MATERIAL Y METODOS

Literature on Polish migration suggests that individuals are prompted to move by financial concerns or employment prospects (e.g. Fomina & Frelak 2008; Sales et al.

2008; Ryan et al. 2009; White 2017). The adolescents’ accounts of why their parents had moved mirrored such reasons.

In the two sessions at St. Ferdinand’s, I asked the girls about their coming to the UK.

The following account is that of Krystyna, a fourteen-year-old who has been in the UK for six years.

Extract 6.1 (S#2: interview at St. Ferdinand’s – Sara (SY); Krystyna (K))

207 SY: […] do you know why your parents came.

208 or your Mum?

209 K: um. yeah. it was because of work my Mum didn’t work at this point of time 210 and my Dad worked at a place where like it was like damaging his. well it 211 wasn’t damaging his back. but he was kind of getting injured in his back and it 212 was getting like too heavy for him/ and at that stage he couldn’t find another 213 job in Poland so the like money situation was getting like = worse –

214 SY: = ok

215 K: = and then my Dad’s cousin called him up and said if you came to England 216 this week you would be able to get a job at where I work/ and so it was a very 217 quick like choice/ and my Dad came because obviously we didn’t really have 218 money so he came/ and then my Mum and me we wanted to come a year 219 later so we’d give my Dad some time to like earn the money and like save 220 and stuff/ but then I had my Holy Communion so my Mum said I might as well 221 stay in Poland for that/ so we ended up staying in Poland for around three

222 years and then we came to my Dad

Krystyna’s account of the family’s move to the UK presented above contains certain elements which chime with the literature. Firstly, the move was prompted by a lack of money and employment prospects, and happened quite suddenly. The way it was facilitated by a family member, echoes findings which emphasise the role played by social or familial networks in the decision to migrate and in finding work (Ryan et al.

2009; East European Advice Centre 2013). Another aspect of the move is that her father came first, with Krystyna and her mother following some time later: this reflects the pattern of family migration cited in Lopez Rodriguez (2010, p.339). Krystyna’s account also reflects the idea that Polish migrants often migrate with uncertain plans (Drinkwater & Garapich 2013).

A similar story to that recounted by Krystyna is told by respondents at Grovesham. The following exchange is from an interview with Tomasz and Ryszard, both aged twelve, and friends since attending the Polish Saturday school in Fieldstone when they first arrived.

Extract 6.2 (S4: interview with Ryszard & Tomasz – Sara (SY); Ryszard (R); Tomasz (T))

629 SY: ok. do you know why your parents moved to this country?

630 R: financial problems. probably/ because in Poland they don’t usually – it’s. it’s 631 like you’ve got enough just to live/ you don’t have enough. like good = car – 632 T: = yeah

633 SY: same reason. or –?

634 T: er. my Dad came here cos his friend was coming to England and then my

635 Dad was like. yeah. it’s just a year. nothing more/ yeah. a year! he’s ten years 636 in England now!

637 SY: are you glad that he came. or –?

638 R: (…)

639 T: er. I think genuinely I am glad. cos it’s like we have some more money. now

Ryszard appears quite clear as to why his parents moved to the UK: ‘financial

problems’ (line 630); this also appears to have been a motivating factor in the migration of Tomasz’s family (line 639). Tomasz condenses the account of the move into a few utterances, yet unpicking them gives a certain insight into the story. While the move was motivated by economic reasons, Tomasz explains that his father was incited to come by a friend who was also migrating (line 634); the move was initially seen as temporary, but then extended. Tomasz exclaims: ‘a year! he’s ten years in England now!’ (lines 635-636). This resonates with the idea that ‘transient migration can become extended to long-term stay’ (Ryan 2008, p.66).

Yet Tomasz also appears to mock the way the stay extended from the originally intended ‘just a year’ to ‘ten years’ (line 635). Given that Tomasz was only four at the time of the move, it may be that he is replaying a story, borrowing from the voices of older members of the family as they respond to his father’s migration: ‘it’s just a year.

nothing more/ yeah. a year!’ (line 635). However, when I ask him if he is happy about having moved, Tomasz insists that he is ‘genuinely’ pleased with being in England, as the family have some more money (line 639), although again, it is unlikely how much he would have been aware of the family’s lack of money when they were living in Poland.

While the stories above highlight the father’s role in making the preliminary move to the UK, in other accounts, it is the mother who appears to have initiated the migration. This

reflects the shift towards female-driven migration noted by Pavlenko (2001), also echoed in Polish studies (see Ryan 2008; White 2017).

Fifteen-year-old Anna, whom I interviewed at St. Ferdinand’s with Krystyna, moved to England at the age of five with her mother, Dagmara, and her older brother. Anna tells the following story about her migration:

Extract 6.3 (S#2: interview at St. Ferdinand’s – Sara (SY); Anna (A))

169 SY: […] ok. um. can I ask about

170 why your parents decided to come to England? do you have any ideas why? I 171 mean do they talk about it?

172 A: my Mum studied English in university in Poland and she. she always liked 173 England and she always wanted to come here/ so she came here with some 174 friends for a few weeks. to like earn some money and. erm. she didn’t really 175 wanna – like after seeing what England was like. she didn’t really wanna stay 176 in Poland so she came – she. she ended up staying about a year here = and 177 –

178 SY: <interrupting> sorry do you know when that was?

179 A: it was. erm. 2004 180 SY: ok. sorry!

181 A: and then she came back to Poland and my Dad didn’t wanna come to 182 England. he wanted to stay in Poland. so then we came to England 183 SY: ok fine/ so are they sort of separated. or –?

184 A: yeah. I think it was partly because she wanted to go to England he wanted to 185 stay in Poland

In Anna’s story, her mother acts on her own initiative. Having ‘always liked England’

(line 172-173), Dagmara came to the UK ‘with some friends’ (lines 173-174) in 2004, the year that Poland acceded to the EU. Although Anna gives few details, it appears that Dagmara travelled without her family to look for work in the UK. On returning to Poland, Dagmara noticed the difference between the countries; within a couple of years, she had moved to London with the children, and separated from her husband, who still lives in Poland.

It therefore seems that both the more traditional trend of the father coming first, and the more recent practice of mothers making the move from Poland are reflected in the accounts given by the adolescents. Another key aspect of their stories was that of moving several times, and this is explored next.