Roma situation in Romania, 2011. Between social inclusion and

Transcription

Roma situation in Romania, 2011 Between social inclusion and migration
EU INCLUSIVE
Data transfer and exchange of good practices regarding the
inclusion of Roma population between Romania, Bulgaria,
Italy and Spain
Roma situation in Romania, 2011
Between social inclusion and migration
Country Report
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DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
Project’s Identification Data:
Project Title: EU INCLUSIVE – data transfer and exchange of good
experiences regarding the inclusion of Roma population between Romania,
Bulgaria, Italy and Spain
Identification Project Number: POSDRU/98/6.4/S/63841
Priority Axis 6: Promoting Social Inclusion
Major Field of Intervention 6.4: Transnational initiatives for an inclusive
labor market
The project is implemented during the period between September 2010 and
September 2012.
Total Project value is lei 9,337,116.25.
EU INCLUSIVE – data transfer and exchange of good experiences regarding
the inclusion of Roma population between Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Spain,
is a joint transnational project, implemented in Romania by the Soros Foundation
in partnership with the Open Society Institute – Sofia of Bulgaria, Fundación
Secretariado Gitano of Spain and Fondazione Casa della Carità Angelo Abriani
from Italy.
The objective of the project is to develop cooperation practices in the field
of Roma inclusion in order to promote their inclusion in the European labor
market and employment increased capacity among organizations dealing with
Roma integration from Romania, Spain, Italy and Bulgaria by means of mutual
transfer of comparative data and local experiences.
The project aims to carry out a diagnosis of the situation of the Roma
integration on the labor market in all the 4 European countries and to transform
the sociological information thus obtained in order to elaborate public policies
with national and transnational application.
We plan to:
• create an accurate comparative baseline database on Roma inclusion
and employment in each of the 4 partner States;
• identify and promote successful practices identified in each of the partner
countries and to increase the relevance of the public policies in the field of Roma
inclusion by valorization of such experiences;
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• analyze and use the recent European history of the Roma inclusion
initiatives and to raise their presence on the labor market, with reference also to
Roma migrants;
• develop a transnational long-term partnership between countries and
organizations that work in Roma social inclusion field.
PARTNERS
Soros Foundation (Romania) (www.soros.ro) – our mission is to promote
models for the development of a society based on freedom, responsibility and
respect for diversity. Starting with 2003, we have implemented frame programmes
intended to social inclusion, among which the “Decade of Roma Inclusion”
Programme and the Integrated Community Development Programme, and we
also carried out many sociological researches on the situation of Roma population
in Romania, an important one being Roma Inclusion Barometer, as well as
community development projects such as “My Roma Neighbor” Project and
“The Nearly Center (Centrul de Aproape) - Rural Area and Social Economy in
Romania (RURES)” Project.
Open Society Institute-Sofia, Bulgaria (www.osi.bg) – is a nonprofit
nongovernmental organization founded in 1990, which has the mission: to promote,
develop and support the values, attitudes and practices of an open society in
Bulgaria; it is proposing public policies and debates on crucial issues for Bulgaria.
Fundación Secretariado Gitano, Spania (www.gitanos.org) – is a crosscultural social non-profit organization that provides Roma community
development services throughout Spain and at the European level. It started its
activity in the ’60 and was set up as foundation in 2001. The Fundación
Secretariado Gitano mission aims the full evolution of the Roma community
based on respect and support of their cultural identity. FSG is carrying activities
beyond Spain borders, in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romania.
Fondazione
Casa
della
Carità Angelo Abriani,
Italy
(www.casadellacarita.org) - is a non-profit foundation, with social and cultural
purposes. It was created in 2002 with the mission to create opportunities for the
inclusion of any people living in conditions of social and cultural marginalization:
homeless, migrants, asylum, Roma people, supporting their access to rights,
services, opportunities and resources.
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Situaþia romilor în România, 2011 Între incluziune socialã ºi migraþie
CONTENT
INTRODUCTION
SUMMARY OF THE REPORT IN ROMANI
METHODOLOGY
SOCIAL INCLUSION (Ana Maria Preoteasa and Daniela Tarnovschi)
Bibliography
SPECIFICITY OF EMPLOYMENT OF ROMA IN ROMANIA
(Ana Maria Preoteasa)
Employment of Roma in Romania
Structure and types of employment of Roma population
Formal employment: traditional crafts and modern professions
Security of jobs
Inactivity and unemployment
Active job search behaviors
Conclusions
References
IMPORTANT DIMENSIONS OF THE SOCIAL INCLUSION
OF ROMA POPULATION FROM ROMANIA: EDUCATION,
HEALTH, HOUSING AND DISCRIMINATION (Daniela Tarnovschi)
Education
Health
Housing
Discrimination
Conclusion
References
THIRD WAVE OF ROMA MIGRATION: MOBILITY AND
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION OF ROMA POPULATION
FROM ROMANIA AFTER 1989 (Monica ªerban)
Third wave of Roma migration
Persons who went abroad and returned
Experience of travelling abroad at individual level
Experience of travelling abroad at household level
Persons living abroad
The future...
Discussions
References
CASE STUDIES (Alina Bîrsan ºi Raluca Hirian)
Synthesis
I. Case study Floreºti, Cluj County
II. Case study Petrilaca, Mureº County
III. Case study Feteºti, Ialomiþa County
IV. Case study Cornu de Sus, Prahova County
V. Case study Bereasca – Ploieºti, Prahova County
Conclusions case studies
ANNEXES
Annex 1. Methodology
Annex 2. Questionnaire
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INTRODUCTION
The Country Report for Romania, made and published within the EUINCLUSIVE Project – data transfer and exchange of good experiences regarding
the inclusion of Roma population between Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Spain, aims
to point the current situation of the Roma minority monitoring and its social inclusion
in the country with the most numerous Roma population in the European Union.
Data of the research in Romania, corroborated with those in Bulgaria, Italy
and Spain, shall build the largest comparative database concerning the Roma
population issues carried out at European level, a unique building instrument
for European public policies, monitoring in four European countries the situation
of some unitary coordinates, such as employment, access to healthcare, housing,
education level, international migration.
The research Report contains both the interpretation of some quantitative
data representative at national level – collected by Metro Media Transilvania in
April – May 2011, and the description of some case studies pointing out
successful migration experiences from Roma communities in Romania.
The questionnaire used for the collection of data in Romania was the result
of adjustment of the questionnaire used by Fundación Secretariado Gitano of
Spain within some researches intended to study the employment level of the
Roma population from Spain in 2005. In Romania, the questionnaire was multithematic, with an estimated duration of 30-40 minutes, having maximum 15%
open questions and it was applied by face-to-face interviewing technique. The
questionnaire comprises the following thematic sections: general data; activity;
occupation; without occupation; discrimination; social inclusion; housing;
migration experience; migration intentions; ethnic affiliation; incomes; household
records. The amount of questioned persons was 1100 self-identified subjects
from compact and dissipated communities. The error margin of the survey is ±
2.7%, for 95% trust level.
The qualitative component involved carrying out 5 case studies, with 5
self-identified persons of Roma ethnicity, aged of over 16 years old. There were
carried out in-depth interviews on the basis of the Interview Guide supplied by
the team of researchers. The case studies were made with Roma persons, the
situations selected being typical for the integration issues of the Roma on the
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labor market and they were carried out on the basis of an in-depth interview with
the selected person, a visit at his domicile and observing of the living conditions
in the community from where the relevant person originates in order to obtain as
complete and relevant as possible information. All the five interviewed persons
had international migration experiences.
The Report from Romania follows up, in thematic chapters, major coordinates
of the social inclusion: employment, education, health, housing and
discrimination. The novelty of the research for Romania is the detailed analysis
of the subject of international migration for the Roma communities, subject that
passed through the collected quantitative data and runs through the 5 case studies
carried out in 5 Roma communities - Floresti (Cluj), Petrilaca (Mures), Fetesti
(Ialomita), Cornu de Sus (Prahova), Bereasca (Ploiesti).
The global data of the Report for Romania further depict a quite gloomy
image of the conditions in which the Roma minority lives in Romania: in general,
the low level of education and widespread analphabetism decrease the minority
opportunities to find a job, thus preventing them from the access to a decent
housing, healthcare and education for children. On the other side, the
discrimination continues to be a subject on the public agenda concerning the
Roma minority.
The analysis of the collected employability data reveals the low level of
integration on the labor market in 2011: only 35.5% of the Roma minority has a
workplace in 2011. 38% of the employed persons work as unskilled workers,
32% have skilled employments (workers, sellers, traders), 9% are workers in
agriculture, while 13% have traditional Roma occupations. The availability of
the respondents to work continues to be significant: 76% of those without a
workplace expressed their availability to immediately start working if a job was
offered to them, but the programmes intended for their qualification and change
of qualification are facing the obstacle of the low level of education of the
population and also of the lack of assurance regarding their hiring after the
graduation of such training courses.
The education, health, housing and discrimination form a separate chapter
of the work, as essential dimensions of the social inclusion. The low level of
education of the minority creates a vicious circle that comprises the lack of access
for free to healthcare and housing in improper conditions but also discrimination.
Still the most worrying figures are those related to the level of education: having
half of the respondents only graduates of the primary school, having 25% of the
population illiterate, the opportunities of inclusion on a more and more competitive
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European labor market are significantly diminished for them. The recovery of
these persons for the labor market by the projects of qualification for adults still
is difficult, following such training courses being conditioned by the graduation
of the gymnasium studies.
The international migration of the Roma population, subject on the public
European agenda extremely discussed in the last years, is analyzed in a chapter
investigating and documenting the international migration process, from the
gradual increase of the phenomenon after 1989 to its relative acceleration starting
with 2007.
Counter-weighting the scaremonger discourse of the international mass
media, the chapter reveals the relatively low weight of this phenomenon within
the Roma minority: over 75% of the population did not travel abroad and the
migration process is rather characterized by frequent departures abroad and comebacks in the country than by long stays abroad. The intention of Roma population
of leaving abroad, although increasingly, is doubled by their conviction that
they will not successfully succeed to start such migration process due to their
precarious financial conditions.
The five case studies are focused on international successful migration cases
within the studied communities, as the success is defined by the informal leaders
of the described Roma communities. The case studies present the general
description of the community and relationships within the community, continuing
with the story in detail of some successful international migration cases. From
the first attempts of migrating, in 1995, by requesting political asylum in the
United Kingdom (Floreºti case study) to the departures to strawberry gathering,
the case studies document the same whish of any person involved in the
international migration: their wish to better live, to offer to children a better life,
either meaning a home in Romania or a new life in the United Kingdom.
Moreover, the definition of “success” is the same at the Roma minority as for the
majority population: a workplace / a job that enables them to build a decent life
for their families.
Pertinently analyzing the general elements of the social inclusion of Roma
population in Romania and detailing the international migration experience of
the Roma people, the Country Report of Romania provides counterarguments
for one of the biggest obstacles for the social inclusion of the Roma minority: a
public discourse missing the power of discernment, based on continuous myths
and perceptions, through which the right to opportunities and future is refused
to the minority.
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METHODOLOGY
Once Romania’s EU membership was granted, the social inclusion of Roma
population became a problem requiring coordinated approach, achieved by
measures aimed to integrate, at the level of other Member States, the examples
of good practices from different European countries whose efforts are generating
the targeted results. Although there are discussions with regard to an European
initiative related to Roma population inclusion on the labor market, the main
reasons preventing countries to obtain good results have been identified at the
European Parliament and European Commission level: the lack of statistical data
at the level of each country with Roma communities, lack of comparative data in
the European Union countries and the absence of good practices exchange
between countries.
The problem of Roma population inclusion has become a European problem
especially after 2007, when increasingly more Roma persons from the newly
Member States have immigrated to other countries with a higher life standard.
One of the first effect of this process can be seen in Italy, where actual and
complete data on the new immigrants, data which are useful to the Italian
authorities and to the general public, has lead to a wave of events of discrimination
against Roma persons, especially against those arrived from Romania and
Bulgaria. Non-correlation of initiatives in this field is visible in the drainage of
financial, resources, human resources, etc. used to implement certain projects,
already tested in other countries without resulting in the expected outcomes.
This aspect is unknown in other countries because there are no resources (nor
the interest) to share such experiences.
At the European Parliament and Commission level, these problems are
constantly reminded, being considered as causes for resources misspending.
During the first meeting of the European platform for Roma inclusion, held in
April 2009, EU Council recommended Member states “to learn from their own
experiences related to Roma inclusion initiatives development and to share these
experiences with other Member States. It is well known that the development,
implementation and monitoring of Roma inclusion policies requires an accurate
social-economic database”.
The 4 countries, partners of the project, Romania, Bulgaria, Spain and Italy,
have different experiences but significant and useful to all partners. Romania
and Bulgaria, as new EU Member States, are faced with a serious lack of data on
the inclusion method related to the emigrants to Italy and Spain (the data and
information exchange process has started, but its gaps are large). At the same
time, Italy and Spain are a source of positive good practices regarding the work
with Roma persons, not only with Italian and Spanish citizenship Roma, but also
with other European citizenship Roma. Spain and Italy are in the phase where
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they started to collect data on the new Roma immigrants from Romania and
Bulgaria in order to determine the size of this issue and to discover the most
adequate ways to efficiently manage this problem. In addition, the social inclusion
legislation and measures, existing in these two older EU Member States, are
extremely different and, often, the lack of good practices exchange between
these two countries, with very different social inclusion results, is brought up.
The overall objective of this research is to analyze the Roma population in
Romania in relation to social inclusion, employment and migration. This research
is composed of two elements: the quantitative survey, collecting data from a
representative sample of Roma population from Romania, processing and reading
these data: and the qualitative study – execution of 5 case studies, life stories.
The generated database (quantitative element) will be part of an accurate,
comparative statistical database regarding Roma population inclusion and
employment in Bulgaria, Italy, Romania and Spain, including the relevant aspects
of Roma migrants situation.
During the quantitative survey, the data were collected via a questionnaire
applied to a representative sample of 1100 (self-identified) Roma, with age above
16 years. The used sampling procedure is the one proposed by Prof. Dr. Dumitru
Sandu for the Roma Inclusion Barometer – RIB (2007), a method than used in
similar researches executed in Romania.
The sample volume was of 1100 subjects, illustrative for Roma in Romania,
who live in compact and dissipated communities. The sample was established in
a probabilistic, two-stage and stratified manner (100 points of sampling). Within
the communities, selection was carried out by the „simple random sampling”
method (in the case of compact communities) or by the „snowball sampling”
method in the case of dissipated communities. Within the household, the subject
was selected based on the birth date (see Annex 1).
Regarding the research performed in Romania, data collection was carried
out by Metro Media Transylvania, during April – May 2011, by applying the
questionnaire provided by Soros Foundation team.
The questionnaire aimed at common aspects of both countries, seeking to
capture common aspects as well as aspects particular for each country. The used
tool was the result of adapting the questionnaire use by Fundación Secretariado
Gitano from Spain during a research dedicated to studying Roma employment
in Spain of 2005 (see Annex 2).
In Romania, the questionnaire was a multi-thematic one, with an estimated
length of 30-40 minutes and a maximum of 15% open questions, applied via
face to face interview technique, at the subjects domicile. The questionnaire
includes the following thematic sections: general data; activity; employment;
unemployment; discrimination; social inclusion; housing; migration experience;
migration intentions; ethnic affiliation; income; household roster.
