“Before moving to Italy, I worked in the fields here for five years. My parents owned some land in the village. But this wasn’t enough. You can only improve your life by emigrating.”
Taraclia de Salcie is a village situated twenty-six kilometres from Cahul, Southern Moldova and is mostly inhabited by Moldovan families. Amongst the inconspicuous houses, a new church is about to be finished. Locals are happy: the old church was too little and people preferred to celebrate weddings and christenings in the neighbouring villages.
There are rumours that the money for the building comes from the Liberal Democratic Party through donations. Even Vlad Filat, former Prime Minister of Moldova, has visited the village once. The priest belongs to the Metropolis of Bessarabia, the Romanian Orthodox Church in Moldova, and he is Romanian.
About 1,700 people are registered as residents here but the real number might be much lower. Taraclia de Salcie’s inhabitants often travel abroad in search of work and send their remittances home to finance their children’s education and house renovations.
Tatiana Bugulet, the town clerk, shows us a list of people that left the village to work abroad but there is no up-to-date data available. The last document brings 1st January 2010 as a date and seventy-four names are on it. She says that many more have left since then, probably hundreds. The country of destination is also listed in the document and it is striking to notice how most of the men went to Russia while women have largely chosen European destinations such as Greece, Italy, Spain, and Austria. Women are often working in elderly care while men are construction labourers.
It is difficult to assess the number of migrants that left Taraclia de Salcie because of the seasonal workers: people often return, spend a few months here with their families and leave shortly after in search of a new placement.
Lidia Topala was born and raised in Taraclia de Salcie. By the age of twenty-five, she already had three children. Like everyone who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, she remembers how harsh life has been here and how things have improved in the last few years thanks to remittances. In 2007 she, like many others before her, went to work abroad, in the Belluno province, North East Italy. She worked there as a carer. She was one of the thousands of Moldovan women employed in the elderly care sector in Italy.
The Italian National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT) estimated in 2014 that 150,000 Moldovans are registered as residents in Italy. The number might be much higher though. Many are thought to be unregistered; despite the fact that Moldovan passport holders can travel ninety days within a 180-day period in the Schengen Area (the new visa free regime was implemented on April 2014), they still need a work permit if they want to be legally employed. Many others hold a Romanian passport, so they might be registered as Romanians for statistical purposes.
At the beginning, Lidia did not know any Italian and the landlord of the house she was working in was not aware of her presence. Each time a nurse came to provide treatment to the old woman living there, she had to hide underneath the bed, for fear of been discovered. “It was a real trauma. I was shaking while working. Then I bought a dictionary and started watching the television. I was learning Italian while the woman was asleep. In three months I was able to speak.” After the woman passed away, she moved into another job in elderly care.
The Italian National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT) estimated in 2014 that 150,000 Moldovans are registered as residents in Italy.
Her papers were not in conformity with the Italian immigration laws so she had to wait for an amnesty before being able to go home legally and visit her family. She spent two years and eight months without seeing her husband and her three children. At Lidia’s return, everyone in her family was waiting at Chisinau airport: “When I left, my younger daughter was only two. She was so much taller when I saw her there, for the first time in almost three years. No one wanted to see me leaving again. But I had to go back to Italy to resume the work.” It was absolutely necessary to earn some money in order to afford a new car and building improvements.
“Before moving to Italy, I worked in the fields here for five years. My parents owned some land in the village. But this wasn’t enough. You can only improve your life by emigrating.” She then decided to apply for Romanian citizenship and she eventually succeeded in getting a Romanian passport. Things got easier with that document as she could travel freely back and forth from Moldova.
Life as a carer could be very stressful. “It is shocking to see that the people that you are taking care of are dying. Three of the patients I have been working with died. They reminded me about my parents and grandparents.” After the death of one of her patients, she fell ill and was taken to the hospital because of an internal haemorrhage. She underwent a surgical operation and a blood transfusion. Nowadays she laughs about it: “I am a bit Italian as well. I have some Italian blood in my veins.” She fondly remember how well she was taken care of by the hospital staff. “It would be impossible here in Moldova. In order to receive a decent treatment, you have to pay. Nothing works in the health system here.”
Eventually her husband found a job in a circus, first in Germany, then in Denmark. She agreed then to come back to the village to take care of the children, since the husband had to spend most of the time abroad. The children are now aged between ten and twelve years old. She never really contemplated the idea of leaving Moldova for good though. “I can’t. My parents used to live in that house over there. My sister is here. Everything I have is here, my roots are here. But I have to admit that in Italy life is much better.”
