interpreter for the Scottish Court service and the NHS, which allowed me to meet many people, who
haven’t yet settled in the UK, often during the difficult moments of their lives. I wondered why they
chose to leave their country, chose an existence,
Anastasija Soldatenko
I started this project because of my job as an
rather than a life, surrounded by unfamiliar
What did they get instead? Are there moments of happiness that make up for the
long hours of work? If greater financial stability comes with great difficulties and new challenges to face everyday - why
are they still here?
why are we still here?
culture they will never be a part of. Who are those people? What did they leave behind?
According to the statistics, between 140 and 250 thousand people have left Latvia since the country joined the European Union (a significant number for a country with the less than 2 million citizens). More than a half of them have moved to the UK. But who are those people? What did they leave behind? What did they get instead? Are there moments of happiness that make up for the long hours of work? If greater financial stability comes with great difficulties and new challenges to face everyday, why are they still here?
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Is it our fault that we were born in a wrong country?
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“Every time we feel like complaining, we think “
of what our lives would be like back home.
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We left our country because we wanted our children to have a future. In their twenties - and they had no hope of getting a job, finding a flat, starting a family.
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The only problem we have here is the community - they’ll rather see us leaving than coming.
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Our grandson says he’s happy to go anywhere, as long as it’s not back to Latvia.
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He’s got friends over here.
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We waited for 2 years to get this flat.
“We’ve been through difficult
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times, we won’t deny that.
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For two months our whole family slept in a bus. There was no water, so we had to go to a nearby river to wash ourselves. It was in November.
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“ Why do we constantly
need to defend ourselves
against complaints thought or imagined?
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based on what somebody
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The problem is that most immigrants don’t know their rights and are easy to take advantage of. After all we’ve been through we finally know how to defend ourselves.
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We don’t want to live in a big city. We have a dream about a house in the countryside. We don’t even want to buy the house, all we need is 600* sq m of land
and we’ll build our home.
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* Typical size of a piece of land for used to build a house and/or allotment garden in the USSR
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At times it got so difficult we just wanted to give up and leave
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We’re glad we never did
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The majority of those people have families to care for. They’re willing to do any job, any hours,
as long as they can feed their children
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There’s merit in any kind of honest work. We don’t mind doing anything, as long as we get a fair payment and get treated like people.
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“ I used to save up
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for months just to replace a pair of shoes. Here I could afford buying a pair of shoes every day
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You’ve got a great camera there. I am buying one for my daughter next week.
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“ Here I can afford a life.
“ Believe me, if you find yourself in a situation when you have debts
no one but you can pay,
you would do
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the same thing
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Of course, factory workers are cheerful.
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Imagine doing a 10h shift - at the end you’re physically exhausted, if you’ve also spent this time thinking how miserable your life is, you’ll just end up hospitalized with a depression. Besides, they’re happy that they actually got a job.
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I don’t mind paying any amount of taxes. As long as after paying them I still have enough money to keep going with my business. At home this wasn’t possible.
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There were 3 “waves of immigration”. The first to leave where people who had built something at home but wanted to achieve more. Then went were those who were struggling to find a job - they didn’t care what type of work they had to, they just wanted to earn as much as possible. The ones coming now are… well everyone else. Someone who came out of prison, realizes
there’s nothing to do in Lithuania, goes abroad. What annoys me though is how being from one country we’re all seen as being the same. When I shop at Morrisons, the security guard always follows me around
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just because I’m Lithuanian he expects me to steal something.
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They don’t have an arts & crafts class in the primary school, which isn’t good for a child’s development. But we also help them remember their traditions. You should’ve seen how beautiful it
*Orthodox Easter, 15th of April
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was when we celebrated Easter*.
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My son keeps telling me to give up teaching. He says I’m working too much. But I don’t want to sit home after I finish work - when this is what I enjoy doing.
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“ We’re not afraid to speak English anymore.
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I think it’s a great opportunity the European Union has given us. All the people who went to work abroad - what would they do back in Latvia? What would happen to them if they didn’t have a chance to leave?
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But if back home I could simply do my job I would return immediately.
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“ I like the diversity here.
On my previous job the previous job my favorite colleague was Nigerian. My best friend was Chinese. Such a thing wouldn’t
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happen back in Latvia.
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The world is changing, the society is changing and we have to get adapted to that, instead of clinging to our past and our roots.
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And then, I realized that the answer was there all along - it’s the sincere smiles of children always appearing next the troubled faces of grown-ups. They aren’t here for their own happiness but for that of their children. There are of course many others, those whom I didn’t meet, because they valued their own comfort too much and deiced to go back. But those who stayed behind have given up their dreams of a career, home and society to they could belong to. It’s the first generation of immigrants that has to work through all the challenges and difficulties, not ever being able to fully adapt to the new country - so that the second generation of immigrants, their children, will be the ones to see the happy future.
To all of you, mothers and fathers,
husbands and wives
finding the courage to smile
and the strength to carry on
during the difficult times
doing the most difficult jobs
day after day,
I would like to say “thank you”.
Just as your children will say one day:
now they might not see
the real extent of your sacrifice
but after many years
they will understand.
You are heroes.
You are beautiful.