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The qualitative element involved the execution of 5 case studies, with 5
self-identified Roma of over 16 years. In-depth interviews were conducted based
on the interview manual provided by the team of researchers. The case studies
were carried out with Roma persons, the selected situations being characteristic
to the problems of Roma inclusion on labor market. The case studies were
conducted based on an in-depth interview with the selected person, a visit to this
person’s domicile and by observing his/hers living conditions within the
community in order to obtain as complete and relevant information as possible.
All five interviewed persons are persons with external migration experience.
By this research, the partner organizations aimed to create a solid basis of
comparison, experience exchange and adaptation of practices that proved relevant
in the field of Roma inclusion on labor market and for the increase of their
employment rate in the four origin Member States. The partnership member
posses the required experience and with to develop it not only in the field of
work with Roma, but also in the field of the migration phenomenon, both of
these elements being addressed by the project in the context of becoming
problems of the labor market European aspect at the level of Member States.
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SOCIAL INCLUSION
Ana Maria Preoteasa and Daniela Tarnovschi
The concept of „social inclusion” was developed towards the end of the
’90 as active response to the social exclusion problem, which is a wider concept
than the concept of „poverty”, involving the aspects of marginalization, of limited
access to social services.
The term of “social exclusion” probably originated in the 70’s France when
it was used to define the individuals not included in the social protection systems:
physic and mental disabled persons, suicidal persons, invalid war veterans, abused
children, families with divorced parents, drug users, socially un adapted persons,
categories of persons which can not find their place in the society” (Rene Lenoir
in “Les Exclus”, 1974, apud. Arpinte, Baboi, Cace, Tomescu, Stãnescu, 2008:
340). In the context of numerous social issues faced by many groups from France
governed by Mitterand administration (1981 – 1994), social exclusion became a
part of the public policies, together with the new principles of social cohesion,
insertion and social integration. This concept has a particular sonority for the
countries that share with France a republican tradition and where social cohesion
is seen as essential for keeping the society establishment agreement (T. Burchardt,
2002). Some authors have claimed that in the context of the 70’s and 80’, when
governments were not recognizing the existence of poverty in their countries
and the sympathizers of the right were more and more concerned with regard to
the social polarization associated with a rapid increase of income inequity, „social
exclusion” was a concept comprehensive enough to include both perspectives.
This enabled the continuation of debates on social policy at European level (T.
Burchardt, 2002). The European Union itself prefers to use this concept precisely
to ensure that the economic integration does not leave on the outside the social
integration, thus generating poverty for certain vulnerable groups and areas (N.
B. Whelan, 1996, apud. Arpinte, Baboi, Cace, Tomescu, Stãnescu, 2008: 341)
At the end of the 80’s and at the beginning of the 90’s, this term was assumed
at the European Union level. If at first the concept was promoted by programmes
for fighting against poverty, during the first half of the 90’s, the social exclusion
and inclusion becomes an integrating part of all EU policies (The Maastricht
Treaty, the European Social Fund objectives, the European Parliament documents
and the Social Action Programmes of the European Commission). This term was
established during the Lisbon Special European Council of 2000, where the
European Union Strategy, known as Lisbon Strategy, was launched (Arpinte,
Baboi, Cace, Tomescu, Stãnescu, 2008: 341).
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In the Social development Encyclopedia (2007: 241) C. Zamfir, M. Preda
and A. Dan are providing a possible definition of social exclusion: “mainly, a
failure circumstance regarding full accomplishment of citizenship rights, due
to structural causes of social- economic nature, as well as due to causes of
individual nature”.
In a report on social inclusion, drawn up by the European Commission and
Council in March 2004 (7101/04), the following definition is established: “The
social inclusion is the process which ensures that those at risk of poverty and
social exclusion gain the opportunities and resources necessary to participate
fully in economic, social and cultural life and to enjoy standard of living and
well-being that is considered normal in the society they live in. It ensures that
they have greater participation in the decision making which affects their lives
and that they have access to their fundamental rights.”
On the other hand, the same report defines social exclusion as: “a process
whereby certain individuals are pushed to the edge of the society and prevented
from participating fully by virtue of their poverty or lack of basic competencies
and lifelong learning opportunities, or as result of discrimination. This distances
them from a job, income and education opportunities as well as social and
community networks and activities. They have limited access to power and
decision-making institutions and, thus, they are often feeling powerless and unable
to take control over the decisions that affect their day to day lives.”
In the European Union documents, social inclusion replaces the term of social
exclusion from the public policies perspective, being considered as „the policy of
response to social exclusion situations, in the European Council documents from
year 2000" (Arpinte, Baboi, Cace, Tomescu, Stãnescu, 2008: 348)
In the European Commission Communication „European platform against
poverty and social exclusion: a European framework for social and territorial
cohesion”1, the poverty and social exclusion reduction targets are defined by
the European Council based on 3 indicators: poverty risk rate, material deprivation
rate and percentage of persons living in extremely low work intensity households.
These indicators were developed within the open method of coordination on
social protection and social inclusion.
In the case of a sociological definition, the social inclusion is seen as
„granting certain rights to persons and groups of the society, like employment,
adequate housing, medical care, education and training, etc.” (Collins English
Dictionary, 2003).
The concept of social inclusion is taken in the Romanian institutional
language as of year 2001, along with adopting GD no 829/2002 on approving
the National Anti-Poverty and Social Inclusion Promotion Action Plan. Another
1 “European platform against poverty and social exclusion: European framework for social and territorial cohesion”
(16.12.2010, COM(2010) 758 final)
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significant document for social inclusion promotion is the Join Inclusion
Memorandum, drawn up by the Romanian Government and the European
Commission in 2005. The purpose of this document is to promote social inclusion
and to fight against poverty in Europe until 2010 by monitoring the
accomplishment of Lisbon Strategy objectives. Also, the National Development
Plan (NDP) (2004-2006) for pre-accession period and the NDP (2007-2013) for
post-accession period must be mentioned here. One of the objectives of this last
document, clearly establishes that „human resources development, employment
and social inclusion promotion and administrative capacity strengthening” are
aimed.
In 2005, Romania adopted a set of social inclusion indicators (GD 2005)
for monitoring and assessment:
I. Primary indicators
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Poverty rate;
Upper and lower class ratio
Persistent poverty rate
Average relative deficit
Coefficient of employment rate variation
Long term unemployment rate, provided by the International Labor Office
Percentage of population from households without employed persons
Percentage of 18-24 year young persons who abandoned early the
education system
9. Life expectancy at birth
10. Percentage of persons who consider their health as bad or very bad
II. Secondary indicators
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Poverty rate at 40%, 50% and 70% threshold
Poverty rate by comparison to a time anchored threshold
Poverty rate previously to social transfers
Gini coefficient
Persistent poverty rate at the 50% threshold of income average available
per equivalent adult
III. Tertiary indicators
1. Resources (Poverty and inequity, Social transfers, Exclusion of employed
persons)
2. Labor market (Exclusion from labor market, Exclusion of employed
persons)
3. Housing conditions (House quality, Utilities, Access to housing and
accommodation cost, Appliances, Overcrowding)
4. Education (Participation to education, Education capital)
5. Exclusion from health (Rights and access to healthcare services, Mortality
and morbidity, Healthy life)
6. Public order
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In the “Manual for good practices in public local policies implementation”
(M. Cãluser, I. Dezso, D. Pop, M. Sãlãgean, I. Szabo, EDRC (Ethnocultural
Diversity Resource Center) and CENPO (Public Policy Center), 2008: 48), the
authors are providing a definition of social inclusion, seen as “the process
whereby persons at high risk of poverty and social exclusion gain access to
the opportunities and resources necessary to fully participate in economic,
social and cultural life and to enjoy a standard of living that is considered
normal in the society they live in”. The authors feel that this process involves
„a more active participation in the decision-making process which is affecting
their lives and guarantee of fundamental rights” and, thus, „social inclusion is
the process which seeks to ensure the opportunity of life accomplishment for
each person, regardless of identity or the group that person belongs to. In
practice, the achievement of social inclusion is the absence of discrimination
based on ethnic, race, gender, etc. Grounds, the lack of social marginalization,
ethnic, race segregation”.
The Social Welfare Law no 292/2011 (letter z, sub-letter cc) provides a
definition of the social inclusion process, namely, “ensemble of multidimensional measures and actions in the field of social protection, work force
employment, housing, education, health, information-communication, mobility,
security, justice and culture, designed to fight social exclusion and to ensure
an active participation of persons in all economic, social, cultural and political
aspects of the society.” The same Law (292/2011, letter z. Sub-letter dd)
immediately defines the process of social integration which, is the interaction
between a person or a group and the social environment and by which, a
functional balance of the parties is achieved”.
With regard to Roma situation, an integrating political approach was proposed
at the European Union level through the National Strategies of Roma Integration,
established for 2011-20202. Specific objectives were laid down for four key
action areas:
1. Access to education: guaranteeing that all Roma children finish, at least,
the primary education cycle;
2. Access to work force employment: reducing the gap between Roma work
force employment and the rest of the population employment;
3. Access to healthcare services: reducing the gap between Roma and the
rest of the population in relation to health;
4. Access to housing and essential services: reducing the gap between Roma
and the rest of the population in relation to access to housing and public utilities
(like water, electric power and gas supply systems).
2 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, Council, the European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of the Regions 5.04.2011, COM(2011) 173 final
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Eu-Inclusive Project. Data transfer and exchange of good practices regarding
the inclusion of Roma population between Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Spain,
four major areas have been taken into account (see European Commission
Communication COM(2011) 173 final3), areas of social inclusion specific for
Roma population in the four countries of the partnership: Romania, Bulgaria,
Italy and Spain. Hereinafter we will present the results of the research, divided
on the following areas: education, health, housing and discrimination. The areas
regarding employment and migration, which are the core of this research, will
be treated in separate chapters.
Bibliography
Burchardt T., Le Grand J., and Piachaud D. Introduction în Hills, J., Le
Grand, J. and Piachaud, D., Understanding Social Exclusion, Oxford
University Press, Oxford, 2002
Arpinte D., Baboi A., Cace S., Tomescu C., Stãnescu S., Politici de
incluziune socialã în Revista Calitatea vieþii, XIX, nr. 3-4, 2008 (Social
inclusion policies) - Life Qyuality Magazine
Zamfir C., Preda M. and Dan A., Excluziunea socialã (Social Exclusion)
- Zamfir C. and Stãnescu S. (coord.) Enciclopedia Dezvoltãrii Sociale
(Social Development Encyclopedia), Polirom, Iaºi, 2007
European Commission and Council on social inclusion – March 2004
(7101/04)
Cãluºer M., Dezso I., Pop D., Sãlãgean M., Szabo I., Ghid de bune
preactici în implementarea politicilor publice locale (manual of good
practices for public local policies implementation). EDRC and CENPO,
Cluj-Napoca, 2008
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, Council,
the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions, of 5.04.2011, COM(2011) 173 final
Collins English Dictionary, Harper Collins Publishers, 2003
3 Ibidem 2.
168
SPECIFICITY OF EMPLOYMENT OF ROMA
IN ROMANIA
Ana Maria Preoteasa
Employment of Roma in Romania
The employment significance for Roma population is given, mainly, by the
financial aspect ensured through work and by the income obtained thus, as well
as by the cultural, social, and educational aspects. This chapter discusses the
issue of Roma employment considering the specificities of their work and,
constantly, taking into account the effects of the type of performed economic
activity and the relation with social inclusion. The studies regarding Roma
minority from the last 20 years considered the employment area, along with the
education, cultural pattern, ethnic identity, family problems, living standard,
housing, etc. We used in the following analysis, references to other studies, as
well. Due to the fact that the employment aspect cannot be studied by following
a unique model, we have compared the data dynamic for similar indicators.
This study, being part of an international research, included a common set of
indicators/questions related to employment, questions similar to some extent to
those used in Survey on households labor force (INSE)4.
The concept of employment is a complex, multi-dimensional one which, in
addition to the classical idea of havinga stable job, includes other labor force
selling (hiring) methods, through temporary activities, less formalized from the
contracting point of view. A similar concept is „work”, defined in our modern
society by two areas: productive activity and financial payment.
In the last 20 years, employment context in Romania suffered repeated
changes, going through various stages determined by the economic and politic
situation of the country (high unemployment rate at the middle of the 90’s,
economic growth after 2000 and a relapse generated by the economic crisis of
the last three years).
Over time, Roma employment context was influenced by the national
economic conditions and by community specific: low level of education,
qualification and training not adapted to the labor market, traditional qualifications
and crafts. Main factors which prevent Roma access to labor market can be
classified according to two large aspects: individual level, institutional/employer
level (see the following table).
4 AMIGO, National Statistics Institute (Labor Force Survey Eurostat)
169
Table 1: Factors preventing labor market access (Cace et al 2010)
The roma traditional model of employment include less formal activities with
flexible working hours, perpetuates the specific crafts (fiddler, spoon maker, tinker,
brick maker, etc.) but do not provide continuity of income, nor social security.
The link between employment and social inclusion has lead to research
hypothesis which guided the execution of this study, as well as the analysis
presented in this chapter. The following figure illustrates the main employment
and unemployment formats. The analysis of the Roma employment data shows
an increased vulnerability generated by the involvement in less formal activities.
As evidenced by the figure, the declared jobs are not exclusive, the inactive jobs
being overlapped with the active one (informal or non - formal). Characteristic
to Roma population is the involvement in less formal activities, located on the
border of non-employment.
Figure 1: Employment patterns
The following section analyses and discuss in detail the main employment
types encountered among the Roma population, using the research data, as well
as other sources of data.
170
Structure and types of employment of Roma population
Previous studies were interested, mainly, in the professions of Roma,
especially traditional Roma crafts . In 1992 (Zamfir Zamfir 1993), shortly after
the revolution, 22% of the Roma were employed, 17% were engaged in „own
businesses”5 and 45% declared themselves „unemployed”. In 1998 (Zamfir,
Preda 2002), the situation was as unbalanced as in 1993 in favor of the
unemployed and inactive persons (48%) and the percentage of self-employed
was similar (33.6%). The employed persons percentage was of 12.9%, a decrease
by half by comparison to year 1992.
The studies carried out after the year 2000 are largely confirming the trend
seen at the end of the 90’s. Factors like accelerated migration and free movement
of Roma, as well as the affirmative measures included in the policies for Roma,
have lead to minor changes of Roma population employment types.
In 2011, Roma employment structure continues to show a low degree of
labor market integration. There is a high percentage of unstable jobs, which do
not offer continuity or security. The rate of Roma population employment is of
35.5%6, 36% would want a job and 28% being inactive. This is a low employment
rate by comparison with the national rate. At the level of general population
from Romania, the employment rate was of 58% in 2011 and the unemployment
rate was of 7.6%.
The percentage of Roma with a stable job is significantly smaller: only 10%
of respondents have worked continuously in the last two years and 51.5% of
respondents declare that they have never worked in the last two years.
Graph 1: Employment percentage for the last two years
The percentages are calculated from the total sample
Data source: SOROS 2011
5 Most likely, this refers to self-employed/independent workrs
6 This category includes all persons who, during the last week, before the interview, have worked minimum one hour, paid
or unpaid, in the household or outside. Employed persons on medical leave, child care leave, etc. Have also been included.
(ILO definition)
171
Low percentage of population with stable employment situation shows an
increased vulnerability and high risk to poverty and social exclusion through
the consequences generated by the lack of social and health insurances and by
the precarious financial means. The analysis per gender of employed population
structure shows significant differences in favor of men performing economic
activities in higher percentage (44.3% by comparison to 27.4%).
