Villages in Search of Migrants

At first glance, Albinen looks like a mountainous village from a photo album. It is located at an altitude of 10,000 feet [1,300 m], and it lies on a mountainous slope that the sun beats. At first glance it looks like everything's okay in Albien. But the problem is that only 241 people live in this village today, and only 25 are under 20.

Therefore, residents of this village have launched an initiative to absorb new residents and demand that a referendum be held for this. According to the images of the village's inhabitants, those who come to live in this village receive a monetary reward. A four - year - old family can thus receive up to 70,000 francs (about 60,000 euros). A referendum is expected to vote for this initiative.

This news took over from the US to Mexico, Spain, Croatia, Vietnam to China. After some boulevardeske media wrote about this idea, the village municipality was bombed by about 3,000 e-mail requests, textes, csapp or facebook, the mayor of Beat Jost shows.

Media dezination

The problem in all of this history is that media have reflected our project in a distorted way, says Beat Jost, who is himself a journalist. This has led many who are looking for a new prospect of living to dream of coming to our village. But it's about an initiative that has not yet been approved by the referendum.

Neither has the reward been written in the media according to certain conditions, so who will come should be under 45. Also, those who are selected must live at least 10 years in Albinen, otherwise they should return their distribution and invest at least 200,000 francs (about 170,000 euros). It also requires that foreigners who want to settle in Albinen get a visa.

So of the 3,000 that have so far applied, no one meets the terms. /DW/