There is no other ethnic group in the world with its International Romani Day, besides Roma people. The date is April 8 and has been marked each year by the UN and the EU as of 1992. Thus the world regards the specific identity, culture and traditions of this traveling people. At the same time we try to help them with their inclusion into the rest of the settled peoples, to live in peace and harmony among them. There are 10 - 12 mln. Roma people in Europe, 800 000 of those living in Bulgaria. Help yourself and God will help you, the saying claims. This depends on the Roma people themselves, GERB leader Boyko Borissov reminded on the eve of the fest at a national, Sofia-held conference, named Integration of Roma People.

“Education is the key word for integration. When there is education, there is work. If we have those two things, there will be no problems. Practically Roma people will be competitive enough to get involved in any labor activity in the country.”

Education and employment are key factors for improving the living standard of Roma people. The latest EC report gave Bulgaria as an example a few days ago with some positive models, such as the implementation of compulsory 2-year-long preschool education, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova pointed out. In her words this is a successful measure against the early dropping out of school due to the lack of knowledge of Bulgarian. However, the town of Byala Slatina near Vratsa comes as an example for the saying Help yourself and God will help you too. The town has the greatest number of Roma people with university diplomas, expert Spaska Mihaylova from the Nov Pat (New Way) association told Radio Bulgaria. The organization has been working in the field among the Roma community there since 2004. The northwestern region is considered the poorest in Bulgaria and in the EU and the situation of both Roma and Bulgarian people is not that good.

“All Roma people in the area we cover go to school. We don’t have students dropped out over the past years, they have high school diplomas at he least. All kids go to school, with the exception of maybe 1 – 2 percent. Employment is the main problem here. If there were some small companies, opening new jobs, people would work, would have money and would increase their educational status. Unfortunately all these Roma university graduates do not return to Byala Slatina, but continue with their studies at some other spot. There are over 3 000 Roma people in the town only, 1 000 of those being kids. They all have the 8^th grade and most of them are high school graduates. Some 30 percent of those go to universities, which is a very good example. We have lots of encouraging campaigns in the area, as people are hard-working, clever, they go to work. Their accommodations look decently. Employment is the problem.”

The new route of the Roma people goes through the Nov Pat /New Way/ association - from a hood to another, from a person to the next one. For instance, when we go to the Tarnak village in the morning, people can be usually found in the centre of the village, because we work under EU employment programs. We talk to them, we give leaflets and brochures. For instance, for prevention of tuberculosis – the discovery and cure levels here are high, for raising their qualification:

“We work with people all the time, we go to their homes and tell them what they should do, how to clean their accommodations, how to prevent different types of diseases etc. It is essential for the parents to know the different kinds of vaccines, how to apply with different papers etc. We explain with simple words, in Bulgarian, the concrete steps necessary to be taken for the solving of a certain problem and they listen to us.”

The association has also established the first social enterprise in the area with funding under the Human Resources Development 2008 – 2010 OP. Another project has been kicked off with funding of the Trust for Social Achievement in Sofia. It includes a segment for professional qualification in the beekeeping occupation. “We will provide a 9-month-long course for employment to some of them, while others will be assisted in starting their own business in the area of beekeeping. However, we won’t give them money, but will buy the beehives and the most necessary stuff for them,” Spaska Mihaylova says.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev