Ines Costa
Ines Costa, 30, Lisbon:
I had been told the number 714 was the bus I needed to get to the centre of Lisbon. I am pushed for time, with a lot on my mind, and I jump aboard. After ten minutes, I begin to feel nervous. My GPS is telling me that we are heading out of town. »Not this on top of everything else!« I am at the end of my tether. I have been on the road for two months, in a different city every two days, coordinating appointments, seeking out interpreters and wi-fi. I had just been on the phone with the press officer of the Guardia Civil in Melilla, who does not speak any English, and then replied to two emails. I am carrying a flash unit plus the medium-format equipment and tripods on my back. I have an appointment with the director of the Goethe-Institut in 20 minutes. And now the bus is going in the wrong direction. »Why am I doing this to myself? I can't take it anymore. I'm calling off the whole project.« I look around for help. Diagonally across from me sits a young woman who looks as though she might speak English. »Yes I do.« – It is the right bus; the route just goes in an arc. »I'm a nurse and I'm working in an emergency room,« she says in English. »My hospital is near the place you are going to. I bring you, I help you. – Don't worry!« My guardian angel is called Ines, and is 30 years old. Two days later, I take her portrait. Ines works in the Serviço de Urgência, the accident and emergency unit, in one of the city's central hospitals, where the serious cases come, from road traffic accidents to medical emergencies. Ines is highly qualified and responsible for intensive care.
The director of the Goethe-Institut in Lisbon later tells me she thinks it is good that I have taken a nurse's portrait. A great many of them attend her language courses to learn German. They all want to leave the country. It's a disaster for Portugal! Ines also says she would prefer to leave. Even though she has a master's degree in emergency medicine and has been training other nurses for a number of years, she earns just €1 000 per month. And food is more expensive in Portugal than it is in Germany. »If my boyfriend didn't have to stay in Lisbon, I would leave – I'd try and go to Scandinavia. There are simply no prospects now for young people here.«