Galery

1

Marina Nikolova

Valeria, you are the host of a show in the Athens municipal radio, however your journalistic experience is mainly in the press. For nine years already you publish your own newspaper – “Kontakti”, isn’t it strange to start such a business here in Greece?

I came here in April 1997 and for two years I was working as a domestic assistant in a house. In the year 2000 the only Bulgarian newspaper was “Svetlina” by Rositsa Pontida. The previous year I had started to work with her as printer’s reader. At a certain point of time Rositsa had to return back to Bulgaria and the newspaper was closed. On one side this was the main reason – I liked the idea to start my own newspaper and on the other side – I am a philologist by education. In Bulgaria I have experience as a teacher for 23 years and my last years were in a youth detention center. The writing of a newspaper of course is very close to my major.

The interesting thing is that when I started the newspaper I was still working as a domestic assistant. My family became friends and after the old lady I was taking care of they offered to help me start issuing the paper.

According to you what are the chances for a woman foreigner to become successful in Greece?

I can tell you particularly for a newspaper. I had absolutely no problem here. On the part of the Ministry of Press – I simply went, filed the necessary documents and they told me – “very well madam, you can start from tomorrow”. The problem after this was the tax office, which had to check the place and of course to be kind enough to issue a permit to start my activity. I face a lot of resistance and reluctance until this permit was issued. 

Do you think that if you had stayed in Bulgaria you would have succeeded easier?

Of course not. In Bulgaria I would have never had the opportunity to publish a newspaper. There I would have remained a teacher. I do not deny that I like working as a teacher. I said I was working in a youth detention center in the last few years and this is a rather specific work, a lot more different that it is in a normal school. There the relationships are different and I felt fulfilled when I was working there. These girls were showing love, when you give them love and understanding. They were showing also great attachment.

And now here abroad, what makes you feel fulfilled and continue issuing your newspaper? As far as I know there is a financial motivation…

Only the work. This is a self proof. You started it and now you cannot quit. I will be completely honest with you – there is no profit from the newspaper. I haven’t received any subsidy from the Greek government or the Ministry of press. We are only women here and that is a struggle to go on creating this product. And I like giving the finishing touches to my newspaper.

Do you think of yourself as successful and that you have managed well until now? What are your plans for the future?

For the newspaper – yes. Even though if I had some financial assistance I would have done it a weekly paper again. Now it is published every two weeks as I am dealing now also with a translation agency.

When a person goes abroad it seems that person has the opportunity to start fresh. Is this an advantage or a disadvantage according to you?

To start fresh in the sense that you start something completely new…

Yes, because nobody knows you…

You enter in a new environment. Yes it is an advantage because it gives you the opportunity to prove yourself as a new person. Even before yourself. I had never expected that I can do this and become the person I am right now. Because it is one thing to be a teacher – you are a subordinate there. We were never given the opportunity to work as we like, as we felt we should, as we thought is right. While here – particularly in the newspaper - you are absolutely free. If you work as a domestic assistant it is completely different. You cannot prove yourself…

However you managed to start as a domestic assistant and got to the level where you publish a newspaper and host a radio – show…

This was an opportunity I took advantage of. May be if this opportunity never came, I would have still been working as a domestic assistant.

Do you think that the opportunities for the Bulgarians who had come here in the beginning – in the first years after the changes were greater?

Of course. There was a greater chance, a much bigger choice, there weren’t so many immigrants. Now I don’t know how many are the Bulgarians in Greece, however also the intellectual level is much lower and the age limit is much higher.

Does living abroad make people more opened towards the new things, does it make them more tolerant and does it provoke their interest for interaction with the foreign culture?

Yes, with the only remark that the more time you stay abroad, like it is in my case, you the more you lose touch with Bulgaria. You cannot adapt there anymore and for the people our age it would be very difficult to find a job there. We cannot adapt again. We go there for a short time just to see our relatives. Or to take a break. To find out what the situation is over there. I am very interested in the business in Bulgaria as well, the changes that are happening. I have in my newspaper four pages on real estate.

Just in brief – how do the Bulgarians live in Greece?

