By some estimates, approximately 800,000 Kyrgyz — about 15 percent of the population — have left their families to work in Russia and other nearby countries in order to earn higher wages, most of which will be sent back to their relatives in Kyrgyzstan as remittances. According to the World Bank, in 2011, remittances accounted for 29 percent of the Kyrgyz GDP, making Kyrgyzstan the third-most remittance-dependent country in the world. Driven by poverty, parents must often leave their children with neighbors or grandparents when they go abroad, as well as in institutions if there are no alternatives. Children’s homes now house 11,000 children in Kyrgyzstan according to My Family, a UNICEF-funded NGO in Bishkek. The parents usually take menial jobs abroad, often as street cleaners or domestic workers.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 04:23:07 +0000
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