Colorful but Colorblind: Roma Beyond Stereotypes

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Colorful but Colorblind: Roma Beyond Stereotypes


Story locations

  • Bulgaria
  • Czech Republic
  • Hungary
  • Romania
  • Slovakia
  • Industrial expansion threatens a Roma village Peshtera
  • No jobs because we are Roma Lesnovo
  • Shoe black: a dying craft Sofia
  • The mighty gift of rhythm Blagoevgrad
  • We love each other Zlataritsa
  • A gate in the fence Ostrava
  • Advocating education Prague, Brno & Pardubice
  • Avoiding the pitfalls of the street Prague
  • Coming out Prague
  • Dance from the Heart Prague
  • A society free of prejudice Budapest
  • After the water receded Boldva
  • Education in play through football Szarvaskő
  • Embracing Roma Culture Balaton
  • They call her Aunty Rozi Budapest
  • "Gypsies are better than Romanians" Piatra Neamt
  • A struggle for quality health care Bucharest
  • A teen dreams of helping her people Bucharest
  • Afraid to say "I'm Roma" Prislop
  • Sold into marriage at age 12 Babadag
  • "General" Karolína Šarköziová Žiar nad Hronom
  • Even God can't help Trebišov
  • Forging a legacy Klenovec
  • Halfway there Velké Leváre
  • Inspired to serve her community Velka Lomnica

Stories

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  • Bulgaria

  • In 1996, in the Roma quarter near Biovet, a factory for animal pharmaceuticals, the managers of Biovet started buying houses and land with the aim of creating a sanitary zone around the factory. The company ...

    Bulgaria > Prejudice And Discrimination

    Industrial expansion threatens a Roma village

    Available languages: Български, English (subtitles)

  • Every day, 35-year-old Daniel Metodiev faces the reality of being an unemployed father of four. He has unpaid electric bills, a pantry with little food and no money to pay for his son’s medicine. It ...

    Bulgaria > Prejudice And Discrimination

    No jobs because we are Roma

    Available languages: Български, English (subtitles)

  • Assen Ivanov Yordanov works at Sofia's Central Railway Station. He is a Roma shoe black who's fallen on hard times as his profession fades into obsolescence. Shoe polishing was a popular profession among Roma. The ...

    Bulgaria > Tradition

    Shoe black: a dying craft

    Available languages: Български, English (subtitles)

  • Ivailo Romanov-Peleto is a virtuoso percussionist who grew up in the Roma quarter of Blagoevgrad, in southwest Bulgaria. He has toured the world with the renowned Pirin Folk Ensemble and is the idol of many. ...

    Bulgaria > Tradition

    The mighty gift of rhythm

    Available languages: Български, English (subtitles)

  • The findings of a recent study by AMALIPE, an NGO that serves the Roma community, show that many of the myths surrounding Roma lifestyle are outdated. These include marriage age, family size and the practices ...

    Bulgaria > Family

    We love each other

    Available languages: Български, English (subtitles)

  • Czech Republic

  • In 1997, floods in the Moravian and Silesian regions of the Czech Republic destroyed 7,000 homes and displaced more than 20,000 people. Kumar Vishwanathan, a physics teacher from India who arrived in the Czech Republic ...

    Czech Republic > Prejudice And Discrimination

    A gate in the fence

    Available languages: čeština, English (subtitles)

  • Lucie Horvathova is one of the few Roma in the Czech Republic with a university education. She understands the importance of education in the Roma community, where many children do not attend school for a ...

    Czech Republic > Giving Back To The Community

    Advocating education

    Available languages: čeština, English (subtitles)

  • The neighborhoods of Prague are full of children who spend their free time in the streets. Up until recently, 13-year-old Patrik Harvan was one of them. Although his family has lived in Liben for several ...

    Czech Republic > Sports

    Avoiding the pitfalls of the street

    Available languages: čeština, English (subtitles)

  • For Michael Miko, coming out as a gay man has been a decade-long experience. Though he has a group of supportive friends in Prague, his main concern is bringing disgrace upon his family in his ...

    Czech Republic > Prejudice And Discrimination

    Coming out

    Available languages: čeština, English (subtitles)

  • Vlado Oláh aka Vlado el Corazon owns his own studio, Dance in the Heart, in Prague. He is extremely sensitive, hardworking and not ashamed of his Roma identity, which he never conceals. His beginnings were ...

    Czech Republic > Tradition

    Dance from the Heart

    Available languages: čeština, English (subtitles)

  • Hungary

  • Benedek Csík, a world-renowned dulcimer artist, has played the world's biggest concert halls, including Carnegie Hall. He is proud of his Roma heritage and fulfills his calling to serve other Roma by leading a small ...

