Europeans without a home

There are eight to nine million gipsies in Europe, but it would more accurate to call them “Europeans without a home” (Guida editori, 2009), as described in the title of the book by Gino Battaglia, ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue scholar at the Italian Bishops’ Conference. The volume collects episodes, life experiences and stories of the Roma, Sinti, Manus, Kale, Khorakhané community; people encountered from the mid – 1980s to today in the framework of the initiatives of the Sant’Egidio community in different cities. The book is meant “to help view the life of men and women, beyond the barriers of prejudice, discrimination and suspicion”. “There is an old-dated prejudice against the gipsies”, Battaglia writes in the introduction. “According to these prejudices, the gipsies are deadbeats, thieves, they kidnap children (and although in contemporary societies no gipsies was ever proved guilty, charges against them recur) and practice witchcraft. There is widespread preconception that the gipsies are liars, violent, drunkers, filthy (and, nowadays, even polluters). In a word, the gipsies are “ugly, dirty, and mean”. The idea of the book, said the author, came after the anti-gipsy riots in Ponticelli, a village near Naples (Italy) in 2008. The alleged attempted kidnap of a newborn in his home on the part of a Roma girl triggered a violent revolt against the gipsy camps in the area, forcing the latter to flee. The news reverberated on the media, fuelling anti-gipsy sentiments. Conversely, the news of a gipsy who found and brought to the police station a girl reported as missing, as disclosed a few days ago by a local daily of the town of Reggio Calabria, is given minor importance. These are but a few stories and fragments of humanity pertaining to this world. The prayer of Susanna. “Susanna, nine years old, recalls: ‘We pray to God when someone is sick, since God is near those who are sick and we pray for people in prison that God may open their doors”.Walter gets vaccinated. “When Roma children get vaccinated it’s a feast. They enjoy going to the doctor. It’s an occasion to get dressed up. Children take time combing their hair and getting ready. The younger ones often ask for their mothers’ help. They go out holding in their hands one thousand lira for ice-cream and chips, with a special recommendation from their dear ones, as if they were to stay away for an entire day. Today Walter, who is eight years old, wore his new dress for his first shots. The clothes were a couple of sizes larger, to the extent that he had to roll up his sleeves and trousers. He spoke about his life in the camp and of his father who is in jail because, as he said, he was given away. ‘I am naughty’, the child said, ‘I get too angry with my mother” and asked whether there was a medicine could make him become a good boy.The first day of school. “Today Goran, twelve years old, and Marija, thirteen, attended the first day of Secondary school. In front of the gate Marija stood watching the other children return from school. ‘Now’, she said, ‘ everyone will recognize us as gispies!’. But Goran and Marija are well-dressed, clean, they have a brief case with note-books like everyone else… ‘We’re ugly’, Marija said decisively, ‘we’re gipsies, and therefore we’re ugly…” Sinti women. “As anthropologists and experts have said, in the Sinti culture women hold a remarkable social position (…). Among their relatives and in the camp, they have a say when important decisions have to be taken and are respected by the children and by the youth. They often have tragic personal backgrounds. They were forced to take care of themselves on their own, they raised their children and worked at the same time, even without their men …”Being sixty years old. “Moussa is privileged. Among the Roma people the average life duration is thirty-five, since diseases, difficulties, peregrinations, the cold and warm temperature are very consuming. In these conditions those who are weak, sick or old have few possibilities of survival. Even small problems that could be easily solved become insurmountable obstacles”.In the face of death. “Hugo is a khorakanò. He conveys his questions on death. ‘I believe that when you die everything ends’, he says. ‘No! After death you go somewhere, there must be a place where one goes’, answers Gianni. (…) Death is a constant presence in the life of the Roma people. Death comes at a young age, during childhood, in the form of violent death, in front of everyone. Everyone feels involved in the suffering and the bereavement. And death is a topic of discussion. It is addressed by the community while looking at the void it carries with it”.