Jill, 32<\/strong>, arrived in Croatia in April 2025. While she was in college studying tourism in the Philippines, her older brother worked to support her studies. Upon completing her education, she was now the one responsible for helping the family, including her brother, who started studying dental technology. In Croatia, she works in a bakery, describing it as physically demanding but fair. She is still learning Croatian, which she finds challenging because of the pronunciation, but her colleagues encourage her to master it. Croatia usually isn\u2019t the first stop abroad. Many foreign workers from Southeast Asia work for years in different countries before getting a visa permit to work in Europe. Both Maria and Jill previously worked in the Middle East, where conditions were more challenging due to cultural and safety concerns. Jill still vividly recalls the sound of sirens and chilling explosions while staying in Jordan. She describes Croatia as a dream despite hard living – a place where, even from afar, she can connect with her roots through meals, music, and friendships. \u201cI find it hard sometimes to differentiate between Croatians and tourists. You all look the same\u201d, she smiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At a recent international seminar in Brussels, participants were asked to write words they identified with. While their counterparts from Western Europe primarily recalled their individualistic traits, Croatian participants tended to identify more with their family roles – they were aunts, mothers, brothers, and sisters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is no coincidence. According to Hofstede’s Individualism vs. Collectivism Index, Croatia is classified as a moderately collectivist society. Similarly, the Philippines and Nepal display collectivist orientations valuing group support and togetherness. Filipinos typically live and sense it through the kapwa<\/em>, a concept that means \u201cshared identity\u201d or \u201cfellow humanity\u201d and stems from the idea that the self is not separate from others. Nepalis share similar values, respecting social harmony, empathy, and community life. In practice, this often looked like communal farming (bayanihan<\/em>), neighborhood help, peaceful protests, or self-supporting networks of labor migration in the 19th\u201320th centuries in Hawaii, California, and the Middle East. While high relationality supports the well-being of foreign workers in Croatia today, it may also give rise to less positive consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Filipino culture, utang na<\/em> <\/em><\/a>loob<\/em>, the debt of gratitude, binds generations. The eldest pays for the youngest. The family member who works abroad sometimes \u201ccarries\u201d the family. Lauren Soriente<\/strong>, a Filipino American, was told by her grandfather, \u201cYou will pay for your sister\u2019s college. That\u2019s how it was for me.\u201d, as reported by s Los Angeles Times<\/em><\/a>. Meanwhile, she already had student loans, and inflation was on the rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 1995 study found 27% of Filipino Americans experienced major depression, triple the U.S. average. A 2017 paper<\/a> showed Filipino youth at a higher risk for depressive symptoms than Chinese peers. Dr. Joyce Javier, a pediatrician at Children\u2019s Hospital Los Angeles, has documented elevated suicidal ideation among Filipina teens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Croatia, the burden is quieter but real. Migration Research Institute in late 2024 conducted a survey<\/a> of 400 foreign workers in Croatia (including large shares from the Philippines 38% and Nepal 26%). Reports show that the majority of respondents financially support families in their countries of origin. Maria is one of them – she survives on only \u20ac200 a month. The rest goes home. On my question about how she makes it through the month, she laughs, pointing out that she often shares meals with others: \u201cWe help each other out. Everyone brings something.\u201d Jill helps her family as well. \u201cI want to support them, but also invest in my own future\u201d, she notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jill has a day off, telling me of her dreams over a cup of coffee: \u201cWhile I\u2019m young, I want to be in Europe. But in the long term, I want to save money to make investments on my own, maybe even build my own farm.\u201d Meanwhile, Maria dreams of a reunion with her daughter and husband, and a life under one roof, possibly even in Croatia. Ferhan, on the other hand, sees Croatia as a stepping stone for moving to other European countries, potentially Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their dreams sustain Croatia\u2019s boom, with the Croatian Chamber of Economy estimating <\/a>that in five years, at current GDP growth, the economy will need 450,000\u2013500,000 foreign workers. \u201cIf we don\u2019t integrate them, we risk parallel societies,\u201d – it echoed at the Croatian Chamber of Economy conference earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/resources\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Croatias-Silent-Dawn-01-768x1024.jpg\")
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWary Hands Across Oceans<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTowards integration<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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