Czech-Vietnamese fear return to poverty
By Bo Xuan Hiep
Prague - Jan 8 - IJS Global - Nguyen Van Hanh left his village in a rural northern part of Vietnam in 1998 in hope of escaping poverty and hunger.
Hearing of opportunities to make a good living in the Czech Republic, he gave it a try. Ten years later, he is one of thousands of Vietnamese here - the third largest immigrant community in Czech Republic. Like many of them he is concerned that the financial crisis may catapult him back into poverty.
“We are very worried about the future as more and more firms are closing due to the economic turmoil,” Nguyen, a 45 year-old factory worker, said. “It means we would be confronted by the mass unemployment.”
The Vietnamese community, at more than 60,000 people, ranked behind Ukrainians (almost 132,000) and Slovaks (about 76,000) at the end of 2008, Czech Statistical Office figures show.
Vietnamese started settling in Prague during the communist period when they were invited in as guest workers by the Czechoslovak government. Hanoi encouraged its citizens to go, with intention that the migrants would return home with skills and training.
Following the collapse of communism in Czechoslovakia, many decided to stay on. Some set up their own businesses while others found jobs as the economy expanded. They integrated more and more deeply into the community of the Czech Republic.
But the downturn is cutting deep. “Life is getting tougher and tougher because many workers have been laid off due to the economic turmoil,” Nguyen said.
“Approximately 12,000 foreign labourers are (expected to) lose their job by the month end. Other 68,000 workers’ labour licenses will have expired within six months,” a Czech government spokesman said.
News reports say that one major source of jobs at the industrial park in Plzen, North Bohemia was laying off staff. Workers in the Panasonic factory were laid off for two months, but no one could be certain if they will be able to return.
“The situation is getting worse. Some workers spent thousands of US dollars to come here to work. Some staff have just started working but was sacked right after that. Even worse, some people even had yet to begin work but was rejected because of the companies’ cutback,” said Helena Duchkova, who works in an aid centre in Prague.
Many of those Vietnamese workers are heavily in debt and cannot return to Vietnam. They had to borrow sizable sums in order to migrate. Many came on business visas but were able only to find non-skilled work.
“The Vietnamese community here are willing to do whatever jobs which jobless Czech people refused to do - public hygiene staff, for instance,” said Marcel Winter, the head of Czech-Vietnamese friendship association.
Many of the Vietnamese settling in the Czech Republic come from the poorer, agricultural regions of northern Vietnam and lack a formal education. As a result, the jobs open to them tend to be low paying.
“The salary from such civic jobs was too low for these Vietnamese to be able to pay back the huge debt at home,” said Tomas Haisman, an official with the refugee and migration section of the Czech government.
To make things worse, the cost of living has increased just as wages have fallen.
Nguyen Thi Vuong, 33, has worked in a medium-sized vegetable shop in Prague for four years. “I can only earn enough for our daily expense here and send a bit of the salary to my family. I don’t know what would happy if I get sick and cannot afford the treatment,” she said as tears rolled down her face.
Migrants recount the story of one worker who was unable to pay off his wife’s debts back in Vietnam. He committed suicide leaving his wife with behind three children.
A few say they would like to relocate to Germany where there is more opportunity for earning money but it is difficult, if not impossible, to get a German work visa. Some took the risk and tried to sneak in.
Do Van Cuong, 23, was one. “We let our lives decide by destiny, really. We were all loaded into the truck like cattle when we were trying to immigrate to Germany from the Czech Republic.” His attempt, three months earlier, ended in failure. He was caught and immediately deported back to the Czech Republic.
Despite everything, few wish to return home.
“No…no…no…!” said Nguyen Van Hanh, the factory worker. “It is still better to stay here earning a little money than to go back home having little idea at all what to do to survive.”
