They are also Parents They Are Also Parents - A Study on Migrant Workers | Page 58

CCR CSR | A Study on Migrant Workers with Left-behind Children in China | August 2013
CCR CSR | A Study on Migrant Workers with Left-behind Children in China | August 2013
Meanwhile, he says, if he and his wife move back home with the children, Case 2: One family in three places feels bad
there is a shortage of employment and their incomes would drop – and Ou Haisheng, 42 years old, parent of two children
besides the eldest daughter is doing well at school in Zhuhai.
Ou Haisheng has two daughters. The eldest is 16 and is in the hometown
Liu’s family home in Sichuan is very old and in a state of disrepair because the studying at junior high, and the youngest, 11, is in fifth grade with the family in
couple have lived in Zhuhai for many years, and have only gone back a few Zhuhai. Ou's life revolves around his children and his family.
times.
Ou’s hometown is in a small village in Guangzhou Province. After graduating from
“Our youngest daughter and son do not know what their hometown is like, elementary school, he left to work at construction sites, factories, the railways,
and only have vague impressions,” says Liu. “If we really did take the children and later in a kitchenware factory, where he learned to work the lathe, enabling
back home, they will need time to adapt to the home environment, which will him to do his current job as a lathe mechanic. Ou and his wife work in Zhuhai.
also affect their education. We don’t know what to do.”
The family, in other words, has to face some tough choices to make.
“Before we worked in order to eat better, but now we work in order to put the
girls through school and feed them,” says Ou. “If we don’t work, we can only
Liu looks on the bright side, saying that, while grades are impacted by eat, and have no spending money because there’s nowhere to sell farming
learning environment, it’s still up to the children to make their own efforts, produce.”
“No matter where they study, we need to cultivate children’s ability to learn,”
he says, adding: “The school at our hometown has also produced many The husband and wife’s annual income is around CNY50,000, but there is little
university students; if a child knows the importance of studying, they will left after overheads are taken into account. Also, because they cannot take
shine anywhere.” care of the grandparents at home when they get sick, there are sometimes
family conflicts.
When asked about responsibilities of business for the development of
employees’ children, Liu and his wife said they felt that the possibility of such “In the early years, when I use to call home, my dad would tell me a lot of
a thing happening was remote. According to Liu, NGOs such as the Zhuhai things in detail, but the phone bill was expensive, so I would tell him to just
CCCF in the industrial park where they work have given them a lot of help, tell me the major points, just a summary, and he would get angry and hang
including childcare, tutoring, and parent-child activities, “Our family really up, which would make me feel bad.”
needs this help,” says Liu.
Working away from home affects the elderly and the children. “If the kids are
56
[Interview Notes] A month after the above interview, Liu and his family not with us, there’s no one to take care of them, and this has an impact on a lot
decided to return home. “Liu Xin [his second daughter] cannot enroll in first of things: our relationship becomes distant, we can’t manage issues at home
grade in Zhuhai. She cannot attend a regular school. I feel that this place does when we are away, and after a long time away the home situation becomes
not seem to accommodate outsiders, so we had to return home. We went unclear,” says Ou. “The children just read and watch TV with their grandparents,
away to work in the hopes of earning a little more money, for the [children’s] they don’t socialize with others, and the old people seldom communicate with
future! However, the current situation has changed our thinking.” the children. They never ask the children to do anything. If the kids listen to
57