“Many Georgians leave their loved ones to work abroad”

    Medium
    Business Spotlight 7/2021
    mother and child
    © Mathilde Langevin/unsplash.com
    Von Nini Dakhundaridze

    Marina gets up at five in the morning. She works as an elderly woman’s live-in caregiverim selben Haus(halt) lebende(r) Betreuer(in)live-in caregiver. On her lunch break, Marina goes to the post office to send her family some money and a box of cookies. In the evening, once she has to tuck sb. injmdn. zu Bett bringentucked the old woman in for the night, Marina calls her family. She listens to her daughter’s boy troubles, laughs at her son’s jokes and then falls asleep after they to hang upauflegenhang up

    Marina is a fictitiousfiktivfictitious character, but there are thousands of Georgian women living like Marina. The Latin name “Marina” means “from the sea”. wedgedeingezwängt, eingekeiltWedged in between the Black Sea and the Caspian SeaKaspisches MeerCaspian Sea, Georgia is known for its hospitalityGastfreundschafthospitality, cuisineKüche, Kochkunstcuisine, folklore and low cost of living. 

    Salaries in Georgia are also low. In 2019, the average monthly salary was 1,093 GEL (Georgian lari)Georgischer LariGEL (€287). Some 20 per cent of the country’s four million inhabitantEinwohner(in)inhabitants are unemployed and 19.5 per cent live below the national poverty lineArmutsgrenzepoverty line. As a result, many Georgians leave their loved onesFamilie, Angehörigeloved ones to work abroad. 

    According to the UN’s 2016 data, 57 per cent of the 168,800 Georgian migrants that year were women. Today, that figure has risen to 67 per cent. Most of these women are married and were employed in the service sector in Georgia, where salaries are low and working hours are long. In Georgia, many married women live with their in-lawsSchwiegerelternin-laws, who are often also financially dependent on them.

    While many Georgian women decide to emigrate to improve their family’s material well-being, the desire for independence also to prompt sb.jmdn. veranlassenprompts some to move abroad. The top three EU destinations for Georgian “Marinas” are Greece, Germany and Italy. My friend’s mum has been living in Germany for 16 years. My friend visited her for the first time two years ago. They walked past each other at the airport, unable to recognize each other. 

    There’s only one thing worse than not being able to see your child grow up — not to go the extra milesich besonders anstrengen; hier: alles unternehmengoing the extra mile to give them a brighter future. My friend’s mum, like thousands of Georgian women, made the ultimatehöchste(r,s)ultimate motherly sacrifice: she left so that her family could have a better life. Now, my friend studies at the best university in the country. And though it may be years until she sees her daughter again, “Marina” sleeps better at night.

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