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My name is Legima Leres, I am 26 and I live in Port-of-Prince. To earn a living, I sell phone calls in the streets. This is a service provided by young people who are unable to find a job to make a living and who want to do it decently.

I work every day from 5 am to 8 pm, i.e. about 15 hours of activity. I have no fixed place to do that. I have to walk down the streets to meet people who want to make phone calls. When I am in a place like a public square (park), I sit down to take a break and I drink a little water to refresh myself.

Life Story of Carole Lavoie, Quebec. I was born in a small village of Quebec called St-Prime in 1978. My father was a farmer and my mother worked at home, raising their four children. I was the youngest one.

I went to college for 2 years to study Pure Science until I realized this was not a good choice for me. I decided I had to start working.

Opening my eyes to reality

As I had this need to learn and take up challenges, I took my backpack and went to several English-speaking cities of Canada to learn English. I got many different casual jobs in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. Child care worker in rich families, tourist guide, cashier, barmaid, waitress, insurance assistant, hostess are just a few examples. When I was in those provinces, I went through some hard times; I was even faced with the reality of being homeless.

Yves Rameau Beltéus, 33 years old, Haiti. I come from a family of four children and I am the youngest. I am from Les Cayes, the third largest city in the country. My father died four years ago and my mother, who is already 75, works at home.

In my culture, the oldest and the youngest in the family have lots of privileges. After my father’s death, we had to work things out so that life could continue. Haiti is considered the poorest country in the continent but despite poverty, my parents went out of their way to enable us to find our bearings in life. We all studied at university to improve our condition. At school we were always aware of our situation and it helped us to become what we are today.

I want to give you knowledge

Life was not very easy for my parents, in particular in rain and cyclone seasons. To allow us to go to school, my father and my mother had to carry us on their backs to cross the flooded streets. When my father had to spend a whole month working in the countryside to pay our food and our monthly school fees (we didn’t go to a public school), my mum had to do everything for us to get to school. In our culture, when parents want their children to be part of the intellectual class, they have to make every effort so that their children can finish their studies and have a job.

Maria, aged 20, comes from the town of Negresti, in North-West Romania. She now lives in Baia-Mare, around 50 km away, as she says most young workers find it difficult to find a job in her home city.

“Young people accept jobs without a contract just to have money. It's difficult to survive. The cost of food and rent is really high, so many live at home with their family and rely on support from friends. They are always in debt.”

Many migrate because of bad working conditions

In Negresti, young workers typically work in either one of two big factories, or as shop assistants, in restaurants, bakeries, or as drivers for companies.

“Many migrate because of bad working conditions or poor salary. My mother went to Canada to work for 9 months, but now the money she raised is finished.”

Nadia is 24 years old. She comes from a village around 10km from the city of L'viv in the West of Ukraine. There are 6 members in her family, and her parents work in a small shop selling produce from the region.

Nadia has finished 6 years of study of Philosophy in University. Before commencing her studies, she had hoped to become a professor some day, but has since changed her mind, as she has more interest to work directly with people.

Feeling useful in society

“I think it’s really necessary for people to feel useful in the society.”

Nadia has had different experiences of work, but all work has been temporary. “I once worked in a pizza restaurant for 14 hours a day, with just one 15 minute break. I've also had work in a café, as well as temporary work with an archaeology organisation.”

My name is Teresa, I am 33 and I come from the Philippines. I have a big family: five brothers and three sisters. Before I was born, my father, in charge of maintaining the wheels of big trucks in a big sugarcane company, had an industrial accident. He had his head seriously injured and was never able to work again.

Just one day after the operation, the company’s lawyer took advantage of my father’s extreme weakness to make him sign a document stating that he would not ask any compensation. Today my father is still very weak and finds it difficult to concentrate.

This was my first strong experience of injustice.

Have a dream!

After the accident, my mother, a really strong woman, worked as a cook for wealthy families. She would get up at 3 o’clock in the morning, would prepare some food or buy products from the neighbours to sell them in the city. We, the children, we produced candies and sold them in the surrounding villages on Saturdays and Sundays. I was so ashamed and shy.

The food we had was just enough but my mother’s philosophy was never to allow us to start eating if one of us was missing. We all lived in just one room, packed like sardines, but we were happy. My mother used to say: “Have a dream and find a job one day!”