Living with the Roma Our World

They have enjoyed centuries of persecution across Europe. They are

perceived by some to be thieves, drug addicts and even child

traffickers. Why are the Roma people so feared and reviled?

I have come to northern Romania to see what life is like for the Roma

in one small town. I have been given a rare access to a community here.

Is the poverty and abject conditions they live in down to the choices

they have made, or a YouTube discrimination from their fellow

countrymen? -- due to. The picturesque mining town in

Transylvania. Its grand architecture and cobbled squares create an image

of prosperity and tranquillity. But just five minutes away from the

historic centre. This dilapidated communist era building is home to

almost 700 Roma people, many of them children. The residents here are

effectively squatters, living in the kind of conditions that reminded me

of a war zone. A crumbling building with no running water, no toilets,

makeshift electricity. Balconies like this. As I make my way around

the place, I meet sisters Rebecca and Maria. The girls tell me her

mother and father have gone to the market. But to speak to her

grandmother, she says her parents abandoned them and their siblings

five years ago. Why did they leave their children? Have they ever tried

to make contact with their children or with you?

It is estimated that about 80% of children abandoned in Romania are

Roma. She welcomes us into her home, a single room for the whole

family. She says she receives state benefits to look after the five

children, but it is not enough and she has to borrow from her

neighbours. What kind of life to you wish you had?

What do you want to be when you grow up? What do you like about police?

Why do you want to be in the police? Do you think about your mother and

father? It is estimated that between 600,000 - 1.7 million Roma live in

Romania. For hundreds of years they faced persecution in this country.

Writing from northern India in the 14th century, they were enslaved. It

is in the 150 years ago that they were finally given their freedom. --

only. Romania is now in the European Union. But human rights groups say

the discrimination continues. On the outskirts of town, just ten minutes

away, is another Roma settlement. The community has lived here for 20

years. But the land is not theirs. Like Roma people across Europe, they

have claimed a right to settle on public land and not pay taxes. This

woman lives with her husband and five children. This has been her

home since she was 17. Last year the Arabic count vowed to demolish the

community and evict them. -- the bad now.

He had made the demolition of Roma settlements his number one campaign

promise for real action. When the bulldozers came, she decided to

resist. 453 people watched their homes being

demolished. But those refused to vacate their properties were left

alone. The Nowra says that you are living here legally. -- illegally.

He rehoused the residents who were affected to another place.

The demolitions of the Roma settlements are popular in town. So

much so that the mayor was re-elected with 86% of the vote. He

is now the most popular mayor in Romania. What are your thoughts

about the Roma people was to --? And what do you think about the

mayor's plans to take them off the settlements?

Looming over the town, the infamous chimney. This abandoned copper

factory was one of the most polluting in Romania. For decades

toxic chemicals were used and produced here. This is where the

Mayor has rehoused the families who were affected. -- evicted. The

officers and the laboratories were not converted into living space. Yet

this is now home for 116 families, including 246 Kelvin. -- children.

This 60 rolled lives in one of the former laboratories. --

six-year-old. It is alleged that when the family 's first moved in,

jars of toxic chemicals, including sulphuric acid, were still stored

here. Samuel's mother says that her children were at. -- affected.

Roma charities reported that 22 children were taken to hospital. The

events prompted protests in the capital, Bucharest. It is alleged

that as a result of the authorities disposed all the chemicals. But the

local Mayor denies any of this happening. More than a year later,

Samuel and his family still live here. His grandfather has just come

back from work. He is a street cleaner. His wife helps by sorting

out scrap metal at the local rubbish dump. Could you ask grandma if she

favours any of them? The grandfather provides for mind of his

grandchildren. Orphaned after his son died. -- all mine. He has looked

after Samuel said he was two weeks old, when his mother abandoned him.

Although she is now back on the scene and lives next door. Until

last year, he was raising the children in a house in the

settlement that he purchased 15 years ago from another Roma family.

