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

CHAPTER I
BOX 4
Case study. The story of a business man that ended
up on the streets later in his old age (FG_E_3_urban_
asylum)
Ion, 75 years old, told us: “At first I opened a bakery to sell bread. I was making
money, but it was little. Then we decided to start baking other products…
The business was going well. Then I had to switch to sausages…I had to sell
my apartment and I invested everything in my business. I bought the necessary
equipment for 850 thousand lei…, but those bandits took away my business. I
went from trial to trial; I was beaten and cut…
Afterwards, when they took my business I had nowhere to go. I began spending
the nights at the railway station and my feet were stiff because I had to sleep on
concrete. At a certain point, I wanted to get up but I could not. So the woman
who was cleaning the place helped me stand up and she called an ambulance
and the police…”
Thus, the problems that the elderly whose children migrated have to face
are multiple and complex. Their gravity is closely related to the degree of
affection between parents and children. When children take care of their
own parents, when they frequently communicate and send remittances or
pay their fees, or in the case of institutionalized elderly, problems related
to life and age are eased. If children fail to get involved in the life of their
parents, the abandonment and the deprivation of a dwelling lead to the
loss of physical and financial autonomy of the elderly and often to their
institutionalization. The more independent the person is the more adequate
the elderly perceives the gravity of the problems that could affect
him/her. The institutionalization that still requires a basic fee also implies
isolation from the external environment that leads to an erroneous perception
of reality.
• The way migrant family members perceive problems (according to
the opinion of the elderly)
A great number of children abroad, according to the elderly, feel deeply
responsible for their family members who remained at home: both children
and elderly, and their responsibilities refer to the care that they need
and financial support when appropriate. Regardless of the extent to which
they get involved and provide support, the interviewed people mention
the interests of those who left: “I tell him that it’s hard for us at our age and
with our diseases and my poor son, he just sighs at the telephone and we tell
him that we don’t have enough money but he also knows that we are not big
spenders and we have to go on living” (III_E_5); “generally speaking, they
understand everything I say, they tell me to stay in and watch the TV and to
dig no more in the garden as I already have a hump on my back” (III_E_16).
This situation is relevant for some institutionalized elderly: “father, we are
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