Sans Papiers by Alice Bloch Nando Sigona Roger Zetter

Author:Alice Bloch, Nando Sigona, Roger Zetter [Alice Bloch, Nando Sigona, Roger Zetter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Emigration & Immigration, Human Geography, Developing & Emerging Countries
ISBN: 9780745332611
Google: TE6lMAEACAAJ
Publisher: Pluto Press
Published: 2014-06-20T05:28:01+00:00

Managing Without Work

Not everyone was working; some people had decided not to work as it was too risky. However not working was contingent on having alternative ways of surviving. Terry, for example, lived with his mother and three brothers. In the quotation below Terry (21, M, Zimbabwean) reflects on his decision not to look for work:

I don’t even really try to look for work because [you’re] going to be asked the same questions and because you don’t have the answers, what’s the point. For me though, because I’ve got my mum to support me, it err sort of lightens it up. But in a situation where she was gone, [you know] that would be a whole different situation, so now we just thank God for what we have.

For those without close family members to support them, the assistance offered by friends was sometimes crucial for subsistence survival. During periods out of work, friends helped with food, rents and loans and in some instances even the payment of remittances. These arrangements were embedded within the immediate co-ethnic group and were based on trust and reciprocity. Though many of the friendships were new, less than two years old in the cases of Wendy Wang and Jess Chang, the importance of these networks and the trust that dictated these arrangements was evident. Jess Chang was living in a shared house and was sending money to China to pay off a loan incurred as a result of her migration journey.

I sometimes borrow money from my friends to send home … we always try to help out among themselves … if a friend doesn’t trust you they won’t lend you the money … It’s those who trust each other that offer support. (Wendy Wang, 24, F, Chinese)

I need to send money home. Normally each time I’d send £800 and this will get you 10,000 [RMB] back home … If I haven’t enough money I’d borrow from my friends. I’d give them the money back when I get my wage the following week … Whenever I ask them to lend money generally they’d say yes. Of course I’d lend them money when they need help … We help each other like this. (Jess Chang, 21, F, Chinese)

However, it’s not always easy to rely on the support of friends and for some young people this dependency on others was very problematic:

There has been a period that I did not work. During that time my close friends supported me. I was under severe stress and suffering from that. (Necirwan, 30, M, Kurd from Turkey)

Always aware of the precarious nature of their work and vulnerability bought about by being undocumented, most of those interviewed had saved money and continued to save money as an insurance against periods out of work. According to Fedia (29, M, Ukrainian), ‘everyone tries to put something aside’. Not working means spending savings, as Levko (24, M, Ukrainian) noted when he said, ‘I had a little savings … for rainy days.’ The strain is evident

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