'Going a-souling' !

now known as

'Trick-or-Treat' !!

BOO !!

BOO !!!

Notice my very bad drawings on the chalkboard. Never claimed i was an artist.

Returned to Devesel for kids 5th grade to 8th grade so they can learn a little about Halloween. Today was definitely tough as I truly believed it would be difficult to be a teacher, taking a whole day of classes drained me and reaffirming my belief that teaching is hard.

After a brief explanation of the history of Halloween and why it is one of the more favorite holidays in America (kids and adults), it was time for them to experience it. I explained the methodology and they were ready. Since each class was pretty short, they made masks and I waited on the other side of the door, they would knock, say 'Twick ow Tweat' (as best they could), and they received candy. Sure it was only one door they got to knock on but they got the gist of it and were ready to go to America and try it for a couple of more hours. It was very hard for them to imagine all the candy they can get as long as they kept knocking on people's doors.

Return to Dudas - Oct.30

I returned to Dudas to go around the community once again without the camera or taking notes. Still remains a sad story walking through the streets. However, they seemed to remember me. This was nice as I went by myself, well, Domnul Mihai's son, Alin, met me. I learned how to get there on my own so I can visit when I have time and I was invited to have dinner with one of the family's which was in a small store which was soo nice of them but sad at the same time since they made a very nice meal (carnati de casa, eggs, salami, bread, snacks, juice and beer), but at the same time I was eating, many of the local kids would come in buying a small piece of candy and looking at the food. Sad as I wanted to give my food to them but felt I would insult the people of the store if I did especially since I was eating with some of the family. Really hoping I will be able to help somehow.

Misc Articles about the Roma Tour (in Romanian)

(Now I really need to get working !! Hope I can do something for this and/or other communities.)




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October 20, 2007

Rom (Gypsy) Tour continued - Day 3 Dirvari/Gemini

2 Rooms 12 kids and number 13 on the way, one of the children below.

Outside kitchen

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Who likes french fries?

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At the end of the tour, one of the reprentatives/host offered us lunch and lessons on how to dance to music popular. Houston we have a problem.

Rom (Gypsy) Tour

Day 2 Devesal
Talking with the different classes in the school. Many of the kids below do not have parents as they left to work in other countries such as Italy, Greece, and Spain.

Day 1 Dudas-Simian

In the past, I made great Rom representative contact (mentioned him before), Domnul (Mr) Mihai Otto and together we were able to organize a Roma tour for other Peace Corps volunteers. The goal was to show other volunteers how the Rom community lives and hopefully help me in stirring up plans and ideas of how to get a Peace Corps volunteer into these villages. Couple of goals I'm trying to accomplish is;
1.) Continue education of myself and other PC Volunteers about the Rom community.
2.) Find out the dreams Rom kids have. Are they the same or different from kids in the city of DT Severin (very interesting I'm finding). I have already visited a school in Severin and asked a a class of 10 and 11 year olds what their dreams are (haven't posted anything yet).

First village was a village I already visited but saw in a different light the second time around. Dudas-Simian is the biggest Rom community in the Mehedinti County (same county as DT Severin) and is very close to the city.

We visited the school this time and then walked around the community with three other PC Volunteers and a gracious translator that is voluntarily helping us (thank you Irina). Going to the school was great because anytime you get to talk to the kids they still have a (somewhat) innocent perception on life and all seemed to love school.

As we were walking through the community, all the kids started holding the volunteer's hands. It almost felt as they were holding on to hope because they wouldn't let go and they were sometimes fighting on who go to hold who's hands. They held our hands the whole time we walked through the village at times stopping at people's houses to hear their interesting and at the same time, sad (from our perspective) stories.

We constantly had to explain ourselves of who we were because at times it felt like we were being set-up for failure as they were expecting (not surprised) money or some miracles from us. Many of the Rom wanted us to see their house and take pictures of it in hopes we would bring them aid. We were explaining what we were doing first, learning about their culture and talking with the people. It's tough trying to combat the poor, but it's even tougher trying to combat the mentality and beliefs of a culture when our perspective sees it as not acclimating to the norms of society when we are not sure exactly what they want, besides the immediate needs; money, medicine, and decent housing. However, in talking to some, they did say they needed more jobs.
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Girl on the left, holding baby in white, married at 14 has her first child at 15 and currently is 16 years old.

