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In front of me
18 February 2010
When we met him, Emil was living in a temporary placement centre in Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova. This is his story:
My name is Emil. I was born in Chisinau in October 1992. When I was five years old, my dad used to send me to buy vodka. My mother was against it. They would argue a lot. Then my mother took a knife and stabbed my father 17 or 18 times. When I saw this, I ran to my neighbour and told her what had happened. He called an ambulance. The police came. And my mother was sent to prison.
After that I live here in Chisinau until I was 14. Then I ran away and left for Odessa. I lived there for about five and a half months. When I first arrived there, I lived on the railway station. I didn’t know where else to go. I went to McDonalds and saw a guard man and I started to help him. He gave me money and food and offered me to go to a boarding institution.
I went to this institution. I liked it for one month, but then I ran away again. I met a group of boys and they taught me smoking. At first I didn’t like it, but then I started taking drugs and sniffing glue.
We lived in different cellars and divided ourselves into different groups. Some of us begged. Some of us stole. I asked for cigarettes, food, begging. This way I learned how to survive. Then I started to steal. My life wasn’t very good.
In February 2008, I was brought back to Moldova to a sorting centre. I was there fore three months. When I came back I had a choice to go to school or to trade school, but before I made my choice I said I wanted to see my brother. But when I went to visit him, it was to his funeral.
After the funeral, all my documents were taken. I had a choice to go to my aunts, but I could not find her, so I was put in a training school for mechanics. I stayed there for a year and then I was brought to this place.
On a typical Saturday, we get up, have breakfast, and after that we play sports, play cards, we smoke, some guys try to earn money, we watch TV, we play games. I have friends to talk to here. But when someone makes me nervous, I get angry. I can only beat him on the nose and then everything is fine.
This institution is better than boarding school and there should be more places like this. Some of the institutions I was in was only for study. I didn’t study for a long time. I was in and out of institutions and then on the streets. Institution. Street. Institution. Street.
I will tell you that life on the street teaches you how to live and how to survive. Many people who live on the street, though, when they are taken to institutions, because they know no other life, they don’t understand and it’s not interesting for them, they like their freedom. I would tell you that this institution is better than on the street.
In the future, the first thing I want to do is to train for the army, I want to be a soldier. If they accept me it will be great. This is the first thing I want very much.
But I am 17 now and in this institution and no one wants to give me a job. Look at my life. I don’t have money for cigarettes and food. The question is, where can I get the money from? I am just getting by.
