Slovenčina 
English 
Marika lived with her family in very poor conditions. With a little child and unfinished education she could not find a job that would help her to improve her bad social situation. When the neighbour Jozef came with the job offer in the United Kingdom, she started to think about leaving Slovakia. She hesitated for a while since the job condition was not to take the child with her. However, the vision of a better life and sufficient amount of money for the family convinced her to go.
Mr. Lagarde left Philippines for Slovakia to earn enough money for the livelihood of his family. During more than six years abroad he had several jobs – he worked as a waiter, a driver or a warehouseman. Due to problems with his employer he was left without a salary and a residence permit in Slovakia. In that moment he decided to return home and asked IOM for help.
Story of a 31 year-old Sheremet Beqiri begins in Kosovo, where he lived with his family at his cousin´s apartment. Unfortunately, they could no longer stay at his place and so they decided to leave the country. On their way to Eastern Europe, Mr Beqiri and his family were arrested in Slovakia.
Rahima was only 18 years old when she became an orphan in war-torn Afghanistan together with her 15-year-old sister Laimah. The situation in the country was bad and so the sisters decided to flee to Iran where their uncle lived with his family. Without any money and documents they managed to arrive to Iran after many days of tortuous journey with the help of smugglers. Upon their arrival the sisters’ uncle pledged to repay the debt they incurred during the journey. Even though they succeeded to escape from Afghanistan, their life in Iran was not easy. They felt committed to their uncle who took care of them as much as he could.
Siblings Adam and Majka left for England together with Robo who was their relative. He suggested to their mother that he would accommodate both of them at his place and would help them find a job through an employment agency. Their mother trusted him enough to allow her children to go with him.
“I would like to work in the health sector and help people,“ says 27-year-old Nadif with a hope in his voice. He is worried that he has had to rely on the help of others until now. He had to leave his home in Somalia when he was only 10. As he admits, unlike many others, he was lucky to come to the refugee camp in Eritrea together with his entire family. The life in camp was modest and monotonous and the conditions of an Eritrean dessert made it also very harsh.
Fereshteh was born in 1971 in Afghanistan, but war drove her out of her home and she fled to Iran. Here she spent more than half of her life. She was accompanied by her future husband when escaping to Iran, later their close relatives joined them in the country. They spent the first few months in a refugee camp, later they rented a small apartment. But life in Iran was difficult. Neither Fereshteh nor her husband managed to obtain legal documents for stay or work.
Ms. My left her native Vietnam and departed for Russia to help her sister. Ms. My lived with her son for some time in Moscow where she worked in a garment factory. “I did not have enough money and experience to do my own business,” she said.
Mr. Xuan Quynh lived in Slovakia for more than four years. Initially, he aimed to work in the United Kingdom in order to earn money for his family. “I only got stuck in Bratislava as I could not afford to pay for the whole trip,” he said. He did not have legal residence permit in the country. “It was difficult for me to live in a foreign country without my family, my wife and children. Since they really needed me, I decided to return home,” he added.
Mr. Minh left Vietnam in 2008 and he came legally to work in Slovakia. He was employed as a factory worker. In order to get this job, he ran up debts and when the factory closed down due to the crisis, he found himself in a hopeless situation and without any money for returning home."When my residence permit became invalid, I earned some little money working as a construction worker or as a waiter in restaurant, but I did not feel good," he says.He could not work, travel or go shopping without the fear of being arrested.