We have to separate the Bulgarian community into two categories. The women here and more specifically those women who work in other people’s homes are more. Their age is between 47 and 70 years old in most cases and their everyday life is subject to the fact that are at the constant disposal of the employer. They only have one day a week – Sunday when these women could feel free.

The rest are forced to work whatever they find. According to a survey between the Bulgarians in Spain it was determined that 62% of the Bulgarians with good education – high school and university do not at all work in the field of their majors. It is the same thing here. Very few are the people who have managed to find their place and work what they like.

But there are also young people here…

The young people prefer to find accommodation and a job with eight hours work day and then have their own private life.

Besides financially, does emigration favor in any other way the people?

Again it depends on the status they have. This depends on the job they do and the spare time they have. They could continue to educate themselves, to prove themselves in the spare time.

According to you what has changed in the everyday life of the Bulgarians here after the acceptance of Bulgaria in the EU?

The fear that the police will extradite them especially if they are illegal immigrants is gone now. Now people feel more secure.

It is being discussed the some countries from the EU like Spain and Great Britain will continue their ban on the access of the Bulgarians and Romanians on the labor market. Do you believe that Greece will follow their example?

I expect that this will become clear in January – February. However the people living here for many years like me for example know very well the way of looking at life of the Greeks – that until the last moment it is not sure what will happen. I would like to stress on the fact that some of the titles of the Bulgarian papers are being interpreted in the wrong way here, for example: “The illegal immigrants are offered free medical assistance”. There are no Bulgarians “illegal immigrants”. We are European citizens. Some might not have the right to work, however they can reside here and if they have an European health card from Bulgaria, then they can be treated here for free. The definition “illegal” is already wrong. Other than that I hope that Greece will open its labor market.

Do you think that the Greeks are tolerant people?

Greeks hold on their stand, however they are opened to foreigners. Of course they are very tolerant. Sometimes may be even more than necessary. For example Omonia is the central square of Athens, the face of a five million city and it should be in a completely different style, to have a different vision…

You constantly work with Bulgarians, you meet a lot of new people. Do they plan to go back in Bulgaria?

It would make sense to go back if they were young people. However the age range here is 45 years old and older. And the new coming women are coming because Greece is close. For the more civilized countries we cannot even talk – a woman well on years would never even go there.

What are the dreams of the people here, their goals?

It cannot be called dream. Coming here in the foreign country is caused by something. And of course in most of the cases the reason is financial. In order to help the family or the children and most of all the grand children. Whether it would be to buy an apartment – you know that Bulgaria is one of the countries taking one of the first places in terms of percentage of the population owning an apartment. Everybody wants the child or the grandchild to have his or her own apartment, then comes the car and at the third place comes the education of the children. They is why they work. That is why these women who have come here at this age will not go back to Bulgaria as 600 euro – which is the minimum wage which a domestic assistant receives is 1200 leva… and in Bulgaria at the age of 55 she would not be able to receive 1200 leva anywhere.

Because in you work in the radio you communicate with people from the other nationalities who live in Greece, where do you think the Bulgarians are placed on the total map of the nationalities here? How are they different?

Especially after the acceptance of Bulgarian in the European Union we could say we have some privileges here. I mean this in the sense that the attitude towards us has changed a lot already. Me particularly I never had any problems with a xenophobic attitude with one exception when I was certifying the newspaper in the tax administration.

In the radio people are very tolerant. We have no restrictions we are not put in certain tracks in order to be told exactly what to do. We are left to work alone. This shocked me in the beginning.

Is there anything you would like to say?

We are all disturbed by this economic crisis which affected both Greece and Bulgaria. It is not necessary to be calmed down by Bulgaria that it will not affect us and we will not feel it. On the contrary, we are in a constant contact with our relatives and we understand this very well. The question is to create an opportunity and to give a chance at least to the young people who are here to be able to go back. However these young people are comparing and they will probably not return unless the same conditions are offered to them – especially in terms of payment and career. Currently the statements of the employers are that they could start working for 600 leva for an expert and if he speaks at least a little bit of English and has some computer skill the upper limit is 1200 leva. This means between 300 and 600 euro. I don’t believe that young people will come back in these conditions. When you go abroad you start to appreciate yourself.