The below table illustrates the summarized characteristics of employed
persons by comparison with the other two categories. There are significant
differences given by the gender (the percentage of men is higher than the
percentage of women), as well as by the education level (employed persons
have a higher level of education), by the basic skills (writing and reading). No
differences are shown with regard to the domicile and in the case of age, the
percentage of young persons integrated on the labor market is lower.
Table 2: Characteristics of population depending on jobs
172
Formal employment: traditional crafts and modern
professions
Of the total sample, 34% have worked for wage or other cash or in kind incomes,
as employee or self-employed even if occasionally, 1.4% have worked pro bono
(for a company or enterprise pertaining to a family member) and 0.5% have an
employment agreement (are regularly working) but due to certain personal reasons
(holyday, medical leave, maternity leave or child care leave) are not working, currently.
The occupations structure confirms the typologies underlined by the studies
conducted in 1993 (Zamfir and Zamfir) and in 2002 (Cace): Roma modern
professions and traditional professions, as well as the fact that a percentage of
the population has no qualification what so ever. This study did not include a
special section for professions/crafts, being more focused on jobs and, especially,
on formal jobs. Previous studies (with results published in 1993, 2002 and 2010)
have shown that Roma population percentage with no qualification is very high
by comparison with the general population. in 1992, the data were showing a
poor qualification: 79% unqualified, 16% qualified in modern professions and
4% qualified in traditional professions (Zamfir op. cit p. 102), in 1998, 52% of
the Roma were declaring that they have no professional qualification. In 2010,
44% of employed persons had no professional qualification7.
Graph 2: Employment structure per gender8 (%)
Percentages are calculated per gender • Source: Soros 2011
7 No information on the professional qualifications of the entire sample are requested, only the information on economically
employed persons.
8 Percentage of the employed persons total (persons who did not declared income generating jobs, like social security
benefits beneficiary, were excluded from the analysis)
173
This study data show that 38% of employed persons are working as unskilled
workers, 32% as different skilled professionals (workers, sellers, traders), 9% are
working in agriculture and 13% have traditional Roma jobs. Regarding the jobs,
there are significant differences between women and men: a higher percentage of
women are working as unskilled workers, at the same time having, more frequently,
jobs involving caring for disabled persons or children or as mediator.
With regard to the respondents’ age, there are no significant differences, but it
is important to underline the higher average age in the case of school/medical
mediators (45.1 years), of foster parents (40.7 years) of company managers and
owners (45 years) by comparison to the skilled and unskilled workers (35 years).
As expected, low qualified population has a low education level by comparison to
the persons with qualified jobs. 51% of the unskilled workers are illiterates (do not
know to write or read).
Traditional crafts, practiced by about 13% of the employed persons, are specific
for Roma population and do not imply a formal qualification but rather one acquired,
often, within the family or community, pertaining to the Roma kin in question
(Cace 2002 p.175). A detailed analysis of traditional Roma crafts was performed
in 2010 and established as most frequently practiced activities, the waste collection
(old iron, glass), brick making, spoon making, plants collection, musicians and
metal manufacturing (Ilie, p.38).
Security of jobs
With regard to the declared professional status, self-employed persons
category is predominant (over 50%), followed by the category of public and
private sector employee and, also, day laborers/with no employment agreement.
Graph 3: Professional/contracting situation (of the employed persons total)
Source: Soros 2011
174
The category of respondents declaring they are self-employed deserves
special attention, mainly because it is a comprehensive category and secondly
because it is at the threshold of vulnerability, being associated with the category
of under-employed persons. The lack of employment agreements and, thus, of
social security or health insurances includesthis population in a category with
social exclusion risk. Of the total self-employed persons, 90% are working without
employment agreement which could lead to the association of this category with
the category of temporary unreported employees, while the rest declares that
they are employed based on seasonal employment agreements. 54% of the selfemployed persons with temporary activity declare that they have worked on
temporary basis as interim solution because they were unable to find other
permanent employment. As such, temporary employment is not a voluntary
option, but one determined by the labor market which is not offering the possibility
of stable jobs based on unlimited term employment agreements.
Usually, the persons declaring they work based on temporary employment
agreements justify this employment format (65% of temporary employees) by the
lack of an alternative: “I have not found a permanent job” and only 5% have
voluntarily opted for this type of employment. Regarding the working hours, 35%
of the employed persons declare that they work full-time, respectively, 8 hours/
day, 22% work part-time because they were unable to find a full-time job, 14%
work part-time due to the nature of their activity and 3% have family obligations
which prevents them from working 8 hours/day. The average of working hours
per week9 is 31 hours at the sample level with differences between the rural area
(29 h) and the urban area (33 h), between women (34 h) and men (25 h). Also, the
following graph illustrates differences between age categories: medium age persons
(35-54 years) work more hours than young persons or older persons.
Graph 4: Average of working hours per week/on age categories
Source: Soros 2011
9 Question was: ”How many hours per week do you normally work at this job?”
175
The percentage of persons who attended training classes is very low:
only 1% of the respondents declare that they have attended training classes.
Non-standard jobs (Edgell 2006, p.126) are classified depending on a
few categories:
1. Contractual: freelancers / self-employed
2. Spatial de-standardization: work at home
3. Temporal de-standardization: temporary employment
4. Full de-standardization: paid/informal/contract free employment
Roma jobs largely pertain to non-standard categories, mainly being of
temporary nature and without permanent employment agreement, as
previously shown. The following section refers to the unemployed population,
including the persons declaring they are in search of a job, as well as inactive
persons who are unable or do not want to work.
Inactivity and unemployment
The category of persons who are not performing economic activities
is a large category and it includes home keepers, pensioners, incapacitated
persons, social support beneficiaries and persons with no job/unemployed
persons. But there are no exclusive categories: even of the total employed
persons (who, according to the definition, have worked at least one hour
in the last two weeks), 6.5% declare they are home keepers, 1.4% are
pupils or students and 2.7% declare that they have performed various
activities of community work (for social support). The percentage of home
keepers is very high: 41% at sample level and 66% of unemployed total,
followed by social support beneficiaries and pensioners 10% of the
respondents declare they are pensioners, percentage which is well under
the national weight of 25%. The low number of pensioners is explained
by the younger age of Roma, as well as by their non-inclusion in the
social insurance system, through which they are entitled to pension at the
age of 60-65 years (only 38% of the persons above 60 years declare they
are pensioners).
The structure on gender of unemployed and inactive persons shows
that 70% of the women and 52% of the men are included in this category.
176
Graph 5: Structure of unemployed persons %
Percentages are calculated of the total of unemployed persons,
classified on gender • Source: Soros 2011
With regard to the occupational status, overlaps are seen in the case
of average guaranteed income beneficiaries/social support beneficiaries,
of unemployed persons, of incapacitated/disabled persons who declare
they are home keepers, categories which are between economic activity
and inactivity. There is a fine line between inactive categories and the
category of persons in search of a job. The largest category of inactive
persons is the category of home keepers which, according to the
respondents’ answers, is not exclusively mentioned: home keepers also
declare they are pensioners, persons in search of a job or day laborer.
This category is a very large one when considered as overall, as well as
by comparison with the national level data.
To analyze the characteristics of home keepers we used a logistic
regression model (see the table below). The analysis of home keeper’s
characteristics indicates the home keeper image: female, modest education,
young age. Within modern families, household work is largely replaced
by the use of technology (dish washer, washing machine, vacuum cleaner,
etc.), but Roma families live in under equipped houses (no running water,
no sewerage) and have a low economic standard which makes it difficult
to purchase modern appliances. Also, Roma women’s low level of
education and lack of qualification are decreasing their chances of labor
market access, implicitly, leading to the perpetuation of traditional way
of living. Another explanation relates to the higher fertility rate of Roma
women and, consequently, their need to stay at home.
177
Table 3: Logistic regression model for housemakers characteristics
10
Source : Soros 2011
Previous studies showed, in the same extent, a high percentage of Roma
population declared as housemakers11: 67% in 2010 (Preoteasa 2010, p.49 12),
69% in 1998 (Cace 2002, p.172).
Active job search behaviors
Of the total unemployed persons, 56% want to work (23% of them
already searched for a job) and 40% say they do not want to work. Those
who have searched a job used, mainly, informal methods like asking a friend,
colleagues, relatives or, directly, the employers. State institutions (ANOFM –
National Agency for Employment, NAE) were the third option of these
persons. About 76% of unemployed persons expressed their availability to
start work immediately if a job would be offered, while the rest explain their
refusal to work due to reasons related to their integration in an education
mode (1.6%), family obligations (5.6%) and health issues (3.8%). Only women
explain their inability to start working by the family obligations.
10 With or without documents
11 Of the total of unemployed
12 Recalculated
178
Graph 6: Methods of job searching (% of the total of persons declaring they have searched a job)13
Source: Soros 2011
The objective of a section of questions, designed for unemployed persons,
was to identify certain specific behaviors of this population. The concept of
spare time and its opposite are virtually difficult to separate for the Roma
population. When asked how many free hours they had in the day previous to
the interview, the answers’ average was 8 hours (9 hours/man and 7.5 hours/
women), but the description of activities outside spare time referred to household
activities in 56% of the cases, child care or care for other disabled family members
in 12% of the cases, iron collecting activity in (1%) of the cases, rest in (8%) of
the cases, watching TV in 2% of the cases. The previous occupational situation
(one year previous to the interview) shows that women had, mainly, domestic
occupations and 34% of the currently unemployed men were in the same situation,
(16%) were working and 21% were involved in domestic activities.
Graph 7:Previous occupational situation (in the previous year) of unemployed persons
(% of the unemployed total)
Source: Soros 2011
13 Question with multiple answer, the person could give several answers. The sum is not 100%.
179
Unemployed respondents explain their difficulties in finding a job by the
following main factors: factors related to the economic crisis and lack of jobs in
general (40%), structural factors (28%), ethnic discrimination (15%), work
incapacity in general due to family obligations or bad health condition. Only 2%
of unemployed respondents say they have chosen not to work because they do
not need to. The comparison between women’s answers and men’s answers do
not show significant differences. Women appear to be more voluntarily passive,
saying they do not need to work and that they have family obligations (child
care or pregnancy).
Graph 8: Factors determining difficulties in finding a job (percentages of the unemployed
persons total)
Source: Soros 2011
Conclusions
In Romania, Roma employment level is lower than the national level. The
occupational structure of Roma population is specific to this ethnic minority,
being characterized by traditional professions or by low qualified professions
accompanied by a low level of social security.
Women represent a highly occupationally vulnerable category, most of them
being housewives, with no qualification and, thus, with little chances of labor
market integration. Employed women have limited qualifications, most of them
being unskilled workers. Young people are also representing a group with little
chances on the labor market. Another extremely vulnerable group is composed
of older persons where the pensioners represent a small percentage (the rest
being beneficiaries of social support or home keepers), this category having the
most difficulties in relation to labor market integration.
180
The category of unemployed persons is, in the highest extent, not included
in labor market integration programs because most of these persons are not
registered with the National Agency for Work Force Employment. Job searching
activity is performed informally, more by asking friends and relatives and less
by contacting specialized organizations or institutions.
Another characteristic of Roma population is represented by the high
percentage of home keepers, a category at the border between employment and
inactivity and providing no social or economic security. Most home keepers are
women with a low level of education and relatively young.
References
Zamfir Cãtãlin, Elena Zamfir (coord.) 1993 Þiganii între ignorare ºi
îngrijorare (Gypsies – between ignorance and concern), Ed. Alternative 1994
Edgell Stephen The sociology of work Continuity and change in paid and
unpaid work, Sage 2006
*** Legal ºi egal pe piaþa muncii pentru comunitãþile de romi Instrument
de abordare a comunitãþilor de romi pentru stimularea ocupãrii, Fundaþia pentru
O Societate Deschisã, Expert 2010 (Legal and equal on labor market for Roma
communities – Methods of approaching Roma communities to stimulate
employment, Open Society Institute)
Cace Sorin (2002) Meseriile ºi ocupaþiile populaþiei de romi din România
(Crafts and professions of Roma population from Romania) pag 157-182 - Cãtãlin
Zamfir, Marian Preda (2002) Romii în România (Roma from Romania), Ed
Expert 2002
Cãtãlin Zamfir, Marian Preda (2002) Romii în România (Roma from
Romania), Ed Expert 2002
Zamfir Cãtãlin, Simona Stãnescu, Cosmin Briciu (coord.) Politici de
incluziune socialã în perioada de crizã economicã (Social inclusion policies
during the economic crisis period), Ed Expert Bucureºti 2010
Preoteasa Ana Maria. Specificul neocupãrii ºi atitudini (Specificity of
unemployment and attitudes) - Cace Sorin, Ana Maria Preoteasa, Cristina Tomescu,
Simona Stãnescu (coord.) Legal ºi egal pe piaþa muncii pentru comunitãþile de
romi, Fundaþia pentru o Societate Deschisã (Legal and equal on labor market for
Roma communities, Open Society Institute) Expert 2010
Ilie Simona Ocupare. Meserii ºi calificãri (Employment. Crafts and
professional qualifications) - Cace Sorin, Ana Maria Preoteasa, Cristina Tomescu,
Simona Stãnescu (coord.) Legal ºi egal pe piaþa muncii pentru comunitãþile de
romi, Fundaþia pentru o Societate Deschisã (Legal and equal on labor market
for Roma communities, Open Society Institute), Expert 2010
181
IMPORTANT DIMENSIONS OF THE SOCIAL
INCLUSION OF ROMA POPULATION FROM
ROMANIA: EDUCATION, HEALTH, HOUSING
AND DISCRIMINATION
Daniela Tarnovschi
According to the aforementioned facts, within this research, we have approached
only a few of the dimensions of the social inclusion specific to the Roma population
of the four countries where this project is developed. In this chapter we shall analyze
the following: education, health, housing and discrimination.
Education
In Romania, the official data is missing regarding the participation of Roma
population to the education, because the Ministry of Education neither collects
nor publishes data broken-down according to the ethnicity of the children enrolled
in the school system14. Few are the data available for access. In an article about
to be published, Ghe. Sarãu (2012), counselor for Romany language and Roma
population within the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports, referred
to the ”school attendance by Roma pupils with assumed Roma identity” situation
and mentioned that there is a significant growth of their attendance in the
educational system.
Starting with the year 1990, many studies and reports about the Roma people
issues in Romania have been published of which conclusion, at least from the
education point of view, is that the level of education and professional training
of the Roma population is a very low one. These studies tried to replace the lack
of official statistics, by collecting data at the level of some representative samples
for the Roma population in Romania. The results of such studies carried out in
the last 10 years (Jigãu and Surdu, 2002; Fleck and Rughiniº, 2008; Duminicã
and Ivasiuc, 2010; Surdu 2011) highlight that there is a significant gap between
the educational results of the Roma children and those of the non-Roma children
as well as the lack of school attendance in case of the first group. The researches
aforementioned identify the most important factors adversely influencing the
educational trajectory of the Roma children and leading to school dropout:
14 Report of the European Parliament of 6 July 2007, regarding the enforcement of the Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June
2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (2007/
2094(INI)), Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, Rapporteur: Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg, points
43 and 44.
182
poverty, wide scale discrimination, mono-cultural curriculum, segregation, lack
of support, lack of early childhood education.
