“I often reflect on why mum is working in Spain and dad in the Czech Republic, while I am here in Ukraine with granny,” writes Olena Frankova, 11, from Khmelnytsky oblast. This is a quote from a short story that makes part of the collection “Emigrants’ Children on Themselves.” The book’s cover shows the face of a sad-eyed child who is looking out the window. The collection was published by the International Institute for Education, Culture, and Links with the Diaspora (MIOK) with support from Arsenii Yatseniuk’s Open Ukraine foundation. The book includes 26 short stories by children whose parents have gone abroad. The Day has already commented on the launching of this collection in Kyiv and the first results of the competition.
The contest, which the MIOK held last year, received a total 156 stories written mostly by children aged 10 and older from Western Ukraine, as well as from Italy, Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, and Russia, who describe their feelings caused by separation from their parents or homeland. These are frank and really talented children’s stories on the dramatic life of people forced by want to leave their native home in Ukraine.
The collection was the beginning of a project that spotlighted the problem of social and national orphanhood created by the “fourth wave” of Ukrainian emigration. The book was launched in Kyiv, Lviv, Ternopil, Ivan-Frankivsk, Uzhhorod, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Odesa. All these events also comprised roundtable debates involving local government officials, sociologists, psychologists, and social workers.
“The problem of migrants’ children is very seldom discussed — first of all, because there is very little information on the number of migrant workers and their children who have remained in Ukraine. Frankly, we did not expect children to send so many letters with stories, essays, and diary extracts,” MIOK director Iryna Kliuchkovska says. “The pain and anguish that you can feel in every work means that the problem not only exists now but may even be aggravated in the future.”
To help children, Kliuchkovska suggests establishing special centers in every region, where children could receive advice from social workers and psychologists. The Ministry for Families, Youth, and Sport insists that migrant workers’ children be granted orphan status, for this will make them eligible for governmental financial aid. At the same time, adults should understand that what children need above all is parents, not money.
Many experts say that the problem of migrants’ children is on the rise. Psychologists believe that when these children grow up, they will be creating families by the same pattern, for they will no longer fear to leave their child behind. Ninety percent of our migrant workers have to leave their children behind at home.
To attract public attention to the problem, the organizers are planning to draw up a master document of recommendations and have it discussed at the Verkhovna Rada. Meanwhile, participants in the final roundtable made only one major conclusion: to prevent its citizens from seeking a job in the countries of Europe, Ukraine must create living standards at a truly European level.
