Posted on 04/11/2009 9:54:17 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Soviet relics feel the pain as Russian crisis deepens
Luke Harding reports from Dushanbe in Tajikistan on how Moscow's recession has seen the sacking of thousands of guest workers from the central Asian republics. Now they are going home to poverty - and their governments are under threat
Luke Harding
The Observer, Sunday 12 April 2009
Until last month, Zafar Kasimov was working in a cement factory in St Petersburg. Now, however, he is back home from Russia and scraping a living in Tajikistan, central Asia's most hard-up nation. "My Russian boss told me there was no more work," Zafar, 26, said. "I used to earn 10,000 roubles a month (£230). Now that's finished. I've come back because of the crisis."
Instead of lugging heavy sacks of sand and cement, Zafar now works at a roadside stall in the mountains above Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe. Under a blue-and-white awning, he serves plates of fried wild mushrooms to passing drivers. The scenery is enthralling - green pasture and fresh alpine air. But the pay, Zafar concedes, is terrible. "There are no jobs here," he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Ping!
Wish we could shed our illegal aliens like this.....Instead they get welfare one way or another. We should offer $2000 and a free plane ticket home for all who gtfo
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