Very often the Roma leaders have highlighted the fact that the low level of
education of the Roma population in comparison to education level of the
members of other ethnicities represents one of the important causes of poverty
and shunning of the members of this ethnic group. A lot is discussed by different
instances about the importance of education for the social inclusion. Education
is considered, as Fleck and Rughinis emphasized (2008: 145) in the report “Come
closer”, as being a “strong force in shaping the trajectory in life and of the person
and in removing the person from extreme poverty”. After 1989, some concrete
measures have been taken in order to improve the school attendance of the
Roma children, to reduce separation in school and to increase the visibility of
the Roma culture, still, all of these measures did not lead to a substantial change
in the risk of school failure for the Roma pupils (Neculau, Curelaru, Zaharia and
Tarnovschi, 2009).
G. Bãdescu has distinguished, following processing the data collected for the
“Roma Inclusion Barometer” enquiry, that “the Roma people seem to have benefited
a lot less from a growth of the school level throughout the years than the members of
the other ethnicities in Romania” (Bãdescu, 2007: 76). The author notices that the
”difference between the educational level of the people under 40 years old and that
of persons over 40 years old is much lower in case of Roma people than in case of
the other respondents. Even among the younger Roma respondents, 95% have no
high school education and 21% have no education at all” (ibid.).
Within this research, “EU-Inclusive – Data transfer and exchange of good
practices regarding the inclusion of Roma population between Romania, Bulgaria,
Italy and Spain”, the interview subject was asked to offer information about all
the members of the household he is member in. We took into consideration in
the analysis, only those households in which live children with the ages between
6 and 16 years old. The respondents were asked to admit whether their households
have children of a school age (6-16 years old) that did not attend school. According
to the received answers, 2 out of 10 Roma children do not go to school, due,
most frequently, to the lack of financial resources.
There is nothing new in saying that illiteracy15 is currently, a serious issue
the Roma population faced with. As shown in the results of the research, a quarter
(25%) of the adults over 16 years old declare that they can not read and write,
according to the answers received for the two questions of the questionnaire16.
Women are more affected by illiteracy; there is a difference of 10% between
them and the men in regards to the (declared) capacity of reading and writing.
15 People who cannot read and write
16
183
The results of this survey are in accordance with the results of other surveys (see
Fleck and Rughinis, 2008; Cace, Preoteasa, Tomescu, Stãnescu, 2010).
The age group with the most persons declaring not knowing to read and
write is the one with persons aged between 25 and 34 years old (29%), followed
by the group with persons aged between 35 and 44 years old (23%), all those
persons being the very ones that should fully activate on the labor market. 70%
of the persons declaring not knowing to read and write come from the rural
environment. The same concentration of illiteracy (71%) is recorded in the case
of subjects coming from compact/segregated communities (isolated from the
other communities and characterized by a great ethnic homogeneity). What is
also important is the fact that 19% of the respondents who declared to have
graduated elementary school and 4% of the ones who have graduated middle
school admitted that they cannot read and write. So, we can say that illiteracy
mostly affects adults in the rural environment, and especially those belonging to
compact/segregated communities.
According to the data (see table XX), 23% of the Roma population within
the research sample did not graduate any school, 26% have graduated the first
four classes and 34% only the lower secondary school. Only 17% are attending
high-school, vocational school or even higher, all levels of education that could
offer them the necessary qualifications for their integration on the current labor
market even from Romania (the demands for the unskilled work force have
significantly decreased with the settlement of the financial-economic crisis that
has strongly affected exactly the sectors that absorbed an important percentage
of unskilled or poorly qualified labor force: constructions, retail and
manufacturing industry).
Table: Educational level
* data collected in 2011 within this research on a representative sample for the Roma population in Romania
** data collected in 2008 within the study “Attitudes towards work in Romania - Opinions, realities, expectations” of Soros
Foundation Romania
184
In comparing the level of education of the Romanian population (see table
XX), great differences can be spotted between the Roma representative sample
for this population (2011) and the representative sample for the entire population
of Romania (2008). Firstly, illiteracy is more than double in the case of the Roma
sample and those who do not have access to qualifications (not graduating at least
the lower secondary school cycle – 8 classes) is of 49% in comparison to 27%
which is the national average. As the educational level rises, so does the difference,
except those 5% of the majority that graduates the first high school first cycle
compared to 8% in case of Roma population. The reason consists of the fact that
children of the majority population continue their studies. The data reveals that
those who have not graduated school are concentrated in the rural environment
(68%) and in the compact/segregated communities (67%). In terms of the
distribution according to gender, the data reveals that women are more affected
(68%). If for the primary school, the gymnasium and the first high school first
cycle there are no great differences between the urban and the rural environment,
the Roma population in the city benefits from more opportunities of reaching a
higher education level. Therefore 6% of the urban respondents (in comparison to
only 2% of the rural respondents) graduate vocational, complementary or
apprenticeship school, 5% (in comparison to 3% of the rural environment) graduate
high school and 2% graduate a post high school specialty or technical foreman or
a university (bachelor degree, master degree, PhD). These differences are not
surprising, the same phenomenon appearing amongst the majority population.
The differences in terms of the educational level between the two genders remain
as the educational level rises, the women being those who give up school (most
frequently during lower secondary school cycle) in order to marry.
In this context we can say that the considerably lower educational level
than the one of the general population (see data in the previous table) affects the
qualifications that the Roma population can acquire and therefore the opportunity
of a sure professional trajectory. A low level of education decreases the
accomplishment opportunities of the individual on the labor market and therefore
the opportunities to secure a decent living standard for himself/herself and for
his/her family (see the Table “Characteristics of population depending on jobs”
from the chapter “Specificity of employment of Roma in Romania”)
Health
An important indicator of the social inclusion approached by this research
(“EU-Inclusive – Data transfer and exchange of good practices regarding the
inclusion of Roma population between Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Spain”) is
the health condition, which has a decisive influence upon the individual welfare,
and also the one of the family that the individual is part of. The consequences
are major in all other aspects of life: living standard, employability, education,
family etc.
185
A document published by the Ministry of Exterior of Finland17 (2011: 26)
stated, quoting the Report “Health of the World Roma population”, that in many
of the European countries, the morbidity of the Roma population is higher than
that of the majority of the population, and life expectancy, in some regions, is up
to 10 years lower. Among the reasons that determine this status we mention: lack
of medical information, shortage of medical services, difficulty of accessing the
medical services, low incomes and sordid living conditions. In addition to these,
come the communicational issues due to the language and cultural differences
between the Roma population and the staff providing the medical services.
Discrimination is added to all this, acting as an obstacle in accessing some efficient
and qualitative medical services.
The report “Measures to promote the situation of Roma EU citizens in the
European Union” drawn up for the European Parliament (Bartlett, Benini and
Gordon, 2011: 166) mentions that there are differences between the Member States
in relation to their capacity to provide adequate health services, this resulting in a
bad health condition for a great majority of the population such as Bulgaria
population and Romania population. It is estimated that the health systems that
provide “universal” access for all citizens (and not only) have a limited capacity to
provide adequate sanitary assistance for all, and the most affected are those Roma
persons living in poverty and marginalization. The fact that what is left of the
structure of the health services at the rural level (shortage of family physicians,
lack of medical cabinets, closing of the hospital units) comes as an additional
factor limiting the access of Roma population to healthcare taking into consideration
that most of them live in the rural environment, must not be forgotten.
A study from 2006 (G. Duminicã, Roma access to social services) draws
attention upon another important matter regarding access to medical services for
the disadvantaged persons: among the Roma communities there still are persons
not having identity documents and therefore not having access to the public
health system.
The Health Mediators Programme initiated in Romania by Romani Criss
and then taken over by the Ministry of Health was and still is given as an example
of good practice in many of the specialty publications. The initiative is taken
over and reproduced/implemented in other countries dealing with similar issues.
Up to the end of 2009, the sanitary mediators employed within the Ministry of
Health had good results regarding the facilitation of the access for the Roma
population to the medical system and not only (they also helped them in getting
their identity documents, encouraged the Roma children attendance in the
educational system). From the very beginning of the administrative
decentralization process and passing of the mediators in the suborder of the city
17 The Objectives of Finland for Advancing the European Policy on Roma. Finland’s Handbook on the European Policy
on Roma
186
halls, their number, their impact and the results obtained by them have been
found to decrease (C. Briciu, V. Grigoras, 2011). Currently (2011-2012), the
Ministry of Health continues to finance the sanitary mediators, but this is
accomplished through the city halls. The result is a limitation of the power of
resolution of the ministry over the modality in which the city hall decides to use
or not to use these funds (to extend the contract of the sanitary mediator) and
over the duties assigned to the sanitary mediator.
In terms of this research, “EU-Inclusive – Data transfer and exchange of
good practices regarding the inclusion of Roma population between Romania,
Bulgaria, Italy and Spain”, mainly focused on the analysis of the employment
situation amongst the Roma population in Romania, the number of items assigned
to the health condition was limited. One of the questions asked the respondents
to evaluate their health condition on a scale of five steps: very bad, very ill; bad,
ill; average, some complains; good; very good. 24% of the respondents of the
research have evaluated their general health condition as being bad and
themselves as being very ill, and 16% of the subjects of the research declare
some health problems. However, 70% of the subjects of the research have declared
that in the last 6 months they, or someone in their family, have appealed to the
health services.
Graph 1: Evaluation of the health condition (%)
Source: Soros 2011
Roma men evaluate their health condition as being good and very good in
a higher proportion (57%) than the Roma women (48%). This aspect is explained
within the Report “Legal and equal on the labor market for the Roma
communities” (Cace, Preoteasa, Tomescu, Stãnescu, 2010: 59) by the fact that
”the actual poorer health condition of the Roma women who give birth and
grow a considerable number of children, […] can leave a mark upon their health
condition and their healthcare need”.
187
When the issue of the health insurances and free access to the health services
was raised, half of the interviewed people declared themselves as beneficiaries
of such scheme. 55% of the women in the survey sample declared to have health
insurance or free access to the health services in comparison to 45% of the
interviewed men.
For this research, the respondents have been asked in this survey to perform
an evaluation of the quality of the medical services, 35% answering that they are
poor and very poor. Out of these unsatisfied respondents, 29% declared to have
free access to the health services, therefore contact with the health system in
Romania does not modify anything in their bas impression, but on the contrary,
it can fuel it. There is a noticeable difference between the Roma persons from
the compact/segregated communities, who in a proportion of 40% evaluate these
services as being bad and very bad (31% being those with free access to the
services) and only 24% of the Roma peoples from the dispersed communities
believe the same thing (23% being those with free access to the services). The
explanation consists of the fact that the majority of the compact/segregated
communities (see the housing related part) are found in the rural environment,
the one most affected by the reform of the health system (closing of the hospital
unit according to the efficiency). Another aspect considered within the research
in terms of health is the one related to the level of discrimination felt upon contact
with the staff of the health centers and hospitals. 54% of the respondents declared
to have felt discriminated in relation to these authorities (see chapter about
discrimination).
Housing
Housing and access to a decent home (including the infrastructure related
to the housing) represent another important indicator of the social inclusion,
taken into consideration in the Communication of the European Commission of
5 April 2011 “An EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to
2020” where there is a mention that Roma persons “often live in poor conditions,
including without proper access to public utilities such as water, electricity or
gas, and non-sedentary Roma persons often come across difficulties in finding
appropriate spaces with water access” (COM(2011) 173 final: page. 8).
The lack of homes or their poor condition form a substantial issue the Roma
population faced with in post-communist Romania (Risks and Social Inequities
in Romania, 2009), as the majority population with a low loving standard. Due
to the low living standard, some of the Roma population has lost their homes
received during the previous communist regime or they have abandoned them.
Within this research sample, 53% of the interviewed people declared that
their home is located in the rural environment. Only 4% of the respondents
declared to live in the centre of the city, 31% living in the city, but on the outskirts
188
of the city, in the suburbs. Compact/segregated communities (isolated from the
other communities and characterized by a great ethnic homogeneity) are especially
found in the rural environment, as the collected data reveal.
According to this study, 82% of the respondents declare that their current
home is the personal property of a member of the household (no mortgage or
loan), results confirmed by the previous studies – in 2007, 85% of the respondents
declared the same housing status (Fleck and Rughinis, 2008: 109). We must be
critical about these data because the questionnaire recorded only the answers for
the question “Your current home is ...” that could easily distort the answers, as
the interviewed person was not asked about the ownership of the land that the
home is built upon.
Out of the total of interviewed people, 6% benefit from a home rented from
the State or municipality, 5% declare to use the house/dwelling without paying
rent and for 1%, the home is an improvised one. A single case from the survey
sample declared that his home is own with mortgaged, meaning that the family
managed to obtain a loan from the bank in order to purchase the property. The
lack of mortgaged properties is due to the fact that a significant percentage of
the Roma population does not have a stable job based on a legal employment
agreement that would facilitate a loan. Insignificant differences (under the
statistical margin of error) between the results of the two aforementioned researches
(Roma Inclusion Barometer 2008 and EU-Inclusive - 2011) are recorded also in
terms of usage of the State owned homes by the interviewed Roma population:
4% in 2008 and 7% in 2011.
The data of the research reveal that the number of rooms per dwelling is
2.38 rooms per dwelling, lower than the one registered for the Romanian
population (2.6 rooms/dwelling in 2009, 2011: 21) 18 . Most frequently, the
dwelling of the Roma persons from the survey sample has 2 rooms (2.6 rooms
per dwelling in 2009 for the majority population, 2011: 21)19. In terms of the
average surface of the dwelling of the Roma population included in the EUInclusive survey sample, this is of 37.23m2, by 1m2 smaller than the average
surface per dwelling for the Romanian population in 2009 (2011: 21) 20. The
housing issues are just starting to be reflected in the answers to the questionnaire.
Therefore, the research data reveal that 23% of the Roma persons from the sample
share the same room with at least two more persons (so a room is shared by 3 or
even more people). More than half of the respondents (58%) declare that the
home they live in is built of durable materials (stone, concrete, bricks, autoclaved
18 Housing situation in Romania (2011), coordinators: M. Voicu and A. Dan, Bucharesti, Habitat for Humanity Romania
and UNDP Romania.
19 Housing situation in Romania (2011), coordinators: M. Voicu and A. Dan, Bucharest, Habitat for Humanity Romania
and UNDP Romania.
20 Housing situation in Romania (2011), coordinators: M. Voicu and A. Dan, Bucharest, Habitat for Humanity Romania
and UNDP Romania.
189
aerated concrete, panels), but a significant percentage (30%) admit that their
home is built adobe or sun-dried bricks. The latter are traditional materials for
building homes, specific for the rural environment, less durable, but a lot cheaper,
specific for poor families with reduced possibilities to build homes using
resistant materials, of a good quality. These materials do not last in case of bad
weather conditions or natural disasters, they only offering a minimum of comfort
and protection (M. Voicu, A. Dan, 2011). The homes built of durable materials
are specific for the urban environment (73%), the ones made of adobe or sundried bricks being present only in 20% of the cases. With regard to the rural
environment, 49% of the homes are built of durable materials, but a percentage
higher than 36% are made of adobe or sun-dried bricks, the rest being made of
wood and other materials.
