My mother left for Italy, because you can’t get a good job with a decent salary in Moldova, interview taken by Info-Prim Neo to O. M., student aged 16

[ - What country are you living in? Do you know?] Yes, of course, in Moldova. [ - Do you know Moldova’s age?] I don’t know. [ - How old are you?] I will be 16. [ - In your imagination, how do you see Moldova?] I think it’s an independent country. [ - Do you like living here?] Yes, of course. [ - Could you compare Moldova to a mother?] Yes, because we live in this country, and its soil feeds us with the best things it has. Like a mother, it gives us everything it has. [ - Where are your parents?] I’ve seen my father only on a few occasions. I don’t know where he’s staying. My mother left for Italy. [- Why did she leave?] For the same reason everybody is leaving – to work, to make money. In Moldova you can’t really get a good job, with a decent salary. [ - What is she doing there?] She is minding a sick paralysed girl. In fact, my mother is a librarian. [ - Why isn’t she working now at a library in Moldova?] Because the salary is small. It’s about 300 lei, not more. [ - Do you miss your mother?] Yes, a lot. Although I saw her not too long ago, when she came on holidays, I miss her a lot. She has been actually away for 4 years now. [ - Would you like to go to Italy?] Yes, on holidays, but not to live there. I wouldn’t change Moldova for any country. I am comfortable here. The homesickness wouldn’t leave me alone anyway. I know it from my mother. [ - How do you think, how many years would it take your mother to return home for good?] I don’t know. Maybe 2-3. When she returns home with some earned money, she will look for a job here then. We’ll do some repair works, we’ll buy everything we need for the house – we will live better. Maybe, I will go to the university. [ -How do people live there in Italy?] From what my mother said, people there live better. Every person has in his house autonomous heating. Here in Moldova, not everybody can afford that, but there even the poorest person has autonomous heating and everything he needs in the house. [ - How do you think, when would the people here live like in Italy?] I don’t know. I have no idea. Maybe by ... 2015 (she is laughing) [ - Do you think there will be a time when the Italians would come to work here, as your mother and many other Moldovan people do it in their country?] I don’t think so. Some of them have never heard of such a country as Moldova. It is a small country for all that. [ - Do you wish to get married, have children?] Yes, of course. [ - When you have your own children, could you leave them and go to work abroad?] No. I don’t think I could. I know how it feels to live without mother so many years. I wouldn’t leave my children alone. It is very difficult to stay without parents.