The story of Cătălin Story · installations and exhibitions: LSYTSDA Sala Alterarte
Position · 0:00 / 12:21 SubtitlesOff ES EN GL Transcript 0:00 My name is Oprea Cătălin. 0:02 I'm from Romania. 0:03 I've been here for 26 years. 0:06 I worked as a child in 0:09 my country, when I was 13. 0:13 It was a company… 0:16 It was under communism. We planted onions and peppers… 0:21 And I earned the same as an adult. 0:26 I worked from the age of 13, imagine that, until I was 16. 0:31 And when I was 16, I told my mother: 0:34 “Look, sign so I can get a passport, 0:37 because I want to go abroad. Otherwise I'll leave home.” 0:41 My mother started crying. In the end she signed. 0:44 And at 16, a boy 0:48 of 16, you're stuck at a 0:52 border trying to enter Yugoslavia. 0:58 Alone, unable to speak the language, with no food, there 1:02 for three days. It's not easy. Thank God I got 1:07 into Yugoslavia. I couldn't speak the language. 1:10 I walked around, asking at people's doors. 1:14 I was lucky: I found a very good 1:17 employer and stayed with him until I was 24. 1:22 Always with the same employer. My 1:25 father came too and worked with me. 1:29 Then my brothers and cousins. Because 1:34 you earned more than in our country. 1:40 And when the border began to 1:43 open, you needed a visa. 1:47 I came to Spain. It took me ten days 1:51 to get here on a tour coach, with the 1:56 little children. We stopped in every city: 2:00 Italy, France… After ten days we arrived 2:04 in Barcelona. They left us at 2:06 a bus station and that was 2:09 that. I had no money, nothing. We started 2:13 looking for work. It was very difficult. 2:18 I had no papers, nothing. We found 2:22 two or three days' work and earned 2:26 enough money to reach Vigo. I 2:31 had friends there, but they didn't 2:35 have work either, because 2:39 it was very difficult without 2:43 papers. I kept looking, 2:47 working off the books, carrying drinks for 2:51 nightclubs and things like that, to survive. 2:57 I spent over two years without a job. 3:02 Then I started sorting out my papers: 3:07 finding a company that would give 3:10 you a job offer. And thank God 3:12 I found a man who offered 3:15 me a job and I started working. 3:19 I started in construction, for almost a year. 3:23 Then I found a very big company in 3:27 Vigo. I lived there before. I worked 3:31 for a very big company. The pay was good, but there were long working 3:35 hours. I was there for almost three years. 3:40 When the crisis started, they laid us 3:45 off, the newer workers, and kept 3:50 those who had been there longer. 3:55 The children were little. Cătălina was just over 3:59 a year old. It was difficult because 4:03 she fell ill and I lost my 4:07 job. I had another little one too. 4:11 What happened to my daughter, Cătălina, 4:16 was more serious. I lost my job. 4:21 And we moved from Vigo to 4:24 Ourense. Starting from scratch again. 4:30 I had no home, nothing, with 4:34 two little children. I started looking for 4:39 work. I joined a construction company, worked 4:42 for three months, and then it closed, 4:45 because there wasn't much work. Then 4:49 I joined a tree company, the kind 4:54 that plants trees along city streets. I worked 4:59 there for over a year. Then I thought: 5:04 “Look, this isn't working. I'll get my driving licence.” 5:09 And for the last 16 or 17 years 5:14 I've been in Xinzo, working all over Galicia. 5:20 Without me, nothing gets done. 5:22 It's true, that's how it is. 5:28 Vigo, Ourense, Xinzo, 5:31 Verín, Pontevedra, Lugo… 5:34 Everywhere. I've had a company for 5:37 many years and I work 5:41 for everyone, for the council, for 5:45 all sorts of things. And I keep 5:50 working in the fields, from the age of 5:54 16 to 51. Only field work, apart from two 5:57 or three years at a company, 6:01 a little construction. Everything's fine, everything's calm. 6:05 Honestly, I struggled a little at first. Everyone 6:08 struggles. Some people have it a little easier 6:12 because they have lots of family here: 6:16 they welcome them, give them a home and food. But 6:21 when I arrived in Barcelona, I spent a month sleeping 6:25 outside, in the park. The police would come 6:29 and move me on. I had nobody, because 6:32 back then there were very few foreigners. 