transformed Philippine society and culture. For generations, ‘makapag abroad’ (being able to go abroad) has be the essence of the Filipino dream. Encouraged by the state, which depends financially on the stream of money from the Diaspora, many young people prepare themselves systematically for a career abroad. In a background interview conducted prior to my visit of Mabini Batangas, Ms. Maybelle Gorospe, Director of Planning at the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) describes the consequences in this way: “Migration has become a part of our culture; a culture of migration.”

Africa under Saint WenceslasTwo groups of African migrants are living in Prague; however, they are almost never in touch. The first mostly arrived before the Velvet Revolution as university exchange students, stayed and integrated into the Czech society. The others are arriving currently, on a thorny path, as asylum seekers or illegal migrants to find a better life. Usually they find their first jobs in the centre of Prague where they attract tourists to night clubs. They have no real alternative to this “shameful” job for various reasons; firstly, with their status, they cannot work legally, and finally, because of racism of Czech employers. They are marginalised and associated with drug business. And then, there is Michel, in whose sad destiny converge aspects of both of these groups of Africans. None of them can go back; the traditional African society only accepts the return of winners.

Migration trap among the Great Masurian Lakesby Piotr Szenajch | Pictures: Monika Kmita‘Circular migration’ means moving constantly to find work but never settling in the new place to stay. Many inhabitants of North-Eastern Poland leave for 3-8 months for Germany, Spain, Italy or the UK. When they are abroad, they yield to harsh living conditions in jobs below their qualifications. They face a constant risk of fraud and abuse prevalent for those working in a grey legal area. After coming back, they spend the money they have earned on their everyday life rather than investing it. Some gradually resign from building a steady career at home. Their choice is not irrational or careless – it is the only means of surviving and supporting their families. At home, the labour market does not offer them any better conditions. All this occurs in the heart of Mazury – a stunning tourist hotspot with wild forests and a thousand crystal-clear lakes.

In the melting pot – Muslim migrants in post-crisis Bochumby Georgiana Catalina Macovei | Pictures: Octavian Balea

Bochum lies in the heart of the Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr region), Germany’s former mining and industrial centre. In the past decades, the area has experienced a profound economic restructuring; the change of Ruhrgebiet and Bochum towards a post-industrial city conglomeration itself is best reflected by the area’s appointment as Europe’s Capital of Culture for 2010. Nevertheless, unemployment in the area is high. Since the influx of Turkish “guestworkers” in the 1960s, migrants of Muslim faith make up a significant portion of the area’s population. What impact did the economic crisis of 2008 have on Bochum’s large and diverse Muslim community? Who was affected and what support networks are provided by religious institutions such as Mosque societies?

Georgians and their country on the wayJan Hanzlík | Fotografie: Petr Šilhánek In Georgia, a transforming country cut off from international trade, the world economic crisis, augmented by the war in Ossetia, hit very hard. Georgians cannot get work at home, the doors are closed to them in Russia due to their reluctance to conform, and there is only a ghost of a chance of getting visa for the EU. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes, jobs, and all stability in the fight for Ossetia and Abkhazia. Desperate people do desperate things – often many Georgians set out for the West to find work without visas and work permits. Those that returned voluntarily through repatriation programs received new stimulus and a chance to start their own businesses. Their success, however, is largely not in their own hands. It will be also influenced by the overall development of their beautiful and welcoming, although isolated and poor Caucaus country.

“Let's show the world how we live and work!”By Lisa Riedner, Munich | Pictures: Trixi EderThe Struggles of Bulgarian Day-labourers in MunichWith Bulgaria’s accession to the EU in 2007, Bulgarian citizens are entitled to free movement within other EU states. For many members of Bulgaria’s large Turkish minority, this new freedom was taken as a chance to get away from discrimination and economic despair at home. Pembe, Natka, Hristo and Yasar, four ethnic Turks from the town of Pazardjik in Bulgaria, went to Bavaria’s capital Munich with hopes of making a better life. However, they were forced to realize that free movement does not automatically entail the possibility of legal employment. Germany as well as other older EU states made use of the “transition period” of Bulgaria’s accession by blocking Bulgarian citizens’ access to their labour markets until 2014. Banned from legal employment, migrants like Pembe, Natka, Yasar and Hristo find themselves in a catch-22 of illegalized abusive work relations (often as day-labourers) and homelessness. Now, some of these workers work together with the Munich-based « Initiative Zivilcourage » and the union ver.di to change their situation. They develop initiatives that should raise public awareness for the situation of the Turkish day labourers from Bulgaria; volunteers provide language trainings and the union organises legal advise. The pictures shown are one of the outcomes of these activities.