In 2011, 36% of the Roma households are connected to the drinking water
network (53% of the total households, according to the data recorded at the
census from 2002, Voicu and Dan, 20011: 33), 24% have access to sewerage
(public sewerage system or cesspit) (51% according to the data recorded at the
census from 2002, Voicu and Dan, 20011: 33), 16% have toilet with current
water (42% for the population of Romania, Voicu and Dan, 20011: 33), 68%
stating that the toilet is in the yard/outside. After filtration of the positive responses
to the questions about household toilet facilities (in house or outside), it results
that 21% from them do not benefit of this facility. The percentage is very high,
especially if we compare with the results recorded (10%) within the Roma
Inclusion Barometer (2007). It is possible that the values too high are due to
overestimation arising from how the questions were addressed. However, even
a percentage of about 10% is very high, if we consider the repercussions that the
lack of such facility has on the health condition.
Analyzing further the facilities, it results from the questionnaire that 91%
from the households of the Roma persons within the research sample are
connected to the electricity network compared to 84% in 2008 (Fleck and
Rughinis, 2008: 112), and according to the Census of population and
households from 2002, the weight was of 96% for the general population
(Voicu and Dan, 20011: 33). As expected, because access to water is a critical
problem in rural areas, 23% of those living in villages have access to current
water compared to 56% of those living in urban areas. There are significant
differences between those from the urban environment and those from the
rural environment regarding the access to sewerage, meaning that 44% of
those from the urban environment benefit of the public sewerage system or
have septic tank compared to only 13% of those from the rural environment.
In the Report “Risks and Social Inequities in Romania” (2009), within
the chapter intended to Social Services, it is specified that between 1990 and
2007, the public funds intended to the construction of new homes were quasi-
190
totalitarian guided towards the urban environment where 93.7% of these
houses were built, Romania being one of the countries from the area of the
former socialist States from Central and Eastern Europe, except for Bulgaria,
with the lowest construction rhythm. Even the National Agency for Housing
has not made a significant improvement. Despite the measures taken until
the present, both by the Government (Government Strategy for the
Improvement of Roma Situation 2001-2010), and also by numerous
international and national (Roma and non-Roma) NGOs, the housing
conditions, as presented also in the report of the Presidential Commission
(Risks and Social Inequities in Romania 2009), “of the Roma population
remain further under the average /standard values at national level” (2009:
118). The lack of some decent housing conditions has strong implications
over the health condition and the education level of these persons.
Discrimination
The discrimination is another dimension of the social inclusion, especially
in the case of an ethnic group. The phenomenon of discrimination is
commonly met throughout the history of Roma ethnicity. If during the period
before 1989, this issue was not discussed because of the assimilating policies
promoted by the Communist Party, after 1990 the phenomenon has burst
out. Not few times Amnesty International reported in the 90’s, forms of
community violence directed against the members of this ethnicity, from
police raids to house burning by members of other ethnicities (ex. Hãdãreni).
Within the Roma Inclusion Barometer (RIB) (2007), Mãlina Voicu
carried out a dynamic analysis of the intolerance level against Roma
population starting from 1990. The author concluded, on the basis of statistic
data, that in the last 13 years (period 1993-2006, data of RIB achievement),
the ethnic intolerance against Roma population constantly decreased. The
reasons invoked are both of economic nature (the improvement of economic
situation of population), political culture nature (acceptance of democratic
game, tolerance and inter-ethnic respect rules), but also of institutional
nature (legislative change, existence of some social inclusion programmes).
Another aspect specified by the researcher refers to the fact that the
intolerance level against Roma population must be considered within the
general intolerance decrease context of the last 6 years (the period to which
is referring is 1999-2006) (2007: 56). For supporting the arguments in favor
of inter-ethnical intolerance level decrease, Mãlina Voicu (BIR, 2007) calls
for prevailing opinion indicators indexes and reports that ”the interaction
is accepted by the majority population especially if it takes place in the
public space (work, school), but there is still reluctance regarding the
<division> of private space“.
191
Data of the Roma Inclusion Barometer, 2006
The data of the Romnibus carried out by IMAS in June 2009 for LDK
Consultants show that relatively high percentages of the respondents consider
that it is well and very well that: the Roma and Romanian pupils learn in the
same class (77%); Romanians and Roma work in the same office/workshop (75%);
Romanian and Roma children play together (74.2%). But when it comes to the
division of private space, the level of positive estimation begins to decrease: it is
well and very well that Romanians and Roma live in the same area (62.4%) or
that Romanians and Roma marry between them (51.8%) or that the daughter or
son marries a Roma person as well as an Arabian person (32.2%).
Within the research performed by CCSB (“Stereotypes about Roma
population”) for the “ProDemocraþia” Association, in June 2011, on the social
distance scale it can be noticed, compared to the data collected in November
2010, an increase of the tolerance level.
One of the reasons of the important changes in the percentages to the social
distance questions, as it is highlighted by Fleck and Rughini (2008: 13) can be
due to the increase of the awareness level on the meaning of politically correct
and incorrect answers, part of the democratic rules. An argument in favor of this
explanation is the fact that there is a constant level of non-Roma respondents,
“who refuse to accept a Roma person within their family – 76% (Ethnic Relations
Barometer 2002)” (Fleck and Rughiniº 2008: 13).
The results of the research carried out by the Research Institute for the
Quality of Life in 2010 at the order of Soros Foundation Romania within the
192
project “L@egal - European investment in the Roma future in Romania” (Cace,
Preoteasa, Tomescu, Stãnescu) show the fact that „the Roma continue to feel
discriminated in the daily life and consider that the ethnicity represents an
important element for the success in life” (2010: 67) despite the decrease of the
preconceptions related to Roma population. Both the Roma Inclusion Barometer
(2007) and the aforementioned research (2010) show the fact that the Roma
„consider that the ethnicity is important for the success in life and for the success
at school” (2010: 67).
In 2011, within this research, 62% of the respondents declared that they
never felt discriminated in the last year, compared to 34% who affirmatively
responded. In accordance with the aforementioned data (although we cannot
talk about a comparison complying with all the scientific rules), we can state that
what was writing Mãlina Voicu in 2007 (BIR, 2007) reflects the current reality –
thus, the (felt) ethnical discrimination faced by Roma with begins to reduce, the
efforts made so many years by various institutions beginning to bring results.
In this research, women are those who much strongly perceive the
discrimination (38%) compared to only 31% of the men. 32% of those from the
urban environment declare that over the past 10 years, the Roma community is
more discriminated, affirmation with which agree only 23% of the respondents
from the rural environment, better integrated and accepted by the small
communities of which member they are, but more isolated, in terms of the
frequency of relationships with as different as possible people.
The situations in which the discrimination is more strongly felt, according
to the answers received, are those related to the way in which the staff of the
health centers or hospitals behaves with Roma population (54%). Immediately
on the next place are situated the relations with the staff of social services (48.7%)
which show, according to the declarations, a strong discriminatory character
against Roma population. Mãlina Voicu (2007: 60) explains that this behavior of
those from hospitals and social services (who are mainly within town halls) by
quoting the work of Lipsky Michael (1980) “Level – Street Bureaucracy
Dilemmas of the Individuals in the Public Services”. In this work, the author
above mentioned by M. Voicu, puts this discriminatory behavior on the account
of “discretionary power available to their employees [...] and on the fact that
they must make a selection between different applicants and distribute resources
depending on a number of bureaucratic criteria”. Thus, the public officers tend
“to act depending on their own preconceptions and to favor those similar to
them.” (Voicu, BIR 2007: 60).
42% of the respondents report the existence of some discriminatory behaviors
within the interviews for a job, the employer showing such an attitude, which
subsequently may significantly influence the possibility of finding a workplace.
193
Also related to the discrimination felt upon hiring, 34% of Roma people within
the research sample report its existence among those who offer temporary
employments, and 23% talk about the existence of a discriminatory behavior to
the officers of the County Agency for Employment (AJOFM).
These data must be looked within the context. Fleck and Rughiniº (2008:
55) report an important aspect concerning the perception of discrimination –
discriminatory practices can be perceived if the relevant person interacts with
the relevant authorities/agents. A reduced level of discrimination in the
relations with the employers, especially in the relations with the employees
of the County Agencies for Employment can be due to the less frequent
contacts with these agents because of the situation of most of the Romanian
citizens of Roma ethnicity – they are poor, having a low level of education,
not having professional skills, living from welfare, marginal and marginalized
by the society. Within this research, only 7% of the respondents stated that
they or someone from their family has required in the last 6 months advisory
services for finding a workplace. Manifesting these reserves, we cannot state
that the discrimination on the labor market reduced compared to the 90’s.
All the facts showed until now, especially the warning to not believe too
easily that the discrimination has decreased, are confirmed by the answers
given to the last question about discrimination. For 31%, the phenomenon is
as intensively felt as 10 years ago, for 24% such feeling even increases in
intensity, meaning that half of the sample respondents report that the
discrimination is as strong as before and even increases. Only 26% consider
that the Roma discrimination level has reduced and 10% state that they do
not feel discriminated.
Conclusion
In general the level of formal education is low within the Roma population,
2 of 10 children of scholar age not attending school. To these data, it is added
the fact that a quarter of the population is illiterate and that for half of those from
the sample, (including here also the first group of whose answers are
representatives for the Roma population in Romania, according to the sampling
frame), the maximum level of education is the one of primary school. They are
those who have no possibility (except following attending “The second chance”
Programmes aimed to the increase of the adults’ education level) to benefit of
qualification training able to ensure for them an officially recognized diploma,
because the legal provisions in force require for qualification a minimum 8 classes
(completion of gymnasium cycle) as necessary minimum education level.
According to the collected data, only half of respondents stated that they
have health insurance or free access to the healthcare, compared to over 97% of
the Romanian population (according to the data provided for the end of 2009 by
194
the National House of Health Insurance, www.cnas.ro, consulted on the date of
24 June 2011). The lack of access to healthcare for a great part of the population,
but also the poor housing and living conditions are the factors explaining the
higher rate of morbidity and mortality at the Roma population in Romania.
The data resulted following EU-Inclusive come to bring attention once again
to the housing issues of Roma population in Romania: agglomeration of many
persons in the same room, within houses built from less resistant materials, not
having access to basic utilities such as water, sewerage, even toilet facilities
(even arranged in the yard, outside the house). Undoubtedly that housing is a
basic element of the living conditions and it should satisfy some basic needs of
man such as those for housing, social integration, security and intimacy
(Mãrgineanu I., Precupeþu I., 2010). But for many Roma persons, the house is
just a poor and crowded shelter, not allowing intimacy and security.
From all the data about discrimination presented within some researches
developed starting with 2000 until now, we could agree with those showed
by Mãlina Voicu within the Roma Inclusion Barometer (2007), namely with
the fact that the felt ethnic discrimination faced with by Roma begins to
reduce. However, as noted by Mãlina Voicu (BIR, 2007), the phenomenon
still persists and needs precaution and consideration for the fact that we
deal with at least two large categories of factors: the instruments of
measurement of the level of ethnical discrimination (which would need an
adjustment according to the changes occurred in the society), the political
culture (acceptance of democratic game, inter-ethnical tolerance and respect
rules), leading in the last years to the amendments to law and quite many
measures for instilling in the society the fact that tolerance to diversity is a
value. The same type of observation – referring to the reported intolerance
level (captured by the research instruments – questionnaire, interview, etc.)
is made also by Claudiu Tufiº within the analysis of the data of the “Religion
and Religious Behavior” research carried out under the “Romanian Electoral
Studies” research programme developed and implemented by Soros
Foundation Romania. The author also claims that the reported level of
tolerance shall be always more reduced than the actual level of intolerance
because of the social norms condemning the intolerance against certain
social group.
Thus, the low level of education which favors the reproduction of the basic
social condition of the family, consisting of improper housing conditions
(overcrowding, low access or no access to utilities, houses built of cheap and
less resistant materials), discrimination and lack of free access to healthcare for
a larger enough group of individuals, does not leave room for opportunities for
the new generations to exceed the living standard of their parents.
195
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197
THIRD WAVE OF ROMA MIGRATION: MOBILITY
AND INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION OF ROMA
POPULATION FROM ROMANIA AFTER 1989
Monica ªerban
Third wave of Roma migration
In the 9th decade of last century, Western Europe countries were already
concerned with the wave of asylum seekers and of family reunification migration
which brought more and more „unwanted” migrants. Towards the end of this
period, the perspective of a vast space being opened for international free
movement, namely, the space from „beyond the Iron Curtain” (these countries’
transition to democracy would have, inevitably, provided the entire population
of ex-communist states with the possibility to freely exit their countries) frightened
the administrations of western states. Under these circumstances of alarming
assessments with regard to an increase of the migration from the east to the west
of Europe, a new phase begins, respectively, the phase of what experts call the
third wave of Roma migration to Western Europe (Reyniers, 1993, 2008).
With little time before the Ceausescu regime fall, in 1989, the first groups of
Roma population, originating from Romania, start to request asylum in the developed
Western European countries. This trend continues during the first years following
1989, in the context of increased ethnic conflicts between the Roma population
and the majority population. Germany represented the preferred target. In the spring
of 1992, estimates from Germany were already determining the number of Roma
asylum applicants from Romania at 20,000 (according to the Embassy of Germany
in Romania, estimate report quoted by Reyniers, 1993). It appeared that two
migration routes were developing: one leading to the countries in Central Europe
(especially to Germany via Austria), accessible, mostly, to the Roma in Transylvania
and the second, opened by the Roma in Banat region, followed by the Roma in the
south of Romania, and leading to the south of Europe, especially to the Latin
countries (Reyniers, 2003). During the period following the communist regime
fall, asylum requests were the main type of international migration practiced by
Roma population in Romania. In a country inheriting a limited range of geographic
mobility models (Diminescu, 2003), the method of refuge was highly used by the
entire population. The data on that period are difficult to account: most countries
of destination are not recording the ethnicity of the person requesting protection,
but we can surly say that tens of thousand of Roma have migrated, some being
able to reach their desired destinations (developed democracies of the Western
European area), others cutting short their migration at the gates of West (of that
time), in the camps from Czech Republic or Poland.
198
The restrictive reactions of western countries gradually decreased the use of
requesting asylum as migration strategy for Romanian citizens. Few details are
available with regard to the way Roma migration has evolved since the second
half of the 10th decade of last century and until the cancellation of the first (and
probably the most significant) barrier to Romanian citizens international migration:
visa limitation for Schengen Area, left as of 1 January 2002. Despite a high visibility,
possibly emphasized by the migrants establishment on the periphery of the
destination societies, it is very unlikely that Roma migration developed towards
an upward trend by comparison with the previous period. A gradual “loss” in the
majority population migration is much more probable (see Matras, 2000))21.
Determined by the worsening of their situation in the origin country,
Romanian Roma migration seems to be propelled by gradual and successive
cancellation of the barriers to free movement towards Western Europe (in 2002
by eliminating the control of Romanian citizens entry in Schengen Area based
on a visa, in 2007, by acquiring the status of European citizens). This is in no
way an exodus of Roma population from Romania but, possibly, an increase of
their travels abroad in the context of the majority population migration upward
trend. Although the percentage of Roma from South-East and Central European
countries traveling to the West is probably smaller than the percentage of the
majority population (Reyniers, 2008), or at most comparable to it (Matras, 2000),
since the beginning of the 90’s, Roma migration caused concern and unrest. For
that matter, this seems to repeat in the case of successive waves of Roma migration
in Europe: “À chaque fois, leur arrivée a suscité l’étonnement,l’inquiétude et le
rejet” (Each time, their arrival raised concern, unease and rejection), noted
Reyniers in 2008. A highly visible migration of persons without resources, who
settle at the margins of the destination societies, Roma begging in the capitals of
Europe, washing the car windshields at the crossings or selling free newspapers
in front of supermarkets, unsanitary and overcrowded camps, large families
started off in search of a better life, these are the images through which we read,
even today, Roma migration.
