‘Voices’ of left behind children in Tajikistan

Abstract

Tajikistan’s economy is highly dependent on the remittances sent home by migrant workers, making it the top recipient in the world with a contribution to GDP of 50 percent. The continuity of labour migration, mostly to the Russian Federation, raises important questions and concerns about the general wellbeing of the left behind children. Children left behind are worthy of study in their own right, because they are often the most affected due to their relative immaturity and lack of social power in Tajik society. Using a child-centred ethnography, these children had an opportunity to express their feelings and understanding and to help us see the many ways they experience their parental absence and their lives with the extended family. Being left behind in Tajikistan has become ‘naturalized’, as a result, the hardships faced by the children are not seen. The results revealed that these experiences are influenced by the gender of the child. If girls were more open to expressing their feelings to me, boys, on the other hand, are influenced by traditional and stereotypical views on masculinity and expressing feelings is not ‘manly’. Girls' are subject to excessive amounts of household chores as well as taking care of other children in the household. The findings of my research further show that children experience abuse of various forms, withdrawal, insecurity and loneliness. Yet, they also showed the potential for resilience in the face of adversity using many ways to cope with their situations like crying to feel better, seeing school as a safer space than home, social networking and spending time with friends/neighbours