Gendered Aspects of Migration from Southeast Europe The research The project  

Öùôïãñáößá
Vaso on the family’s first motorbike, Volos, 1996.

« My grandmother has told me that life was more carefree, more…how to say? Life was better. It’s not like nowadays that "Oh! If the neighbor has a beautiful car, I’ll get one too!" Or, because he bought something nice, I should get it, too. No! They were all like one. They were all smiling and they had everything. Everything. Your neighbor was like your brother or your sister. If some day you ran out of bread, you would go and get some [from your neighbor]. The next day you would return it. Or your neighbor would say to you "Don’t mention it, some other time." Or "When some other time I don’t have bread, you’ll give me some." My grandmother told me "When", she says "I was at home and doing some chores, I would listen to people who were very happy. I would hear them," she says "singing. I would leave things", she says "the way they were in the house and I would go. We would dance, we would do stuff, we would drink." People were very happy. That is what she has told me. »

Daiana (26, Bulgaria )

« There [in Albania] we also did agricultural jobs, but the good thing here was that you had better wages and that made you happy! I work but I get my wages; I get my sweat. There you worked but you earned nothing, you worked for peanuts. Because it is the money that pleases you most. Money is what makes you work harder. You get happy thinking what you’ll earn. Here we were thinking that our wages were not wasted. You worked but you were rewarded. You thought, "I’ll return home." It’s money that makes you relax. "I’ll buy some small things" - whatever you wanted, whatever you didn’t have. For this reason, you didn’t get tired! […] I don’t mind getting tired; I wouldn’t think of not going to work in the evening. For years on end I would even go on Sundays. So I was getting really tired. But I don’t mind. I like it! I know that I will go out for a coffee or I will go to the theatre or I will go to the cinema and I like it very much! »

Sofia (38, Albania )

Material world

Losing one’s profession Lazy Greeks The second generation Working women Learning a trade Care work Papers Teamwork Material world Time off Work, work, work Leaving home The boss Spending Communist worker