Periodically, Roma population migration resurfaces in the public attention
in Romania: a matter of concern, a matter of dispute, matter of negotiation/
renegotiation of our relations with the destination countries. Although visible
and significant (if we are to think only on the measures adopted by certain
destination countries in response to Roma migration, as well as to the response
reactions of Romania), Roma migration remains, for the time being, one of the
lesser investigated components of Romanian citizens migration abroad. The way
21 “Since the tightening of border controls and entry procedures in western European countries, especially in Germany,
Austria, and Italy, in 1992-1993, including strict asylum regulations, the classification of most eastern European
countries as ‘safe countries’ of origin or transit, and the introduction of readmission agreements, migration from Eastern
Europe to the West has for several years been largely covert and probably numerically more restricted than before.”
( (Matras, 2000): 35)
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in which this migration has evolved in time, the patterns according to which is
developing today and its consequences are far from being clarified. This text,
exclusively dedicated to the international travels of Roma from Romania,
constitutes such an effort to clarify a certain migration situation22.
This chapter includes five sections, seeking to structure: the mobility/
migration experiences, the current migration and the migration intents. The text
is organized to follow a chronological pattern of involvement in migration: from
those who, in the past, participated in the migration process to those who, currently,
are migrants and those who could/would be involved in this process, in the future.
The final section (discussions) tries to put together description/explanation
elements, organized according to the past/present/future Roma migration chart
so it may create an overall image. Obviously, this image, built based on data
collected at the origin, is sometimes unclear. Its main characteristics are: marginal
migration, marked by the lack of resources and driven by the need for material
resources, highly sensitive to context changes. The development of this
phenomenon accentuates after 2007 with departures mostly to the European
area, to only a few countries. The economic crisis seems to have strongly affected
the travels abroad: many of the persons who stayed aboard are persons who live
there for, at least, one year, while many of the persons for whom migration is a
short period of time lived abroad, currently have returned home.
Persons who went abroad and returned
International migration research in Romania already has a tradition in
recording and analyzing what is called migration experience/abroad experience
(see, for instance, Sandu (coord.) 2007). In fact, investigating the migration
experience implies highlighting the group of individuals who, during a certain
period of time, were involved, at least once, in a travel abroad which can be
classified as migration. These are the persons who went outside the borders of
the country and, due to various reasons, returned to the origin country. In parallel
terminology, they are return migrants.
The persons, who, at some point in time, accumulated one or several
migration experiences (meaning, migration events) but who currently are in the
origin country, represent a different category than the category of persons who,
at the same moment, are involved in the migration process (who are in the
destination country). The persons in the first category are not migrants, but ex
migrants. Obviously, they are the sole group of persons who experienced a
migration situation and from whom the information can be directly collected in
the area of origin.
22 Sometimes, due to repeating reasons, the noun „migration” is not added to the adjectival specification “international”.
Except otherwise specified, the references are exclusively related to the international migration. Due to the lack of
relevance of the differences based on departure point, respectively, destination point, contemporary migration only
seldom distinguishes between immigration/emigration. In the terms of classical migration, this document discusses the
emigration and the return migration, with regard to which, most often, we used the term of „migration”.
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Why are the experiences of these persons relevant for the knowledge on
migration? Probably, there are, at least, two options of answer to this question,
justifying the investigation of migration experience at its origin.
Firstly, the information supplied by these persons on their past experiences
represents one of the few sources based on which a image of the migration
originated in a specified area can be built, as a whole. If we discuss the migration
of Roma population from Romania, as a whole, and, to this end, we would use
the investigation of migrants (those who are at the destination), we would have
to integrate information collected from each of these migrants areas of destination.
Any generalizations base on the information collected from the migrant population
in a certain area (country, in the case of international migration) would, inevitably,
be affected by the particularities of the migration to the relevant country. The
alternative of extensive investigation of all destinations is expensive and
unrealistic, regardless if the origin area is Romania or another state. The image
we obtain by talking with ex migrants, in the origin country, is just an
approximation of migration. Its main limitation is given by the return process
selectivity. If between the persons who remain in the destination country and
those who return to the origin country are systemic differences, the image quality
is also affected. The pattern of migration can reduce or accentuate the
approximation difficulties. If migration is a circular one (with no differences
between destinations), meaning that the pattern of migration is based on frequent
departures from and returns to the origin country, it is possible to work starting
from the hypothesis of a high similarity between migrants (those who are at the
destination) and ex migrants. This assumption, based on previous studies, is
used in this analysis.
If migration experience can be useful to trying to describe the migration of
a population from the origin point of view, it is also relevant in terms of the
effects of this process (at least, on individual level). Contact with the reality
abroad (regardless if this contact is achieved by a migration experience or by
another type of experience) can contribute to changes on individual level (in
the case of Romania, this hypothesis is supported by data on the population as a
whole) (Sandu, 2010). Under these circumstances, knowing the distribution of
the migration experience becomes significant in discussing/anticipating the impact
of changes induced by migration.
Of these two motivations, this text is interested, especially, in the first one:
the way in which the migration history of Roma population can be rebuilt starting
from the investigation of migration experiences accumulated in the origin area.
The information collected during this survey are enabling us to identify
persons and households who have experienced, at least, one travel abroad, with
differences regarding the purpose of travel (work related/other purposes) and
regarding the date of travel (targeted time periods: 1989-2001; 2002-2006 and
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2007-present). Regarding the persons who traveled abroad after 1 January
2007, detailed information have been collected in relation to their most recent
travel abroad (departure year, departure purpose, time spent abroad, country
of destination).
Experience of travelling abroad at individual level
After 1989, a little over one fifth of Roma population, currently in Romania,
have experienced directly, the reality from abroad. Over three quarters of those
who were abroad for a certain period of time, traveled there with the declared
purpose of working. For Roma population, foreign countries seem to be the
place where the means for a better life can be obtained. This is probably how we
can interpret the selection of „work” option when justifying a travel23. Roma
migration is essentially driven by the lack of resources and the fact that other
types of international geographic mobility, regardless of their nature, are reduced,
supports this argument: of the persons who traveled abroad, only for a quarter
(6% of the total sample) the purpose of their travels abroad, after 1989, is in no
way related to work (Graph 1). For another 5% of the sample, work related
travels are accompanied by other purpose related travels. The collected
information are not enabling us to establish a causal order: we do not know for
how many of those who associated traveling abroad with work, one type of
travel succeeded the other: it is possible that we are dealing with a pattern of
exploiting the area for other purposes, followed by a work related return or other
purposes travel, achieved precisely due to a work related travel. However, these
two types of mobility appear to be in direct relation.
Predominance of work motivated travels is maintained under the
circumstances of the period after 1989 segmentation into shorter intervals:
departures abroad for purposes other than work are occupying a marginal position
in the external mobility experience of Roma minority from Romania, regardless
of the departure date.
The idea of travels to international area in search of resources seems to be
supported by the way in which abroad departure experience is distributed
throughout the time period subsequent to year 1989: On Roma population level,
this behavior is accentuated together with the reduction of migration costs. Until
the beginning of 2002, only 5% of respondents declared that they have spent a
period of time abroad, regardless of their reasons. If, during the first 12 years
following 1989 (1990-2001) the percentage of Roma who had traveled abroad
was very small, during the interval following 1 January 2002 and until Romania’s
23 The purpose of travelling abroad was recorded via closed questions, with distinction between work related travel/travel
related to any other purpose. The wording of questions (frequently used in Romanian surveys to record migration
experiences) enables the subjects to select the version „another purpose” without specifying that purpose.
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accession to the European Union (2002-2006), this percentage goes up to 8% of
the survivors of the period in question, who are in Romania, today. Together
with gaining the status of European citizens, a new change in the international
movement regime for Romanians rises again the percentage of Roma who are
traveling abroad due to one reason or another: about 15% of respondents have
experienced one travel abroad following 1 January 2007. In this case, the
percentages are more like indicators: they suggest an increase of international
movement in the case of Roma population, but the low number of cases in the
studied sampling (especially for 1990-2001 period) is not adequate for accurate
(stable) assessment. The data registration method does not allow a direct
comparison (the time periods differ in the number of years). However, if the
international migration intensity would have been constant between 1990-2011,
the percentage of those who traveled abroad should be proportional to the number
of years included in each of the abovementioned time periods. The fact that in
the 12 years between 1990 and 2001 the number of those who traveled abroad
is smaller than the number of those who traveled abroad during the 5 years of
visa free entry in the Schengen Area (2002-2006) and significantly smaller than
the number of those who traveled abroad in the last 4 and half years (2007-this
survey date) supports the idea of international mobility increase, as the costs and
risks of traveling outside Romania (in fact, to Schengen states and, subsequently,
EU Member States) have decreased. The survey data appear to support the
forecast regarding a higher involvement in international travels on the part of the
groups for which economic migration was blocked by the lack of the resources
required for departure (very likely, Roma population situation), following
Romania’s accession to the European Union (Sandu, 2010).
Figure 1. Experience of traveling abroad (individual level), depending on the purpose of travel
Source: Soros 2011
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After 2007, the decrease of costs/risks of traveling abroad introduces new
segments of population into the migration process: as we anticipated, most of
the persons who traveled or worked abroad after 2007 do not have a similar
experience previous to Romania’s accession to the EU.
If we focus our attention only on those who went abroad after 2007 and
today are in Romania, on individual level, the most recent travels are concentrated
in the last two years. Only half of the persons who traveled abroad between
2007 and present time, exited Romania most recently in 2010 or 2011 and over
four fifths starting with 2008. This information seems to suggest that Roma
migration is, currently, under full structuring process. High percentage of persons
recently departed abroad – recently returned illustrates a migration pattern based
rather on frequent departures and returns, than on long stages of stay abroad
followed by returns/long returns.
Data appear to suggest that the return to Romania occurs after a relatively
short period of stay abroad. Three quarters of the persons with experience of
traveling abroad have returned home after 6 months or less, most of them living
abroad less than 3 months. Work is the main reason for traveling and the fact
that visit abroad represents the second reason (with a very little difference)
suggests, as anticipated, that Roma migration is an economic one, market by the
lack of resources and the effort of seeking these resources outside the borders of
the origin country.
At European level, the image of a highly diffuse migration to various
destinations is opposed by the results of this survey: the returns between 2007
and present times are mostly from 5 countries – Spain and Italy, followed by
France, Germany and Hungary. The rest of Roma migration destinations,
exclusively European destinations, show low return percentages. To what extent
are there locations preferred for Roma travels abroad and with low rate of return,
remains open questions. If working according to the hypothesis that such
destinations occupy a marginal position in travels abroad, than these 5 countries
represent the current destinations of Roma population migration. Although the
persons who are now in the country mostly return from the south European area
(Italy, Spain), Roma migration does not appear to be as concentrated as the
migration of Romania’s population, considered as a whole. Closer return
percentages are seen from the countries in Central, Northern and Southern Europe.
Unlike Romania’s population as a whole, the states of the first accession wave to
the EU are also mentioned among the Roma travel destinations.
If the elements related to Roma history and culture as a population in
permanent movement could lead to the hypothesis of an accentuated circulation
between destinations (especially destinations in the European Union, where the
lack of free movement limitations could facilitate such strategy), this idea is not
supported by the survey data. With regard to the most recent travel abroad, most
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Roma who on the survey date were in Romania had considered a single
destination (regardless of the country). Two or three destinations appear only
marginally. Of course, it is possible that those using a pattern of international
mobility with travels between destinations to represent a population which does
not return to Romania. However, the information collected only in the origin
area does not allow any kind of considerations on such a possible situation.
Experience of travelling abroad at household level
The question whether migration (regardless if international or internal) is
the result of the person or the household decision represents a complex
discussion among the experts in this field. It is obvious that the measurement
unit of a migration is the person – because the person “makes” the actual
travel. However, explanatory models of migration (like the new economics of
labour migration) are highlighting the role played by the household in the
migration decision. Moreover, although the person is the one making the travel,
its movement may have, and most often it does, effects on the groups to which
the pertains to, mainly, the family/household. Often, as a result of migration,
children are left at home and the roles played within the family are changing,
while the family budget is affected by these departures. We are not trying to
settle here an argument related to the household/family significance within
migration, but to succinctly justify the motivation for introducing a second
level of analysis: the household level. In the case of a population with high
level of traditionalism, it is possible/probable that the household has an increased
significance in the migration process.
After 1989, over a third of Roma households have interacted with the reality
outside their country’s borders, through one or several members. It is obvious
that this value relates to the households whose members (at least one) are living,
currently, in Romania. Thus, it is probably correct to say that individuals from
over a third of Roma households have interacted directly with someone who has
traveled/lived abroad, at some point in time.
The analysis of travelling abroad experiences from the three specified
migration periods (1990-2001; 2002-2007; 2007-present) suggests that the pattern
of households involvement in the migration process is a long term pattern: once
one of the households has this experience through one of its members, it tends
to keep this characteristic for long period of times. Despite a relatively long
period of time, of the few households (8%) that, during 1990-2001, were involved
in abroad travels through one of its members, over 40% continue to use this
strategy after 2007, also. Such high percent of households that keep their mobility
is maintained during the next period: almost 65% of the households which
included a migrant during 2002-2006, continue to include a member who travels
abroad after 2007, also.
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Like in the case of data on person level, the analysis on household level
illustrates an accentuated increase of Roma travels abroad in recent period: about
a quarter of Roma households have the experience of traveling or living abroad
after 2007. Of these, over 60% are households new to the international movement.
Persons living abroad
On the level of origin, international migration is difficult to be measured. By
definition, this process is defined by the absence of a person from the departure
area. A survey conducted in this area can record „the absence” and can collect
only indirectly from those left at home information on the persons who are at their
destination at the date of the survey. The relation based on which these information
are collected is the relation of membership in the same household (this method
was used previously to this survey in order to establish assessments on Romanian
migration, see for example, Sandu, Dumitru (coord.) 2007)24. At the moment of
the survey, collecting information regarding each member of a household is marked
by the limit of non-recording households with all members departed abroad. It is
also possible that migration itself is an element which accelerates the separation
between persons and the household they left from. Even if the origin households
„keep” the members from abroad during the time abroad there may be situations
where migration is not declared, especially when departure/say abroad is not fully
regulated (by legal provisions). Due to this reasons, it is possible that collected
data may underestimate international migration/mobility.
Based on such type of data, despite the public idea that Roma population is
more under permanent and accentuated movement, the information collected
during this survey show a massive presence of members in the household: only
5% of the 5548 persons in relation to whom information were collected is
departed from the household, regardless the reason, time period or destination.
Most departures are external (over three quarters): internal area may be perceived
as one offering little mobility opportunities, characterized by an accentuated
predominance of departures for short term.
By comparison with the persons who have returned, according to the
information obtained from family members remained at home, persons departed
abroad prefer to stay abroad for long periods of time: almost half of the persons
departed are abroad for over 1 year. In this regard, the data seem to suggest a
gap between two categories of persons with migration experience: one category
of persons who depart for short periods of time and return home and another
category of persons who stays abroad for long period of time. In fact, it is possible
that the category of those departing for short periods of time be sensitive to the
environment’s pressures of reducing migration (like measures of forcing/
24 Based on a household roster, this survey collected information on each members of the 1109 households included in the
sample (5548 persons).
