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

Psychological and social effects of migration
BOX 9
Words that characterize the life of children of labour
migrant parents (the opinion of children left behind
and children whose parents are at home)
Longing (in Romanian language “dor”), “I miss my parents a lot, and often I
long for them and I can’t stop my tears. And when I miss them a lot I call them…”
“Pain. I feel a lot of pain, because there are a lot of parents who stay at home
together with their children and have the possibility to stay home and to take
care of them. I am aware that my parents want the best for me and I do my best
not to disappoint them.”
“Caress. I don’t feel that I lack the caress… it is not there…”
“Advice. Their advice is very useful for me. I always take them into consideration
and I cannot live without them.”
“Sadness. This is the word that comes to my mind, because it overshadows the
soul when you feel the lack of your parents and you want more than anything
in this world to have somebody to support you, to help you, whenever you need
it. It happens to me quite often, especially when I need their support… but I
understand the situation. I am not a very talkative person, I am a shy person.
There are just moments that I need to step over and I always hope for a brighter
future.”
“Hope is the word… it means that I hope… I hope that with time my parents
will get back home and I will have a united family and we will never part again.”
“The waiting. Sometimes you just understand that everything is infinite and
you cannot turn back time, it seems that is she has been gone forever. Still, when
I hear my mom saying through the phone “Just wait a little more, my darling, I’ll
be back” I understand that the waiting is a hope. I wait.”
“The fight. I fight because I wish a lot to be the winner of this fight, of this longing
and sadness, because most of us live with their grandparents and we have
to fight because life can take us all over the world and this is the reality we have
to face.”
“Indisposition. That’s what I feel most often because I know they left because
of me, because they want a better future for me, but I understand the troubles
they have to go through and everything they do is for me, just for one child who
sometimes wants to have everything. But with time, when you get to know
things, you understand that doing something is not always that easy, it is difficult.”
“Aggressiveness, which also implies the lack of education. Children left behind
behave differently, they are wilder. Their parents are not there to tell them
“Don’t do this or that”. They are aggressive. I mean girls. Their mothers are not
there to tell what they need to do and what not. There are many girls in our village,
some of them are elder, but some of them are little. They do whatever you
tell them to; there is no one to guide them. They behave differently with boys, for
instance the fact that they are touched.”
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