German radio uncovers some home truths.
As Morski writes on the 1st of July, 2018, the German public radio Deutschlandfunk has released an interesting series of five contributions which talk about and deal with the specifics, including the very many hardships, of life on the Croatian Adriatic. With this series, the aforementioned German public radio covers issues such as the Croatian-Slovenian border dispute in the Gulf of Piran, the anti-fascist legacy, the challenge of elementary education on the islands, and how tourism is steadily becoming the only economic sector in the country in which one can find a decent job.
Deutschlandfunk also includes a statement from one man who tells the only story that if you want a job, you’ve got to have connections, and if you want to start a business, you need to have connections too, reports Index.
He regrets the fact that many young people in Croatia end up in college and then they can’t get a job in a profession they desire or at least in one which is well paid, so they have to work in tourism as a waiter or a maid. The same man has been dealing with apartment rentals to tourists for the past five years.
It is also stated that Croatia has been negatively affected by the mass exodus of its residents, mostly from Slavonia and continental Croatia, but that young people from the coast, to whom jobs and potential opportunities are much more readily available, are also beginning to leave in search of better wages and work positions abroad.
One part of the series also describes the functioning of the school on the island of Susak, worryingly attended by just four students. The four kids go to a school built 150 years ago, when more than a thousand people lived on the island, while sadly, only about eighty remain today. On the entire island of Susak, just six children remain. Otherwise, English language teaching is done via Skype, and the only teacher of English is also a restaurant owner.
The German radio series also goes on to point out the poor ferry connections with the mainland due to the cancellation of ferry and catamaran lines, claiming it to be one of the most important reasons as to why people give up living on the islands.
The most interesting contribution to the German series is the story of one 94-year-old resident from the island of Zirje, who, back during the Second World War fought against the occupiers as a Partisan. It is also noted that a good portion of the island population is made up by the elderly, who often lack the proper, or even adequate care.
