Moldova: A country without parents

Tanya moved to Italy five years ago where she works as a caregiver for the elderly and earns about 850 euros ($960) a month. But her three daughters — Karolina, Sabrina and Olga — were left behind in Moldova. They were 8, 9 and 12 years old, respectively, when she left.

The girls initially lived alone at first, even though the oldest was only 12 years old. After a time, they began living with various people, to whom their mother regularly sent money.

Now the eldest daughter, Olga, is finishing high school in Chisinau, while Sabrina and Karolina have joined their mother in Italy.

For the past seven years, Katalina's parents have barely been home. Her parents found jobs in Moscow and later moved to Italy after receiving work visas. Katalina's grandmother lived in a different village, but she eventually moved in with Katalina and her brother, Victor, to look after them.

Ottilia was barely a year old when her parents left Moldova. Her mother and father paid 4,000 euros each to get into Italy without proper documents. The girl didn't see them for five years and lived with her grandmother, who she called "mom." A year ago, Ottilia's parents managed to get a residence permit in Italy and brought their daughter to live with them.

Lilia moved to the West with her husband eight years ago. The couple had to work hard to repay the debt they took on to pay for the illegal border-crossing. Their daughters Nadia and Alina were 9 and 6 at the time.

Lilia sent parcels to her children three times a month. The family is reunited now, but it has come at a high price — the "visas" for the children cost 1,500 euros each.

German photographer Andrea Diefenbach tells the story of Moldovan children in her book "Country without parents," published in German by Kehrer-Verlag.