206
stimulating returns, recently implemented by France) or to the decrease of
marginal migration opportunities (for instance, decrease of migration
opportunities due to economic crisis effects exacerbation in the country of
destination). In the current situation, it is possible to witness a temporary decrease
in the segment that uses a circular migration pattern, characterized by short time
travels and (probably) frequent returns to the origin country.
Investigation of reasons for travels (related to persons over 16 years old)
illustrates a clear predominance of the economic reasons, at least in the case of
departures for over 6 months. Certainly, investigation of the motivation is
performed indirectly, and, on the level of answers, the activity of obtaining an
income abroad is associated with a high degree of social desirability.
Destinations of current migrants are more clearly segregated than the
destinations of ex-migrants: Italy, Spain and France are the predominant locations
where Roma population, currently abroad, is living (these three destinations
include together over 75% of the population identified as migrating population).
The rest of the destinations, exclusively European, each include a marginal
percentage of departed persons.
With respect to the age, as expected in the case of economic related migration,
young population of active age represents the predominant segment: almost 65%
of departed persons are of ages between 18 and 39 years; the percentage of
persons over 50 years old is low and the migrants over 60 years old are the
exceptions. It is interesting that, as the data on returns were suggesting, a relatively
high percentage of departed persons (17%) are persons under 18 years old. But,
this is not unexpected in the case of a young population with high rates of birth.
If we are to take into account the fact that departed persons over 18 years old are
mostly married persons or living in a couple (over 68%), it is very likely that this
high percentage of minors is determined by the children of couples who choose
to leave the origin country. High rate of migrating couples is, certainly, influenced
also by Roma population tendency to marry at a young age. Similar percentages
of men and women migrants are the result of family migration.
The future...
The interest for migration intention was developed in the area defined by
the pressure to anticipate migration development. If we are to accept that
intentions are good predictors of a future behavior (although there are authors
who challenge the fact that intentions have the ability to indicate future actions),
the value of intentions analysis would collapse under the weight of behavior.
Migration intentions are indicators for starting a process of assessment/decision
possibly resulting in the migration event (departure abroad). Many of those who,
in a given moment, declare such intention may give up this initial intent, due to
various reasons. Unquestionably association between migration intentions and
future behavior leads to abnormal results.
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Thus, this text starts from the idea that intentions provide clues on the
process of deciding to migrate. Intentions express the negative effect of the
“here – there” assessment (regardless of what location is “there”) (Hugo,
1981). There is no doubt that it is possible to argue that there are more
appropriate indicators for a person’s level of dissatisfaction to his/her situation.
The difference is that, in the case of migration intentions, the assessment
result is in favor of another location which, in case of international travels, is
a different social system. Acceptance of a departure abroad illustrates the
perception on the lack of any alternative for improvement in situ or by internal
migration. There are various levels of dissatisfaction. The meaning of
migration intentions relates to the fact that a person is so unsatisfied that it
leaves the country of origin. Leaving a country for another is not exactly
easy, especially if the person in question does not have the resources necessary
to facilitate the accommodation to destination.
This way of judging the migration intentions can be considered valid
as long as the origin or destination area of the persons who intends to leave
cannot offer the elements, external to that person, required to facilitate its
contact with the new society. In this case, migration is a strategy for risk
and/or high costs undertaking. But, if this phenomenon is well established
(in the origin country), departure abroad loses its characteristic of unknown.
On community level, the departure abroad becomes part of the living
strategy, which is an unproblematic acceptance of departure, something
like: „this is how it is done”, because „others have done the same” and „it
was good/it was good, eventually”. This way of looking at the departure is,
usually, associated with the existence of intermediary structures, like
migrants networks or elements pertaining to the migration industry which
facilitates travel to/stay in the destination country. This is not only about
departing because „this is how it is done”, but also about the existence of
manners to do it in a certain way, manners regarding which the person in
question finds support in those with whom is connected with even if by a
symbolic relation (like pertaining to the same ethnic minority).
The decision to or not to migrate is not influenced only by the migration
prevalence or by the discrepancy between what someone wants and what it
has or what it considers that it can have by adopting a spatial mobility
strategy. To the same extent, there are moments when the accessibility of a
mobility strategy (in this case, international mobility) is favored by the
measures of migration policy, measures which can reduce the costs and
risks associated to the international migration. In the history of international
migration originated in Romania, such moments have existed. Certainly,
one of them is year 2007: the right to free movement enabled the population
with limited resources to consider this type of strategy, at least, for the
European area.
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In 2011, in Romania, which became one of the main points of origin
for intra-European flows, and one of the European Union Member States,
the migration intention certainly has a significant different meaning by
comparison to the meaning it had at the beginning of the 90’s. If, during
the period when migration was very little developed, migration intention
could be considered the representation of dissatisfaction in relation to a
situation for which the person could not find/imagine a solution within its
residence area (or by internal migration), currently, this component is,
probably, lessened. International migration proliferation has the effect of
making it more „forthcoming” and of an easier acceptance of departure
abroad as solution to problems. Reduction of costs for abroad departures,
occurred after 2007, especially in the case of Roma population, may push
things towards an evolution in this direction. Under these circumstances,
the proliferation of migration intentions would not be unexpected, especially
in the case of Roma population.
This survey recorded intentions of departures abroad 25 for the following
12 months, by investigating: foreseen purpose of departure, degree of
determination (how sure is the subject with regard to its departure plans)
and possible destination.
When asked if they intend to travel abroad in the next year, 96%
respondents provided an answer (Figure 2). The high percentage of persons
who were able to say whether traveling abroad is included or not in their
plans for the next period suggests a process of „closeness” to migration. As
expected, in a society where external migration is a wide-spread
phenomenon, traveling or not traveling to a foreign country does not seems
to be a subject unfamiliar for the daily life of Roma. Valuing a location outside
the borders (regardless of this location) is high: 27% of respondents declare
that, for various purposes, they intend to leave abroad in the next 12 months.
This percentage shows a slight increase by comparison with the results of a
similar survey, conducted with about one year ago (the relevant survey
showed that 22% respondents answered that they intend to leave abroad in
the following 12 months) (Cace, Sorin; Preoteasa, Ana Maria; Tomescu,
Cristina; Stanescu, Simona (eds.), 2010). This difference is too small to
conclude that it shows an ascendant trend, all the more so as the relevant
questions included in these two questionnaires were slightly differently
worded. It is possible to say that the data are illustrating a steadied increased
level of intentions to depart abroad.
25 The term of „migration” highlights a certain type of travels within what can be called „geographic human mobility”. Due
to the fact that currently migration can take various forms, as well as due to an increased interest for travels which,
conventionally, can not be accepted as migration, this survey recorded abroad departure intents without imposing
limitations in relation to a certain migration definition, thus following the tradition of such studies conducted in
Romania.
209
Figure 2: Intentions to travel abroad
Source: Soros 2011
The space outside the Romanian borders seems to be, fundamentally,
associated with obtaining material resources. If we take into account the persons
who express their intention to travel abroad in the next 12 months, work motivates
a significant percentage of the respondents: 85%. As expected, in the case of a
population with resources deficit, the percentage of persons intending to leave
for studies is low (1%), while those intending to leave for other purposes are
14%. These results are consistent with the results of the previously mentioned
study which recorded 90% of intents to leave abroad for work, one year ago. Of
the total respondents, 23% intend to work abroad in the following year and
about 4% intend to travel abroad for another reason.
If the intention of departing abroad in the near future is relatively widespread among Roma population, only half of those who wish to leave (13% of
the sample) are sure or very sure that such a plan will become reality. Again, this
high difference may be an indicator of lack of actual resources required to travel
in a short period of time (the next 12 months). Uncertainty related to departure is
not significantly affected by the purpose of departure. Regardless of what they
intend to do in the destination country, 50% of respondents who which to leave
are sure that they will depart.
Those sure and very sure to leave abroad in the following year, are able to
mention the destination country in high proportion (89%). Most options regard
European countries (almost 88%) and repeat the destinations already associated
with Roma migration: only four countries sum up over 10% of the options (France,
Germany, Italy and Spain) and only two (Spain and Italy) exceed the limit of
20% options.
The classification of destination countries depending on the specific migration
history (destination countries of the first post-war migration wave; destination
countries as of the 80’s and recent destination countries – 2004 EU accession
wave) shows a rather balanced preference between Northern and Southern Europe
(37%, respectively 46% of the intentions) and only marginal intents to migrate
210
in the other areas. If the intention to travel southward is mostly related to two
countries, the spread of possible future destinations is much more accentuated
in the center and north. For most subjects, sure and very sure to leave in the next
year, the option to depart abroad is related to one country (56%). A significant
percentage (33%) takes into account two or three options for the destination
country. If we are to consider that, very likely, the destination option is related to
the existence of a previous connection with the relevant country, than the relatively
high percentage of persons declaring two or three destination options suggests
that the hypothesis of multiple connections and of circulation between destinations
id worth to be investigated.
If most of the population who wants to leave the country during the next 12
months would leave to work, as expected, the intention of work related travel is
not evenly divided at the level of various social categories. To investigate the
migration intent structure we focused our analysis on the intentions of migration
for work abroad.
The differences between gender are significant (Table 1): percentage of
men is almost double by comparison with women percentage. This conclusion
is consistent with previous studies on Roma migration (Cace, Sorin; Preoteasa,
Ana Maria; Tomescu, Cristina; Stanescu, Simona, 2010) and can be related to
Roma population traditionalism: the man is the main responsible for obtaining
material resources. The intention structuring in Roma population seems to be
consistent with the pattern identified a few years ago for the entire population: in
Romania, men more than women are initiating the process of migration (on the
subject of work related migration intentions on the level on Romania’s population,
in 2006, see (Sandu, 2010): 96-100).
Table 1: Intentions of work related departure abroad, by gender
Source: Soros 2011
As predicted, the intention of work related migration is concentrated on the
level of young population: the percentage of persons over 50 years old who
want to work abroad decreases to more than half by comparison with persons 10
years younger. Regarding the population over 60 years old, the interest to work
abroad almost vanishes. It must be mentioned that a significant percentage of
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very young persons want to experience a period of work abroad in the near
future: although depending on their parents decision to leave Romania,
26% of the respondents, with ages between 16 and 18 years, are considering
the possibility to leave. Is this regarding the young population dissatisfaction
with the opportunities available in the origin country or with the
establishment of a culture of migration in the origin country, which
transforms migration into a convenient option? It is possible that each of
these two arguments has a contribution in explaining the high percentage
of minors who want to work abroad 26.
Table 2: Intentions of work related departure abroad, by age
Source: Soros 2011
If the migration intention seems to be influenced by individual characteristics
of gender and age, the residence (Table 3) does not contribute to significant
differences: regardless if living in rural or urban areas, persons are equally
considering the possibility of working abroad in the next 12 months.
Table 3: Intentions of work related departure abroad, by residence
Source: Soros 2011
26 Low number of cases does not allow a deep analysis in this regard. Even in the case of differentiation between persons
intending to migrate for work and persons not intending to migrate, the percentages are slightly unstable.
212
As expected, work related migration experience conditions the level of
intentions: the percentage of persons who, in the near future, are thinking of a
period of work abroad is three times higher than the percentage of persons without
such experience (Table 4). The tendency of those who already migrated to repeat
their own experience is not specific for Roma population, the relationship being
verified for most diverse geographic areas. The explanations direct us towards
elements on individual level, household level and community level. A change in
the lifestyle of migrants (lifestyle which, most often, can not be supported by the
resources available to the returned persons in the origin area), accumulation of a
migration capital (as a form of human capital) which can be exploited to the
maximum only by repeating the experience, these are factors on individual level
explaining the tendency of ex-migrants to continue their involvement in migration.
On community level, migration culture or the pressure related to maintaining the
household at the same position within the prestige hierarchy of the community
of origin level, these are explanatory factors for re-involvement in migration.
The experience of a period of time spent abroad by one of the household
members seems to influence, in turn, the decision to work abroad or not. Persons
from households with overseas experience consider involving themselves in a
period of work abroad, in a percentage almost double (
Table 4). Such tendency, previously seen for Roma population as well as
for Romania’s population as a whole, is consistent with the explanations
according to which the role of decision to migrate pertains to the households
rather than to the person.
Table 4: Intentions of work related travel abroad and direct experience of work abroad/experience
on household level
Source: Soros 2011
While so far the specificity of Roma population was not considered at all in
the discussion regarding the structure of migration intention in this population,
Table 5 is investigating to what extent the migration decision associates with the
segment of population identifying itself as Roma (the indicator used is knowledge
213
of Romany language). The data appear to suggest that, at least on level of
intentions, the persons not characterized by specific cultural elements (nonspeakers of Romany language) include in their plans for the future, a period of
work abroad. If the image depicted by the media is that of traditional Roma
communities traveling to the West – the promise land, at least in the intention
stage, this appear to be the more visible side of travels abroad, not its structure.
Table 5: Intentions of work related departure abroad and knowledge of Romany language
Source: Soros 2011
In the same category of aspects specific to Roma migration, perceived
discrimination can be considered a factor which stimulates the establishment
of abroad departure plan. If the relevant persons perceives as hostile the
environment he/she lives in (and discrimination can be perceived as such
indicator), than his/her answer may be an extreme one, namely, changing
the relevant environment. Table 6 investigates this idea, illustrating the
differences between departure intentions of the persons who declare that,
during last year, they felt discriminated against, by comparison to the
departure intents of persons with no such perception. The distribution of
answers shows the tendency of persons, who felt discriminated against at
least one in the last year, to adopt an international mobility strategy.
Table 6: Intentions of work related departure abroad, by perception on discrimination in the
origin country
Source: Soros 2011
214
Thus, the data are showing high presence of migration, by intention, on
the sample level: 27% of respondents want to leave abroad in the next 12
months and of this percentage, 85% wants to leave for work. In the case of
Roma population, travel abroad is defined by economic purposes. As in the
case of the entire population (Sandu, 2010), intentions are differentiated:
rather men than women, rather young persons than old persons, those with
direct experience of work abroad, those pertaining to households with overseas
experiences, obtained by another member and regardless of the purpose,
non-speakers of Romany language and who, recently, felt discriminated, all
these persons seem to include work abroad in their plans for the next year.
In post-communist period, Roma migration turned out to be one of the
sensitive subjects discussed publicly, both internally and externally. Highly
visible, Roma travels outside Romania are constantly resurfacing as reason
for concern, regardless of the associated rhetoric. It is obvious that in these
circumstances, the questions related to how many and especially how many
by comparison with are highly iterative. The future is, particularly, of concern.
Regarding the question of how many, comparisons (where possible)
appear to indicate the maintenance, at relatively high level, the abroad
departure intentionss of Roma population for the recent period (2007, 2010),
(Fleck and Rughiniº (eds.), 2008); (Cace, Sorin; Preoteasa, Ana Maria;
Tomescu, Cristina; Stanescu, Simona (eds.), 2010). Surveys are estimating
the presence of migration intentions somewhere between one fourth and one
third of the population. This level indicates a process of accepting the travel
abroad as solution to the problems faced by Roma population (this generates
the high percentage of persons who want to work abroad). The plans related
to travels are not balanced with the actual travels due to lack of resources
and precariousness migration. It is very unlikely that abroad travels percentage
will increase significantly in the following year, although the migration
intentions percentage is high.
