They were a prosperous community till about 50 years ago when the gold mines suddenly shut down and they found themselves out of work and no one really interested in hiring them. Today, with practically 100% unemployment they survive on scant welfare checks that barely reach $30 a month per household. To make ends meet they sell hand made baskets out by the roadside, or wild berries or fish that they pull from the nearby stream. They are survivors.
One day after arriving late for class I was greeted out front by two of my students, Sammy and Nicusor, who told me that everyone went home. I asked if they knew where the students live.
�Ba-da� (of course)
�Come on, lets go get them,� I said and I waved them on.
The village is located about 100 yards from the school, over a couple rickety bridges and at the bottom of a country road. It�s a cramped little village pressed between the steep slopes of the Carpathian mountain range with its deep dark forests where bears, lynx and wolves roam free. These are the lands of Bram Stoker�s Dracula and it is just that wild untamed spirit that sheds it�s influence over the village and its people.
I asked Nicusor about the wolves. He said he never saw one but he hears them in the night and sometimes they come in and take a dog.
As we marched into the commune I got my very first glimpses of the settlement and its inhabitants, as well as their first look at me - �the Americano.�.
All eyes turned our way. The children dropped their chores and came running out hollering �Mr. Chuck! Mr. Chuck!� and then without any prompting started up there lesson - �Hello, how are you, I am Good, What�s your name? My name is...�
"Avoiding The Dependency Trap"
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�Avoiding The Dependency Trap�
According to a UN report released in January poverty has worsened for millions of Gypsies across Eastern Europe. Many are living in conditions similar to those of poor sub-Saharan Africa.
The report found that substantial numbers of Roma children suffer from under nourishment; one in six is �constantly starving� which has profound negative effects on their health and educational capacities and which further damages prospects of escaping from poverty. Almost 50% of Romanian gypsies do not send their children to school or fail to complete primary education. Less than 10% complete secondary and higher education. These conditions are twice as sever in rural areas like Valea Lui Stan where according to the report the Roma are considered �double losers�.
Lack of incentives to leave social safety nets further reduces the likelihood of breaking this dependency cycle in the future. The report blames the Gypsies� problems partly on their own communities and partly on what it called the failed systems of education and labor.
This report can be seen on the web at www.ocean.sk/undp