SIXTEEN-year-old Irena Voitovichi, who went into hiding after she was separated from her mother when Svetlana was deported back to Moldova in September, has finally been granted permission to stay in Cyprus.
Her 34-year-old mother is expected to join her some time in the early New Year.
“I am just so happy. I’m not illegal anymore and I’ve been allowed to go back to school. I don’t have to be in hiding. I’ve had a really good Christmas,” she told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
The teenager, who had been wanted by immigration authorities since September 6 when her mother was deported, showed how a young girl’s determination to stay in the only country she has ever known as home can move mountains.
She said she was given the all clear by the Interior Minister to return to school three weeks ago and told her mother would be allowed to return too.
“I’m proud of myself too because I said I would never go back to Moldova and now I don’t have to. I’ve been allowed to go back to school and my mum will be here next month and things will be back to normal,” she said.
Irena said her nightmares had also stopped and she had found her smile again. Her voice on the telephone sounded lighter than it had in months.
“I really enjoy going back to school and all my friends think I’m crazy to actually want to get up and go. I’m really quiet in class and everyone is wondering what is wrong with me but it’s just that I can’t believe it. I can’t believe this has finally happened and that I’ve been allowed to stay,” she said.
For months, the teenager had stayed indoors in hiding spending her days sleeping, at the playstation, watching TV and surfing the internet.
“I’m just glad this is over,” the teen said.
“Christmas could have been better because my mum could have been here and sometimes I stop and think about my home and my room and how things were before. I know that all this can be arranged though and that I just have to be patient,” she said.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail from her home town in Moldova yesterday, Irena’s mother Svetlana said she felt a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
“For me the best thing was to hear that my daughter has been allowed to go back to school. I didn’t think it was fair to ruin a child’s education like that, not to give her a chance to finish her schooling. It was the best Christmas present ever,” she said.
Moldovan educational authorities had told Svetlana that if Irena returned to Moldova she would not have been able to finish school and would have had to start all over again.
The 34-year-old, who in October was rushed to hospital after collapsing in her sister’s home due to stress, said she had received the best Christmas present knowing that her daughter was finally calm and happy.
“Irena is a brave girl and never gave up her fight to stay in Cyprus. I don’t know all the details of how it happened. I’m sure I’ll find out when I come back,” she said.
The mother said she had exhausted all avenues to have her case heard by authorities in Cyprus.
“I know now that there are good people in Cyprus and that they opened my file and saw that I have rights. They understood my pain and the situation and treated me like a human being… I have now calmed down so much. When I got the news it was as if I’d been cured from this terrible illness. I’d been so worried and then the spell was broken and I was free.”
Svetlana was deported four months ago on orders from the civil registry and migration department. Her plea to be given a few days’ reprieve to convince Irena to go with her, after the teenager had slipped out of their Larnaca flat before immigration could find her, were ignored.
Irena, knowing an order to hold and deport her has been issued, remained in hiding moving from one friend’s home to another, always trying to keep one step ahead of the authorities.
She first contacted the Mail a day on the eve of her mother’s deportation. She had repeatedly said she would not leave Cyprus, which had been her home since she joined her mother here in the summer of 2001.
The family’s saga began when Voitovichi was arrested after her naturalisation application was rejected in April. She had been living and working in Cyprus since 1998 when she moved to the island with her Greek Cypriot husband, whom she has since divorced, and had been told by her lawyer that she was eligible to apply for long term residency under new EU regulations.
According to the law, third country nationals who have been living and working legally in an EU country for over five years can secure long term residency status. Holders of this status are then free to travel without limits within the 25-member bloc and have virtually the same rights as citizens.
The Interior Minister was not yesterday available for comment.
