Mongolia

A mother and two children returned from Austria to Mongolia. After making a difficult decision there were happy to be reunited with their family. With help of their family members they managed to set up a small store. Their income became sufficient to provide for the family, including the necessary medication for the children.

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Ms D. came to Austria with her three children (two of them minors). The family had sold their belongings in order to finance their journey to Austria. As Ms D. and two of their children are ill, they hoped for better medical care, better education and a chance for a better life. The father of the children remained in Mongolia. Ms D. made the difficult decision to return voluntarily to Mongolia because she realised that their chances of getting asylum or residence permits were very low, and a legal stay in Austria seemed impossible. Furthermore, Ms D. and the children continued to miss the father terribly.

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Following their return in late 2018, the family lived with the father’s sister. Despite a lack of space and the difficult situation, the family was very happy to be reunited. Ms D. started working on a reintegration plan with Caritas Mongolia. Being a professional masseuse, Ms D. wished to establish a massage saloon, but soon understood that the reintegration budget would not be enough to cover this business venture. After discussing the issue with her case manager at Caritas Mongolia, she decided to invest her budget into a small convenience store in the countryside. They rented a building that was divided into a shop and living space for the family. Ms D. took out an extra loan to pay for the goods she now sells in the shop and is currently repaying the credit. This is the first time Ms D. is a shop manager, so it took some improvisation and getting used to at the beginning, but she soon got the hang of handling the business. During weekdays Ms. D.’s parents support her to run the business successfully.

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The family managed to pay for the medical assistance of the children with the father’s salary. The children are all well-reintegrated in Mongolia and go to school, but also remain in touch with their school friends and teachers from Austria.