6:36 Very few. 6:38 Three or four people from my country was a lot. 6:43 In 2000 there were very few of us. 6:48 Because they opened the border 6:50 and you always had… 6:55 It was a three-month visa. 6:58 And you were… 7:01 You were short of time, 7:03 you moved around a little. 7:04 If the police caught you, they sent you home by plane and gave you 7:10 a ten-year entry ban. That was my fear: that they'd catch me, 7:15 send me back there, and I wouldn't be 7:19 able to leave again. Thank God they didn't 7:23 catch me. 7:23 I was afraid until I sorted 7:27 out my papers. Terrified. I didn't go 7:30 out much; I was very careful. 7:35 If they caught you: “Papers, passport.” 7:41 If your visa had expired, back to your country. They 7:45 took you to the station, and the next day 7:50 they put you on a plane and sent you home. You couldn't come back for ten years. 7:54 Now, changing the subject. If you ask whether I'd 7:58 go back to my country, I don't want to 8:01 lie: it doesn't appeal to me 8:06 at all. I feel anxious thinking 8:10 about going back to my country. Since I've lived 8:13 abroad from a young age, if I go there… 8:18 After two days I say: “I'm going back 8:22 to Spain.” I've spent most of my life here. 8:26 It's been 26 years. Thank God 8:29 everyone has treated me well. Doors are 8:33 open to me everywhere, lots of friends, 8:36 lots of people I know. The 8:40 mayor is like a father to me. 8:44 He's a very good person, he gives 8:48 me work. All the people in Xinzo, 8:53 everywhere… I have no 8:56 complaints. None. My only complaint 8:59 is that I'm getting old. But 9:03 that's all right. Everything's fine. 9:07 My children are here. My daughter is studying, my son works 9:12 with me. I can't say 9:17 anything bad. Life puts you 9:21 through lots of trials, but if you know 9:24 how to handle them, you get through. 9:28 The willingness to work matters. The 9:32 most important thing is your word: 9:37 doing what you say. I can't promise, 9:41 “I'll come tomorrow,” and not turn up. 9:46 “I'll do this tomorrow,” and not do it. 9:48 Then you lose all control. There's nothing like 9:51 a person's word: being honest with 9:55 yourself and fighting to move forward. 9:59 I have three perfect children. Well, not perfect, but… 10:04 They're what makes me happy, what keeps me 10:10 working. I've spent almost 17 years 10:13 in the fields. I work so 10:16 they can go further. Not everyone likes 10:21 working in the fields. One wants an office, another something else… 10:25 I've always told them: “If you 10:29 want a good, clean job, 10:32 study. I'm here for you, I work, 10:37 but you must study so you don't 10:41 spend all day in the fields if you don't like 10:45 it. If you want to dress smartly for work…” It depends 10:49 on what each person likes doing. I ended up working in the fields, and I like it. 10:55 Health, health is what matters most. 11:00 I had a setback; I was a little ill five years ago. 11:06 All I thought about was making money, making money, 11:09 working day and night. Then I had 11:14 that setback and thought: “Before money, 11:18 health is what matters most.” 11:22 You can have anything you want. 11:27 Without health and peace, money is worthless. 11:32 Neither your house nor your car, nor anything 11:34 else. Everything in the world, if they put it 11:37 in front of you, is no use. You look at 11:40 it, but can't do anything. I looked at it: 11:44 I couldn't eat, drink, go out 11:47 or drive. What did I need 11:50 money for? You take it out, look at it, 11:55 but you can't do anything. I changed after that. 12:01 I don't want money any more. Well, we all want it, but I prefer 12:06 health to money. For my children to be well, that's 12:10 all. And God with us, that's what matters most. 