Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Ukrainian Migrant's U.K. Tragedy
Excerpts from BBC News article "Migrant's tragedy hits home in Ukraine":
Western Ukraine in the late 1970s and early 1980s seemed as good a place as any in the USSR to bring up a family. Roman and Svetlana had two daughters - first Natalia, then Zoryana.
Then history intervened.
With the social and economic upheaval brought by the end of the Soviet Union, living standards plummeted in Ukraine.
Roman found himself earning the equivalent of $50 a month with two teenage daughters heading for higher education ...
Roman made the journey thousands of eastern Europeans have made - travelling illegally through western Europe until he found himself in Britain.
For the family back in Ukraine, life got tough. But Roman was soon sending back nearly $1,000 a month for his daughters' studies.
Then earlier this year disaster struck.
Roman, 47, was found dead in the basement of the Cafe Royal in London where he had been working as a kitchen porter.
An inquest in the British capital last week recorded a verdict of accidental death, saying the Ukrainian had slipped after taking a shower, adding he had just finished two consecutive 12-hour shifts.
There were claims that Roman - unknown to his employers - had actually been living in the basement to save money.
...
Western Ukraine with its huge collective farms and specialist factories in Soviet times now has little to offer to the working-age population.
"People go abroad because they can't find highly paid work in their home countries," said Svetlana. "The money they get abroad might not be much, but in their home countries it goes a long way. It's not just Britain people go to. There's Italy, Spain, Portugal - wherever people can get to."
Excerpts from BBC News article "Migrant's tragedy hits home in Ukraine":
Western Ukraine in the late 1970s and early 1980s seemed as good a place as any in the USSR to bring up a family. Roman and Svetlana had two daughters - first Natalia, then Zoryana.
Then history intervened.
With the social and economic upheaval brought by the end of the Soviet Union, living standards plummeted in Ukraine.
Roman found himself earning the equivalent of $50 a month with two teenage daughters heading for higher education ...
Roman made the journey thousands of eastern Europeans have made - travelling illegally through western Europe until he found himself in Britain.
For the family back in Ukraine, life got tough. But Roman was soon sending back nearly $1,000 a month for his daughters' studies.
Then earlier this year disaster struck.
Roman, 47, was found dead in the basement of the Cafe Royal in London where he had been working as a kitchen porter.
An inquest in the British capital last week recorded a verdict of accidental death, saying the Ukrainian had slipped after taking a shower, adding he had just finished two consecutive 12-hour shifts.
There were claims that Roman - unknown to his employers - had actually been living in the basement to save money.
...
Western Ukraine with its huge collective farms and specialist factories in Soviet times now has little to offer to the working-age population.
"People go abroad because they can't find highly paid work in their home countries," said Svetlana. "The money they get abroad might not be much, but in their home countries it goes a long way. It's not just Britain people go to. There's Italy, Spain, Portugal - wherever people can get to."
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