From Bulgaria to Greece
Athens, Greece
Initiative Typology
Work opportunities
Problem addressed
Interviewee 10 came to Greece in 2005 from Sofia, Bulgaria. She is 35 years old and married and has a boy of 10 years old and a girl of 8 years old. Her husband works in a grill restaurant as a broiler. In Bulgaria, he was a bus driver, and she was unemployed. They left together for financial reasons. She believed that she would help her children and her life would be better financially by coming to Greece.
Resilience strategies addressed by women
Interviewee 10 works as a live-out domestic worker. She has worked as a babysitter, caregiver to older people and cleaner at a hospital. He has been working in two offices for the last few years. She goes for two days to each. She is receiving 700 euros per month from both. She is self-insured for social security contributions and healthcare services. She does not mind working hard because she needs a higher income.
Description of the integration initiative implemented
Currently, she is trying to work as a live-in domestic worker. She is aware of the fact that live-in domestic work has more demands, but she seeks higher payments. She will sacrifice her time and fixed schedule to earn more.
Personal story
At first, she worked as baby sitter a child for five years. She was working for five days for 7 hours for 150 a week. Via the same employer, she found work as a caregiver of the mother of the previous employer. She was working for 8 hours and was paid 750 euros. Later she was introduced to a cleaning service via a compatriot. She considered this work quite tiring and stayed only six months. Via her husband, she found two offices where she goes to this day, and she is pleased with her employers. She cleans the offices, and then she leaves. She works from 7 am to 2 pm in each office. She is paid 650 euros. Over the weekends, she is ironing clothes for two households for 30 euros. Sometimes she cleans and cooks for them. Now, she is trying to work as a live-in domestic worker because she believes that the payments are higher. The only issue that holds her back from that decision is their children. Generally, she turns for advice to her husband and tried to address any issue alone. She is not participating in any migrant community association. She walks and plays with her children in parks and chats via social media with a relative in Bulgaria in her spare time.
Analysis of the initiative and individual story
She believed that all have changed due to her persistence to endurance to work. In the beginning, it is not easy, but now she has got used to the work routine. Initially, she was anxious to complete any task, as she felt the pressure of the responsibility to retain the work. Currently, she cleans multiple offices.
Results and Impact
Interviewee 10 mentioned that she was expecting to face difficulties. In the beginning, she was unaware of the demands and gave everything she got to her productivity. However, once she learned Greek, everything went better. Her foremost goal is to make money to support her children, not to allow them to face the same hindrances she had faced.
