Lela Georgia

Lela left Georgia in 2002 because she could not earn enough to support her family. She had often worked as a child-minder in Georgia, so a friend connected her with a woman who needed a nanny in Ireland. The family organized her visa and paid for her travel. Lela earned enough that she was able to contribute to her nieces’ and nephews’ education.

Lela lived with the family for ten years and they became like her own. She didn’t speak English before she travelled to Ireland but slowly started to teach herself. She sometimes attended a Georgian church while in Ireland, and she met other Georgians living in the area.

In 2012, Lela’s brother became sick. Lela decided to move back to care for him, but did not have the money to travel. A man at her church told her about IOM, but Lela was very nervous to ask for assistance because she was worried about being deported. When she finally met the staff, she learned that she would not be deported and could receive the cost of her travel to Georgia.

Lela returned to Georgia one month after her meeting with IOM. Saying goodbye to the children she had minded was very difficult, and she still speaks to them every week through Skype. About one month after she returned, she said that “stillness and sadness” set in. In Ireland she was “busy, busy” all the time, but in Georgia she is caring for her brother. She is working with the IOM Job Counselling service to find employment because she wants to stay active.

Lela also applied for reintegration assistance, to begin farming her family’s land. It has plenty of fruit trees and an area for growing vegetables, so she can use it to earn a small income. Lela used the grant to contract a gardener for one year to look after the grounds and plants. When the fruit is ready to harvest, he will gather it and prepare the products for export or local markets.

When asked whether she would advise other Georgians to look for work abroad, she said, “Just now it is very difficult abroad as well…Every country now have a problem (with unemployment). In Ireland it is a problem as well.”

Lela is still adapting to life in Georgia, and misses the family she lived with in Ireland. But she is glad to be able to help her brother, and restore her family’s orchard.