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Gina comes from Albania ; she was born in 1960 at Shkoder and came in Greece for the first time in 1993. At the time of the interview her worked as a 'Domestic helper'.
Interview date: 13/03/2006
Researcher who did the interview: Ricky van Boeschoten
Subfield of the interview: Labor
Gina was born and grew up in Shkoder. She has eight siblings. She completed compulsory education but did not go to university because of economic reasons. When she was 19 years old she got married (arranged marriage) and moved to her husband´s village where she lived with his family. She describes her life there and her very good relations with her in-laws. In Albania she worked in the farmers´ co-operatives. She talks about the everyday life at that time and about her job. She speaks about the Hoxha regime and the lack of freedom they experienced then. After the fall of communism they faced some economic problems. Therefore, they took their three children and moved first to Agioi Saranda and then to Gjirokaster. In 1993 they came to Greece and they settled down in a village near Volos. There, Gina worked in the fields and in greenhouses. They rented their own house and they baptized their children in order to be able to enroll them at school. Five years later they moved to Volos. Gina found a job at a hotel with which she was very satisfied. But when the hotel shut down she started working as a domestic helper. Currently she is doing the same job and also taking care of an elderly man. She is satisfied with this job too, and she notes that her relations with her employers are very good. Her only anxiety has to do with whether she will be able to renew her residence permit. She mostly socializes with Greek people. She visits her country every August. Her dream is to return one day with her husband to Albania and to buy a house in the city, in order to be close to her relatives.
