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Close Topic OptionsWorld Recession Forcing Trini Migrants To Return
- Trinidad, Tobago / Caribbean - Posted: 23rd Nov, 2008 - 3:24pm
Posts: 1 - Views: 773
World Recession Forcing Trini Migrants To Return
What makes them think that here will be any better? I think their minds is on Trinidad of years ago....not right now.
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| The global financial crisis is forcing Trinidadians living in the United States to return home. They are finding it hard to pay bills and, with the drastic increase in food prices, have to put out triple the amount of money for groceries. Even those who are citizens of the US and who have stable jobs are struggling to make ends meet. But the Trinidad and Tobago Government will not be ready when an influx of locals occurs. "Planned migration is imperative to our government, and mechanisms have not been put in place to ensure that these people can repatriate themselves," said UWI international relations lecturer, Raghunath Mahabir. He said if plans were not implemented, locals wishing to resettle here would be forced to move to other Caribbean islands. "Many will be coming back with money to invest. They will not do so immediately, but will look at the investment climate. If it is not good they will not stay," Mahabir said. "I am not sure if Immigration has acknowledged that there is going to be an imminent return of nationals, but if Government wants to tap into these resources, certain facilities and policies have to be developed," he said. Other Caribbean islands, he said, were implementing strategies to attract their nationals back home. "It is actually happening all over the world where Caribbean people are leaving." Giselle Lee Tung has been living in the US for the past 20 years. She is married with three children-a 14-year-old boy and twin daughters, four. She and her family reside in Long Island, New York. When the twins were born, Lee Tung, 40, left her job as an insurance broker to take care of them. This was feasible, as her husband, a New York City Transit bus operator, was making well over $100,000 a year. Life was comfortable for the family of five, up until a year ago. "Our basic needs were jeopardised. What we used to pay $20 for we now have to pay $40 to $60. Things were just getting expensive and we found it hard to make ends meet." It was then she realised that she had to return to work. Her job search started last year and continued into this year. She was looking for somewhere that would have accommodated her being able to spend time with her children as well as one on Long Island itself, but with no luck. The economic crisis did not help either, as thousands of jobs were being cut. "The market for jobs has become saturated, and there is a freeze on hiring within insurance companies," she said during a telephone interview. Lee Tung is returning to T&T with her children by April. Her husband will remain in the US, as he already has a permanent job, insurance and the twins' college trust fund. "I have weighed my options, and this is the most feasible way," she said. But this move could upset her children's lives and could destroy her marriage. "My girls can adapt pretty easily, as they are very young, but my fear is that my son would not. He is now planting his roots in high school and making friends, and the move will uproot him from his peers and family. But this is a sacrifice I am willing make.... |
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TOPIC: World Recession Forcing Trini Migrants To Return