Girl on the right, holding the baby in green, is 19 and believe she was married and her first child at 18.

Difference between kids in America and here is, many times in America it's not planned while here it is customary.

Girl (center) in the pink shirt is 14 years old and just wants to go back to school but her parents believe she should be home instead taking care of the family.

Volunteers walking (below) through the village while holding kid's hands.

Visiting the school and learning of their dreams:

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Viola, 10 - Future teacher

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Gabriel, 9 - Future Mayor

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Adam, 11 - Wants to help his mom and future singer

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Laura, 10 - Continue school and Future Teacher

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Etymology of the word 'Rom':

Where does the word Rom (representing Gypsy's) originate from?
(exert taken from Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca):
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Gypsies widely use to refer to themselves (and literally to mean man or husband): rom among European Gypsies; lom in Armenian Romani; and dom in Persian and Syrian dialects. (And so we see that the term Rom, as in Romany, has nothing whatever to do with Romania, where, confusingly, the Gypsies have lived in great numbers for many centuries. Nor is it, as English Gypsies told the social anthropologist Judith Oakley, "cos we always roam.") Rom, dom, and lom aare all in phonetic correspondence with the Sanskrit domba and the Modern Indian dom or dum, which refer to a particular group of tribes who may look familiar.

In Sanskrit domba means "man of low caste living by singing and music." In Modern Indian tongues, the corresponding words have similar or related meanings; in Lahnda it is "menial"; in Sindhi, "caste of wandering musician"; in Panjabi, "strolling musician", in West Pahari it means "low caste black-skinned man." There are references to the Dom as musicians from the sixth century. The Dom still exist in India; they are nomads who do a number of jobs: basketmaking, smithing, metalworking, scavenging, music-making. Not surprisingly, many people have leapt on a Dom theory of origins for the Gypsies.
--- Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca

Almost a T.K.O. (Technical Knock-out)

The one Catholic Church (Sfantu Anton - St Anthony's) in DT Severin is replacing their whole roof since the old one was literally rotting away. Because they need workers and can only afford a few everyday, they are using volunteers from the church. After seeing some of the kids help clearing/cleaning the roof, I started to volunteer. Well it was almost over before it began on day one. First, I was moving/rolling a large (4x4) board and did not notice another board was attached to it, all of a suddent 'Whap !' right in the cheek, saw stars on that one. Then going up the spiral staircase at average speed (little dark at the top) 'Bam !' Top of head, meet low ceiling, saw stars and birds with that one. Then curiousity settled in and never actually being in a bell tower (most people would've called it a day, but oh no, not me. It's right under the clock in the above pictures), I climbed up to the top to take a look at the bell, noticing it, messing around with it, I accidentally 'Gong'ed it, regardless of the fact that my ear was right there (course I heard bells ringing in my head with that one), so what do I do? I try to hurry up and hug the bell to quell the bong and proceed to whisper, 'please, please, shhhh...' , nope didn't work, so I went down and hid for awhile. Second day? St. Anthony was much nicer to me, wasn't sure if he wanted me there.

All Around Cultural Experience

Class cultural exchange between a class in Drobeta Turnu-Severin and South-Side Chicago via web-cam / video-call.

Thanks to Eva V from south side of Chicago and organizing her class (selected 8 students) to talk with a group of kids in a school in DT Severin.

It was very interesting since the kids in DT Severin are able to speak Spanish, Romanian, and English and the school on the south-side were majority hispanic. There were multiple conversations in English and Spanish and the Romanian children demonstrated a little bit of Romanian to the south siders.
This was actually a very intersting experience for everybody including myself.

Eva V (below) on the monitor talking to the Severin kids

Comunitate de Rrom - Dudasu-Simian 7 km from Severin

Domnul Mihai Otto is a Rrom representative that I was fortunate to meet since I am trying to learn and experience what I can with the Rrom population. He is helping me organize a tour that will hopefully take place October 17 - 19th where I take three other volunteers with me to ask questions and try to see what they think and feel, especially the kids to see what their dreams are. We plan on visiting a school in each community and then the community itself.

Rroma Kids from the community

The bottles they collect to turn in the recycling center for change.

Domnul Mihai and his family around the water well they dug/built (below). The shop that they run from their house (above).