    Hungary > Religion

    A society free of prejudice

    Available languages: magyar, English (subtitles)

  • The area of Boldva, North-Hungary, that has been inhabited by Roma people for centuries, regularly floods. Eight hundred people live in the 124 houses situated on this floodplain. The area could be protected by building ...

    Hungary > Prejudice And Discrimination

    After the water receded

    Available languages: magyar, English (subtitles)

  • Robi Sadarki is one of more than 30 Roma children selected to participate in an intensive football-training program offered to disadvantaged children in Hungary.   The camp is primarily for Roma children who often cannot afford ...

    Hungary > Sports

    Education in play through football

    Available languages: magyar, English (subtitles)

  • Lakatos György leads the Romano Glaszo Band, a Roma group that devotes their time to teaching children about traditional Roma music.  Lakatos is one of many people that believe it is important to pass on ...

    Hungary > Tradition

    Embracing Roma Culture

    Available languages: magyar, English (subtitles)

  • Rozi Csámpai conducts after-school programs for Roma children in the 8th district of Budapest, Hungary. She is a Roma artist who offers creative activities, like painting and dancing in the Glove Factory Cultural Centre. The ...

    Hungary > Giving Back To The Community

    They call her Aunty Rozi

    Available languages: magyar, English (subtitles)

  • Romania

  • "Gypsies are better than Romanians", says Mariana, a 27-year old Romanian woman, who lives in a Roma community. She started to write letters to Catalin while he was in prison, on behalf of his parents ...

    Romania > Prejudice And Discrimination

    "Gypsies are better than Romanians"

    Available languages: Română, English (subtitles)

  • Vasilica Dragan is one of many Roma women, who struggle to gain access to healthcare because of discrimination and racism in Romania. Vasilica has been sick since childhood and after a recent battle with tuberculosis, ...

    Romania > Prejudice And Discrimination

    A struggle for quality health care

    Available languages: Română, English (subtitles)

  • Florina Tincu, a 15-year-old Roma high school student lives in Ferentari, a dangerous and poor neighborhood in Bucharest, Romania. Her parents are unemployed, but Florina excels in school and will begin high school this year. ...

    Romania > Prejudice And Discrimination

    A teen dreams of helping her people

    Available languages: Română, English (subtitles)

  • More than 500,000 people in Romania declared themselves as Roma in the 2002 census, but Roma leaders estimate that another 1.5 million Roma did not. This greatly affects the Roma population because it limits their ...

    Romania > Prejudice And Discrimination

    Afraid to say "I'm Roma"

    Available languages: Română, English (subtitles)

  • In many traditional Roma communities, young girls and boys are forced into marriages arranged by their families. Traditionally, the young girl moves in with her husband's family and begins taking on household duties, guided by ...

    Romania > Family

    Sold into marriage at age 12

    Available languages: Română, English (subtitles)

  • Slovakia

  • At 84 years old, widow Karolína Šarköziová has seen a lot -- World War II, giving birth to 14 children and becoming a great grandmother too many times to count. As her son Aladár Šarközi ...

    Slovakia > Family

    "General" Karolína Šarköziová

    Available languages: Slovensky, English (subtitles)

  • Zuzana Harakaldova is a 27-year-old single mother of three children living in one of the poorest Roma communities in eastern Slovakia. She lives in the outskirts of Trebišov, a small industrial town of 23,000 people, ...

    Slovakia > Religion

    Even God can't help

    Available languages: Slovensky, English (subtitles)

  • The art of Roma smithery is dying in Slovakia. Igor Radic is the last blacksmith living in the district of Rimavska Sobota. Igor is a very simple man and lives with his wife, daughter and ...

    Slovakia > Tradition

    Forging a legacy

    Available languages: Slovensky, English (subtitles)

  • Lacko, a 17-year-old Roma boy, lives in a re-education centre in the town of  Velké Leváre near Bratislava, Slovakia. His mother died when he was a child and his father, disabled and living on social ...

    Slovakia > Family

    Halfway there

    Available languages: Slovensky, English (subtitles)

  • Lucia Horvathova has lived in the Roma village of Velka Lomnica her entire life. She is now 30, a widow and raising her four children, all alone. As an assistant nurse working in the village, ...

    Slovakia > Giving Back To The Community

    Inspired to serve her community

    Available languages: Slovensky, English (subtitles)

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  • About
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The project is co-funded by the European Union’s Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme, with further support from OSF Media Program, the Embassy of the United States in the Czech Republic, the British Embassy in Prague and the Knight Center for International Media at the School of Communication, University of Miami.