SHOCKING CONFESSION FROM A SERBIAN MAN: How i became a social case from a leading expert in States!

"I went to America in far 2000, only 18 year old. It was right after the terrorist attack and everybody were scared and in standby to check you up before hiring you. I continued going to high school. and right after i finished the University in Virginia with High honors, straight A's, which is 10 in Serbia. I completed the course for computer engineers", this is how Marko P. begins his, in the first glimpse, happy story, who went from Serbia to USA in order to find a better life. However, it all crashed down. We convey his entire confession:

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Drive a truck around EUROPE for 2.000 euros wage, but there is only one requirement!

IN THE BEGINNING IT WAS GREAT, BUT THEN...

"I was immediately hired in a strong company as an assistant engineer, where i was told if i do well,  i will have starting salary of 40.000 dollars a year. In that time, my parents were working in factories - mother in a assembly line for packing medical tools for the medical centers, father was assembling vacuum cleaners. While i was a high school boy, in 2005, my parents bought a house of 270 square meters, for around 320.000 dollars, monthly installment was 1.700 dollars. I made progress in the job and advanced after only one year - i became leader for programming in my office and i had 10 workers below me. My pay was 65.000 dollars a year.

We lived nicely, and then, 2008 arrived. From then it all went crashing down - companies started closing, construction works stopped, and the number of working positions started reducing. 

I WAS LEFT WITHOUT A JOB EVEN THOUGH I WAS A GREAT WORKER

I had no job at the end of 2010 because our company fired 20.000 workers and opened new offices in India where it hired twice as many workers in comparison to fired ones in States for 12 times smaller wages. I was without a job, living from the state for almost a year. And then 2012 came when my father got sick with cancer.

I kept receiving 1.200 dollars a month from the state because i did not have a job, mother had to find another job because her factory was shut down and she started working as a baby sitter for 1.500 $ a month. Father started going to the treatments and chemotherapy which costed 10.000 dollars a month, and since mother was not registered the job and father had no job we had to take the medicines, because state insurance did not cover everything he needed and my father did not have enough money for the therapy. 

Mother and i worked overtime and were moonlighting - we gave everything for the medications because one  injection costed almost 10.000 dollars, and every trip to the ambulance at least 3.500 dollars. After fighting the sickness for 2 years, my father passed away. We we financially depleted, we lost a house and our cars were taken because we could not afford to pay the installments, on top of everything, we owed to the state 600.000 dollars.

Foto: Tanjug/AP, Profimedia/Tetra Images Edit

BECAUSE OF THE TRUCK DRIVING MY LIVER AND HEART DETERIORATED 

After fighting for two years with father's illness and searching for a job withing my branch and working in many warehouses for 10 dollars an hour, i decided to ask around and start driving a truck, because i can get good money there. The boss promised to pay for my driving school but i had to drive for him for two years minimum. When i signed the contract with him he said that i had to drive at least 4.500 miles per week to get payed or i would lose my job. I worked a lot a slept less. After eight months i managed to buy a truck of my own in cooperation with him. I had a 6.000 wage a week + insurance + all other stuff, which would come to around 1000 dollars when everything is payed out. The truth is, truck drivers earn a lot of money, but know that trucks are standing still for almost 4 to 6 months when its winter, because there is no work then.

Foto-Ilustracija: Tanjug/Dušan Aničić

Many do not understand the risks of being a truck driver - because if you make one mistake, you can end up in prison for 10 years minimum. To keep my self awake, i drank energy drinks, because of which my heart and liver deteriorated. 

I was never home, i was constantly on the road because i had to pay off the debt of my late father's treatment and the taxes which amassed to 140.000 dollars.

HAPPINESS IS NOT IN THE MONEY, HAPPINESS IS WHERE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY ARE... 

2015 arrived, in the autumn the stock market went down and it all started going downhill. I earned some money, payed off some part of the debt to the state, and now the debt for the treatment should start. Many of you can't wait to come, to realize their american dream, and now i will go to continue driving the truck and try to gather some money to make ends meet. The life is not easy with average paycheck of 2.500$ apartment is 800. food 600, if you want to eat healthy. Phone around 150, health insurance around 270, car gas minimum 200 dollars, car insurance 150, rat installment 300 dollars. The dream is in Serbia, where your friends are, family, church, graves, village and happiness.

(Telegraf.co.uk / S.Z.)