specific needs of children and elderly left behind as a ... - IOM Moldova

CHAPTER I
and the interviewer describes the house as being clean and warm. The
children of this old lady who are abroad, are regularly sending money
in order to cover all the living expenses for the family who has been left
behind at home
Another similar example is the case of a lady aged 71 who takes care of her
student-granddaughter. The grandmother lives with the life and the interests
of her granddaughter, which motivates her a lot to provide her with
adequate living conditions: “I wake up, I prepare her the breakfast, I boil the
water, we brush the teeth, she gets dressed, I prepare the food – sometimes
cornflakes with milk, sometimes semolina, and I take her to school and after
I get back I wash the dishes and cook the lunch and then go to take her from
school. Then I take her to English classes and in the end we do her homework
together. We watch some cartoons and shows in English” (III_E_3). The
same lady says: “We do the laundry very often, for instance we change our
underwear every day because that’s what my daughter told me to do”. This
indicates that the grandmother is doing her best to ensure adequate living
conditions for her granddaughter to reduce as much as possible the impact
of her mother’s absence.
Conversely, placing the care of minors on the shoulders of the elderly
who suffer from many diseases, represents an enormous load for
them and this keeps them in a constant state of stress and agitation.
Here is the case of a lady aged 62, who has been taking care of her two
grandchildren for 13 years: “I feel very bad and this diabetes is killing me,
the arthritis – my foot has swollen and I have hepatitis C... My liver hurts
so bad... and my kidney – I think that my sugar is destroying everything.
And it’s so hard. I almost never go out because I cannot walk, or I feel
dizzy from the pressure and my feet start hurting” (III_E_12). Being very
ill, she continued to work, because it would be impossible to raise two
children with the pension she receives. Her daughter, the mother of the
children, is abroad, and she’s not involved in the raising of her children.
“I have no force to work. I worked because I have two grandchildren to
bring up... When I was still working things were better but now it’s really
hard – they’re so big now... They’re like two grown-up men and they eat
like 7 persons!” The woman is concerned for her grandchildren: “It’s the
time when you have to be very careful, not to let them do stupid things,
as they’re boys”.
Similar situations were mentioned by the experts, identified as a result of
the focus-groups: “The old lady doesn’t have the same forces to take care of
her grandchildren; she’s always angry and tense” (FG_ EE_urban).
The care for their grandchildren requires both financial resources and
energy from the elderly. It is important to note that in many cases they
lack them, especially when afflicted by greater deficiencies and serious
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