He watched his own being demolished. In return for demolishing his

house, the authorities offered to grant him an ID card, giving him the

same legal rights as other Romanians. Traditionally, some Roma

people have registered such symbols of officialdom. -- resisted.

Above all else, with nine grandchildren to look after, he did

not want to end up in the street. In this corner of the former

laboratory, he is still trying to create a comfortable environment for

the children he cares for. But outside in the hallway, the reality

is still exist. The neighbours sniffing paint thinner, while Samuel

and his cousins play. One man with a deep cuts on his arm pace up and

down, yelling from time to time. I wanted to find out from Samuel what

he thinks about living here. Do you like living here? Do you have any

friends left back there? What do best most about your friends? Do you

feel safe care? Where would you like to live? Across the hallway I meet

his daughter-in-law. She is 17 with two children. She tells me that

shortly after moving, part of the ceiling collapsed on her 1-year-old

son while they were sleeping. She was pregnant at the time. Since

then, life is not that easy for her children.

Across Europe, 90% of the 12 million Roma live in poverty. In Romania,

one third of them are unemployed, twice as high as the national

average. Most source scrap at the rubbish dump to earn a subsistence.

Many of those who are informal jobs are in low paid work, many refuse

that recommend we refuse. I have come back to this apartment block.

It is a weekday, but there are a lot of children running around, and

will. -- not at school. Although this girl is ten years old, and says

she wants to go to school, she is not. I ask her grandmother Y.

I need another child. He is in his first year of school. Why are you

not at school? They will not let you go to school with dirty clothes? Is

not just here that school attendance is low. 70% of the children living

in Craica do not go to school. In other areas, it is as high as 75%. I

have come to a local kindergarten. 25% of the children here are from

the Roma community. There is no restriction on the children

attending mainstream schools. These children come here. Roma parents are

helps to access mainstream education. One of the things people

say is, why don't they send their children to school?

She explains that many of the children work alongside their

parents as the rubbish dump, their school attendance can be patchy.

Gaby met the children? Years in Craica.

So, Gaby helped the parents get jobs as gardeners. All five of their

children now go to school. Next door is a completely different sort of

children's centre. It was set up by the Mac, specifically for the Roma.

This is not school, and the staff who are not Roma see their job is

preparing the children for mainstream education. When they

first come here, they do not know how to speak, they do not know how

to interact with other children. They were aggressive. Now they learn

how to socialise, how to speak correctly. Regardless of how the

stuff view the children, the lack of schooling remains a big problem for

this community. This girl was 12 when she got out of

school. Now 17 she has two children of her

own. Did you want to continue going to school?

You are still 17 though, what you think you will do in the future?

What do you hope for? In the Craica we spot a couple, they

have come to visit their old neighbours. They show me where the

house used to be. What happens to those who were

evicted from here and rehoused in the factory has been condemned by

Amnesty International and other NGOs. The European Commission of

Human Rights has expressed deep concern that the authority 's

treatment of the Roma here. Next year, the elections will continue.

So what does the man make of all this?

So you are looking out for them? You want to take care of them? I take

care, I do not want, they take care. They make social centres, they bring

the children to school, I give them, from my money, clothes and something

to eat. Then why would you move children into a former copper

factory? Amnesty International says if you are going to move them, then

you should put them in to adequate housing. Amnesty International is

nothing for me. So you deny this quote that Amnesty International

says this building has never been approved for resident use, and is

not mean basic standards of Romania cosmic housing standards. It is an

organisation that wants money, using the Roma community. Nobody was

demolished or removed from that without the agreement. We have a

signed agreement from everybody. It is 630 in the morning, and another

working day. Despite moving, and doing as the man demanded, there is

uncertainty hanging over the family again. He was never compensated for

the loss of his demolished home. Instead, he was given a three-year

contracts to live here. Now he has been told the contract has been

changed, and was only valid for a year, it has expired, which means he

could be threatened with the eviction again.

Hello once again. We are expecting to see further bouts of quite wet

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