“It will help me in life, that my life will be better”: Future Challenges for Children of Migrant Families
| Author | Michal Ganz‐Meishar,Doly Eliyahu‐Levi |
| Published date | 01 June 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12357 |
| Date | 01 June 2018 |
“It will help me in life, that my life will be
better”: Future Challenges for Children of
Migrant Families
Doly Eliyahu-Levi* and Michal Ganz-Meishar*
ABSTRACT
Not much attention has been paid to the children of migrant families in the receiving Israeli soci-
ety. Our research focuses on how migrant children cope with future orientation and challenges
how those children perceive their future course of life. This study speaks with the voices of the
children, as represented in their personal stories and interviews, and reveals their interpretation of
their futures, their integration in the receiving society, and the significance they accord to the
events, activities and experiences they have undergone. Our findings reveal that in the area of
future life course the children expressed a positive approach to school, to matriculation, to work
and fulfilling future ambitions. In contrast in the area of existential life course children expressed
a negative view and most of them reported that it is difficult for immigrant families live in Israel,
and therefore they would prefer to migrate to another country.
INTRODUCTION
The migrant population includes thousands of children of a low socio-economic status who experi-
ence many complex difficulties which affect their needs: migration difficulties, not knowing the lan-
guage, cultural differences, social difficulties, their parents’struggles to acclimatize, uncertainty
regarding their futures and the future of their families, as well as fear of deportation. Aid organiza-
tions and researchers estimate that many of them make their livings mainly in hotels, restaurants
and domestic work (Kemp & Raijman, 2003, 2008; Lev Ari, 2009; Moshe, 2014; Ravhon & Lev
Ari, 2011; Sabar, 2008; Yaron, Hashimshony-Yaffe & Campbell, 2013).
The concept ‘migrants’in this study refers to non-Jewish migrants who arrive in Israel as a result
of political, social and economic circumstances: labour migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
(DellaPergolla, 2012; Raijman, 2009; Schnell, 2007).
The research took place in a large city that today is a centre for migrants. Their presence in the
city has become part of the multicultural ethnic landscape and they can be seen everywhere: in
main streets, leisure areas and educational institutions (Schnell, 2007). They live in poor surround-
ings with a lot of violence and suffer from hostility and racism on the part of local Israelis. We
experienced an example of intolerance on one of our visits to the neighbourhood, during which a
local Israeli resident shouted at us: “You’re exactly like them, you cooperate with ‘them’and
because of people like you they are here”.
Although migrants are pushed into the poorest spaces and live in terrible conditions, sometimes
without even a roof over their heads, they have created social meeting places for themselves in an
* Levinsky College of Education, Israel
doi: 10.1111/imig.12357
©2017 The Authors
International Migration ©2017 IOM
International Migration Vol. 56 (3) 2018
ISS N 00 20- 7985 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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