Migrants quite often change their view of the country they so dreamed of moving to
"My name is Alena Dolgova, I came from Kyiv, and I have been in Prague for four years now. Finding myself in a country, starting life from a clean slate, with a teaching background behind me, I faced the fact that I am, in principle, nobody. I have no acquaintances, no friends, no status that I had in Ukraine. So I am developing and expanding my social circle, including through meetings like this. This is very important to me." As Radio Prague notes, Alena is a psychologist by profession, and she moved to the Czech Republic following her husband, who was offered a job in the country.
"People end up in emigration for various reasons. Some do it consciously, but most, it seems to me, not exactly by accident, but unexpectedly. No one prepares for it their whole life; it happens, I think, within a year, two, three. And of course, no one knows exactly what will happen to them in a foreign country. So it's no surprise that various forms of depression occur," says Anton Litvin, the author of the project "Anonymous Migrants." He himself moved to the Czech Republic a long time ago. He associates the greatest difficulties in the adaptation process with the fact that migrants are overwhelmed by a large number of problems simultaneously.
"It's a lack of money, the issue of work, endless visa extensions and other legal matters, dealing with officials, family and romantic relationships," lists the pitfalls of emigration, Anton Litvin. "I wanted to make it clear to the people who come to us that their problems, no matter how severe or personal they may be, are in principle almost all typical. This is typical and it can be solved. We have all been through this."
"They are the same migrants as migrants speaking other languages. They struggle with the same issues – adaptation, stress, depression, some personal crises," adds Yulia Gurnevich, one of the four Russian-speaking lecturers – psychotherapists, whom I found preparing for a session on the topic "They," dedicated to the Czech mentality.
"The goal is for us to see that 'we' are 'they,' just a little different. We will talk about stereotypical thinking, about prejudices on the topic 'Who are they?', 'What do they do?', 'What do they think about us?'," says the young woman originally from Belarus, with emigration experience not only in the Czech Republic but also in Poland.
Yulia refuses any generalizations about the Czech mentality but is ready to share what she has heard: "My acquaintances would probably say that Czechs are calmer, more balanced, they love sports and like to go to their 'chalupas.' They have a slightly different temperament, more calm. That's what I hear."
The co-organizer of the project is the town hall of Prague 4 district, and it is mostly funded by a grant from the Czech Ministry of the Interior.
"The project for the integration of foreigners is very important to us. Prague 4 district is one of the largest in the Czech capital, and we are well aware that some of our residents come from other countries. That is why we try to support them. The 'Anonymous Migrants' course is part of a larger project called 'Living Together in the Four,'" explains town hall representative Anna Chvalova. "The main guarantor of the project is the Czech Ministry of the Interior, which supports the integration of foreigners in the Czech Republic and therefore covers 90% of all costs associated with the 'Anonymous Migrants' course. The remaining 10% was provided from its budget by the Prague 4 town hall."
"Our biggest fear was that it would turn into a 'lonely hearts club.' That is, pensioners would come, those with nothing to do, who might even be doing well, just for tea. But fortunately, no, mostly young people come. And with real problems, no one is afraid to talk about them," continues Anton Litvin.
If moving abroad is fraught with such 'passions,' then one cannot help but ask Alena Dolgova another question: if she, given the experience she already has, were again faced with the choice – to go or not to go – what would she do?
"I would decide to go. I really like the Czech Republic. Sometimes I think that maybe in a past life I was Czech, because I really like the mentality of Czechs, I really like their calmness, their philosophical attitude towards many things. And indeed, having moved here from Ukraine, despite the stress and worries that emigrants face, I generally feel much calmer and more comfortable in this environment."