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It must be them



In the compartment of train for Donetsk, the Ukrainian sitting in front of me said "By the way, Donetsk has a lot of Cameroonian residents" I asked him "Cameroonian?" Then he went on "Yes. They are foreign workers. It's not unusual these days"
Well, it's not unusual as he said. But my point was not there. I was surprised because I suddenly heard the name of country far away in Africa. According to him, Donetsk was famous for mine shaft and steel industry. They worked for it. However I couldn't find out the reason of the special relationship between Donetsk and Cameroon in his story.
Now, I remember a same kind of case on job seeking Internet site of China. The advertisement which named on people from certain country like "English Teacher, Nigerian welcome"
It's interesting. But, why Nigerian?


We can't make it sense as far as living in Japan. But for many countries in the world, Africa is a big supplier of work force now. Remember, I met many African at Chung King Mansion in Hong Kong. They were standing by for entering main land for getting job. Of course, many Chinese companies look for work forces from abroad. For job seekers, it means there are lot of chance to get a job down there.
After all, "Protecting domestic economy with closed market" this theory must be out of date. In the depression, if the government just protects domestic industry and slams the door to foreign workers and companies, their economy mast be getting smaller and smaller. It's possible that Japan will be involved in bigger market and Japanese cannot find a job without speaking English or maybe Chinese.


Now back to Ukraine. As I had heard, Donetsk had a lot of foreigner. It's not only Cameroonian but also Russian, Turkish and foreign college student from middle east countries like Syria or Lebanon. Not only for Donetsk, actually I met a lot of foreign residents in other cities too. Iraq, Palestine, Israel ... they were from diverse countries. Generally when I heard the word "the cross section of culture and people", I easily remember the name of Turkey. But either to Ukraine.


Whenever I saw the people with full of vitality, "If a savor stimulating depressed economy and society must be them, foreigners" I thought so.

Dec. 2009



Today's piece
" Portrait " Donetsk , Ukraine 2009




fumikatz osada photographie