Guest worker from Tajikistan: I make $700 in Minsk (photo+video)

A… black Belarusian is sawing tiles in the building site of a metro station in Dzyarzhynski Avenue. He did not agree to talk to us at first, but his colleagues said that he had stayed in Belarus because of a woman and had received citizenship.

I noticed a lot of foreign builders in Rosa Luxemburg Street. They were afraid to talk at first, but then they said that they had come to work here.

"We have been working here for three years. I do not want to go to Moscow and I won’t if they do not send me there. I worked in Moscow for two months and I did not like it. We will stay here for about two years. I send money to my family in Uzbekistan. I get 400 dollars and I send the sum to them”, - says a foreman from Uzbekistan.

They are working for a Russian company and their boss is also from Uzbekistan. The company pays for their lodging and food so they can afford to send their wages home.

"Everything is free, we live in Kryzhouka. Belarus is good; I have been working here for three years. There are also workers from Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova”.

I noticed a young guy from Tajikistan near a lifting crane. He has been working as a crane-operator in Minsk for two years. He said that he had met a girlfriend in Belarus and was thinking of staying.

"I was sent here from Khanty-Mansiysk. It is okay here. I’m still thinking if I should stay. I probably will”.

The guy makes about… 700 dollars a month! The company pays for his food and accommodation. Tajiks, Kyrgyz and Uzbeks are working nearby.

"I used to work in Archangelsk before; we are on a business trip here. We make 500 dollars a month. We like it here, the city is good. We like the weather. Moscow is also good but I like it here too”, - said one of the workers. The wages are sent to the family. Another worker confessed: “If they offer citizenship to me, I will agree to stay immediately”.

Chinese workers are building a residential area in Lyabyazhy.

There are also a lot of them as a Chinese company is in charge of the construction.

Turks are building “President-Hotel” near the Administration.