Regarding the question of how many by comparison with, this study,
without including a non-Roma population sampling for comparison purpose,
can not propose an answer. Previous studies which used such samplings (Fleck
and Rughiniº (eds.), 2008), can be considered as references for discussions.
If the intent of abroad traveling in Roma population is significantly higher
than that of non-Roma population, it is possible that such evolution is the
result of the later involvement of Roma population in the migration process.
It is not only possible, but also probable for Roma population to be more
interested in a period of work abroad than non-Roma population, as a whole,
but this difference may be the result of a relatively late discovery of
international mobility by this population (see section „Persons who went
abroad and returned” in the text).
215
Discussions
The data are suggesting a gradual increase of Roma involvement in the
international mobility after 1989, as the afferent risks and costs, especially those
of traveling in the European area, have decreased. 1 January 2007 seems to be
the moment that triggered an acceleration of the exits from Romania. Motivated
by economic reasons, throughout post-communist period, Roma migration was
marked by the lack of resources required to travel. This situation, probably,
generates a marginal migration with precariousness circumstances at destination.
If returns are indicating periods of short stay at destination (preponderant,
interval under three months), the information related to the persons departed
abroad are indicating longer intervals. Why is this? The explanation probably
resides in the reduction of the segment including persons who adopt a circular
migration pattern (departures for short periods, followed by returns) under current
adverse conditions of the environment where international traveling is considered
to occur. Recent events in some European countries (for instance, expulsion
measures implemented by France in the summer of 2010), economic crisis, these
are processes which can stimulate/push for (temporary?) exit of persons from
international movement. This conclusion is consistent with studies on migration
of return to Romania (see Stoiciu, 2011) which suggests that, under the impact
of global economic crisis, migrant, not long ago departed, have returned home.
The fact that, on household level, the trend is to enter and remain involved in the
migration process, may indicate a rather transitional situation with a come back
to previous patterns, as the conditions unfavorable for movement are disappearing.
Abroad travels are related to a few European destinations: Italy, Spain,
Germany, France are privileged destination areas. These are destinations of ex
migrants, countries where current migrants are living, countries selected as
destination by those who are considering a possible departure from Romania.
Even if, on Roma population level, the intentionss of abroad departure remain
high, the precariousness of travels (their high dependence on context) and the
lack of resources required to travel are decreasing the chances of these intentions
to become reality.
References
Cace, S.; Preoteasa, A. M.; Tomescu, C.; Stãnescu, S. (coord.); (2010). Legal ºi
egal pe piaþa muncii pentru comunitãþile de romi. (Legal and equal on labor
market for Roma communities) Bucharest: Expert.
Fleck, Gabor and Rughiniº Cosima (coord.). (2008). Vino mai aproapre.
Incluziunea ºi excluziunea romilor în societatea româneascã de azi. (Come closer.
Roma inclusion and exclusion in today’s Romanian society) Bucharest: Human
Dynamics.
216
Matras, Y. (2000). Roma migrations in the post-communist era: their historical
and political significance. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 13 (2),
32-50.
Reyniers, A. (2008). La mobilite des tsiganes en Europe: entre fantasmes et
realites. Hermes, 51, 107-111.
Reyniers, A. (1993). La troisieme migration. Etudes Tsiganes, 1, 60-67.
Reyniers, A. (2003). Migrations tsiganes de Roumanie. În D. Diminescu, Visible
mais peu nombreus. Les circulations migratoires roumaines (pg. 51-64). Paris:
Editions de la maison des sciences de l’homme.
Sandu, D. (2010). Lumile sociale ale migraþiei româneºti în strãinãtate. (Social
worlds of Romanian migration abroad) Iaºi: Polirom.
Sandu, D. (coord.). (2007). Locuirea temporarã în strãinãtate. (Temporary
housing abroad) Bucharest: Fundaþia pentru o Societate Deschisã (Open Society
Institute).
Stoiciu, V. (coord.). (2011). Impactul crizei economice asupra migraþiei forþei
de muncã româneºti. (Impact of economic crisis on the migration of Romanian
work force) Bucharest: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
217
CASE STUDIES
Alina Bîrsan, Raluca Hirian
(Metro Media Transilvania)
Synthesis
The following five case studies selected from the five communities are based
on the recommendations of certain communities’ leaders with regard to persons
who are successful migrants. Each case study structure begins with a brief description
of certain dimensions of the community, followed by the analysis of a representative
case for the international migration of Roma from the relevant community.
The first selected case is the community of „romanianized” Roma from
Floresti, a village located in the future metropolitan area of Cluj, located at 7 km
away from the municipality. Total population of the village – commune center is
of about 19,000 persons. Of these, about 1500 persons are Roma, with a compact
habitation area of 600-700 persons, as well as areas where Romanians and Roma
are living together. About 10% of Roma community members are in Great Britain
– London, temporary migration transformed into semi-permanent migration. The
community international migration started in 1997 and, currently, over 150 are
away with their whole families, working abroad, living abroad in rented houses
and sending their children to school there. Most of them have validated their
stay with the help of previously departed relatives. With regard to the migration
experience time frame, the selected case (Radu) represents an example of the
second period of Europe’s primary exploration (1996-2001). On the level of the
community of Romanians from Floresti, according to the City Hall representative,
migration is higher than on the level of the Roma community; about 20% of the
Romanians have migrated to Great Britain and France. The migration paths of
these two communities are clearly separated; the main migrant group (Romanians)
is represented by young persons with academic medical studies, who departed
to France and Great Britain being dissatisfied with the opportunities from Romania.
The second case is focused on the Roma community from Petrilaca village,
Cuci commune (located at the middle of the distance between Ludus and Iernut),
Mures County, former community of bear leaders Roma, currently a mixed
community in terms of Roma kin (arrived from various areas of Transylvania), a
village where the community of Romanians gradually decreased and the Roma
community gradually increased. Currently, of a total population of 640 persons,
about 260 are Roma, living in a compact area named “Dupã Vale”. Roma from
Petrilaca started to migrate after 2004 to France in Paris, Marseille and Toulouse.
Currently, it is estimated that about 50% of the Roma have traveled, at least,
once, abroad. These are temporary migrations of maximum three months, during
which time they lived in deserted houses, with no legal jobs and no right of stay.
218
Such departures, alternating with returns represents the typical pattern of all
migrants Roma from this locality, as well as Doru’s migration pattern, our selected
subject. With regard to the time frame, this case is typical to the wave of migration
occurred after the cancellation of visas. In elation to non-Roma community from
Petrilaca, we can not talk about international migration, most Romanians being
older persons engaged in agricultural activities.
The community from Dudesti neighborhood, in Fetesti Municipality, Ialomita
County, is a community of coppersmiths of about 1400 persons, whose members
started to migrate in 1991 to Yugoslavia, than Greece and Turkey. The
neighborhood is inhabited exclusively by Roma and, thus, non-Roma community
is extending t the level of the entire Fetesti Municipality. It is estimated that 10%
(200 persons) of the Roma community members have traveled abroad, at least,
once, the main purpose being temporary work. The life story of Mihai can be
included in terms of time frame in the 1991-1996 migration period, period of
primary exploration, classification supported by the difficulties faced by the
subject who lived a complex experience. This is one of the most interesting
perspective of migration, seen as a life experience as well as a permanent balance
between costs and benefits.
The community from Cornu de Sus Village, Dumbrava Commune, Prahova
County is a community of bears leaders established here since year 1400. Located
at 15 km from Ploiesti, on the road to Buzau, the village includes a compact
area inhabited by Roma, in the locality center. Total population of Cornu de Sus
Village, according to 2002 census, is of 911 inhabitants, 6% Roma. With regard
to Roma percentage, estimations vary a lot: the representatives of local authorities
(Vice-Mayor and Roma Issues Expert) declare that, on the last census, about 15
persons acknowledged they are Roma but, in fact, there are 700 - 800 Roma.
International migration within the Roma community started before 2000 while,
after this year, travels were more frequent to Spain and France and less frequent
to Germany. The respondents’ estimations reveal that about 60 Roma went to
work abroad, most returning home, and 10 persons remaining definitive in the
country of destination. Thus, we are talking about temporary migration, focused
on income gaining activities. With regard to the non-Roma community from this
village, the percentage of persons departed abroad is smaller, about 15 persons
working based on legal agreements. In this case there is no preferred destination
and the majority population used different migration paths. The selected
respondent, Stefan, confirmed a complex migration related experience, not
reflecting the migration patterns of Roma community. This person went to several
countries (Israel, Germany, Italy), based on legal employment agreements,
obtained through recruitment agencies with which he was put in contact with by
the Office for Labor Force Migration subordinated to the Ministry of Labor –
Romania. His first departure occurred in the beginning of year 1994, the
respondent staying abroad, per total, for almost 10 years.
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The community from Bereasca Region in Ploiesti Municipality is composed
of several traditional Roma kin. This neighborhood, located on the outskirts of
Ploiesti, is inhabited by about 800 Roma and 1200 Romanians. The destinations
of Roma migrant from Bereasca are Spain, Italy, Belgium and Ireland. In the case
of this community, the migration is temporary in nature, with short term departures
(maximum 5 months) and returns, but there are also cases where migration has
become semi-permanent, the persons abroad being able to purchase a house in the
destination country. The number of Roma who migrated abroad is of about 200
persons. With regard to the migration behavior of non-Roma population from the
same neighborhood, the destinations are similar, the number of Romanians who
departed abroad for work, at least once, being of about 300 persons; although
there are interactions between the two communities, in terms of migration, the
paths are separated and the used networks and destinations are different. The case
selected is that of a representative of the nomad (laies) kin, Elena, who migrated in
2003 to Germany for temporary work. Since then, for eight years she works a few
months per year at the same work place in Ausburg – Germany, with the prospect
of migrating permanently. Unlike the other cases, this is an individual migration
pattern, obtained without the support of her group or community.
In each of these cases, interviews aimed a series of aspects which describe
the migration experience from multiple points of view:
9
Description of the person’s community
9
History of departures abroad
9
Situation previous to first departure abroad
9
Successive experiences of staying abroad
9
Capitalizing of the migration experience
9
Plans for the future
9
Assessment of the living standard
9
Occupational status and occupational path
We must mention that the names of respondents who told us their life stories
are fictional. Their selection was based on the idea of in-depth investigation and
description of migration experiences, lived by five persons, and the relation
between these experiences and the occupational status of the relevant persons.
These five persons were selected from five different Roma communities (one
person from each community), these communities having two common
characteristics: these are compact or mixed Roma communities; these are
communities with significant international migration experience.
On the level of Roma communities, the criterion used to select the subjects
of in –depth interviews was their „successful migration experience”, as perceived
by the communities informal leaders. Thus, three such recommendations of
persons were asked from the leaders of the relevant communities, but without
inducing the definition of „successful migrant”. The cases selected in the end
were based on the consensus of the leaders with regard to the adequate persons,
according to the above mentioned criteria, the leaders providing also a brief
justification of their option.
220
I. Case study Floreºti, Cluj County
Community
The history of Roma community from Floresti is closely related to the
villagers community, as a whole. Located in the near vicinity of Cluj Napoca
Municipality (3 km), Floresti Village houses a relatively large Roma community
of about 2000 persons, according to the data provided by the representatives of
local authorities. This is a non-traditional „romanianized” Roma community,
whose members are living, partially grouped (compact - Sub Pãdure area), and
partially mixed with the majority population. Roma from Floresti, like the rest of
the villagers, were employed in the factories of Cluj during the communist period
(Carbochim, Tehnofrig, Unirea), the common working environment being a
crucial element which lead to strong relation between these two communities.
However, the characteristics of compact community were not lost. According to
the opinions of the community representatives, certain aspects of current reality
are affecting mostly the Roma population: the possibility of finding a job
(decreased chances of employment), difficulties in keeping the job, lack of
agriculture related resources.
At „Carbochim”? Unskilled and skilled workers, there are those who
have and... From around here, most worked at „Carbochim”. For
instance, my wife, me, I worked at „Armãtura”, in the foundry; as founder
- molder. I have a certificate of founder - molder. So, these gypsies were
not this kind of gypsies to beg, to make funny business, to deal gold and
things like that... They were romanianized gypsies. They have been used
to work. Now, after the revolution, naturally, the first ones to be dismissed
were the Roma ...
Respondents consider that Roma from Floresti live well by comparison with
other Roma communities, but also by comparison with the majority population,
mainly due to the fact that „they were used to work”, and most of their households
are supported by income. Regarding the housing conditions, many of the Roma
old houses have been reconditioned by the owners, replaced with construction
in brick and BCA, and connected to public utilities (water, sewerage, electric
power, gas systems). Also, the community’s main road was rehabilitated by the
local authorities and, this year, the secondary roads will be rehabilitated, too.
They all live – most live in houses. Under Ceauºescu, they had apartments
but after they lost their jobs, they had to – because they had no way to
pay the bills... After they lost their jobs, each sold the apartment and
built a house. (local advisor on Roma issues).
221
Although, they are currently dealing with a lack of jobs, the main activities
performed during previous years in the construction sector, namely masonry
work, a thriving sector during the real estate boom.
The main employer in this locality is Avicola – poultry farm, company where
most of the Roma, both men and women, have worked, and where, currently,
Roma and Romanians from the village are still employed.
According to the estimations of the local advisor on Roma issues, about
30% of the community represents the segment of active population, with a
significant stock of pensioners, ex workers in the previously mentioned factories,
many of whom retired at relatively young ages according to the previous
legislation based on the number of worked years. This is a Roma community
where women were and still are employed although, currently, they have lesser
opportunities of employment by comparison with Romanian women.
With regard to education, most adults from this community finished eight
classes or, at most, graduated high school or a professional school. One person
in the community has an academic diploma.
Now, recently, to tell you the truth, they have no where to work. They do
go, poor women; come one morning, if you want to see for your self,
there’s a place where they stay, the employers come and give them work.
Now, with these new laws, not even the employers are not calling them
to work, only employees ... they used to work as day laborers. Now they
stay home, they have no work. (local advisor on Roma issues).
Sure, the community women were working too, women too. I’ve told
you, we are not like these coppersmith gypsies, we are not like the bear
leading gypsies or like ....here, we have no traditional attire. We are exactly
like Romanians (local advisor on Roma issues).
The dynamic of migration experiences on community level reveal a pattern
of departures which started in 1997-1998. In general, we can characterize the
migration on Roma community from Floresti as temporary migration,
transformed into a semi-permanent one. It is, mainly, supported by a
communitarian network, but it is differentiated depending on two periods: the
period previous to border liberalization and the period subsequent to visa
cancellation. Due to the fact that most persons departed based on stable jobs, we
can not talk about a frequent rhythm with several returns, but visits to the origin
community during holydays or leaves.
Departures abroad started in 1995-1996, when three Roma persons requested
visa for India, purchased a ticket to India with stand-over in London, got down
of the plain in London and remained there until now. Subsequently, they
requested political asylum and validated their stay in Great Britain. Their example
was followed in the subsequent years:
222
They left to England. One of them left, one who has legal documents in
Ireland. He has residence permit, has all the documents; my brother-inlaw. He is there since 1995-1996, with his whole family. The borders
here were not open and I will tell you how he left. He left, first time there
was the ticket to India with stand-over in London. They got ticket for
India with stand-over in London and in London they asked political
asylum. Plain ticket to India with stand-over in London. From London
they did not go to India and asked political asylum. They got political
asylum and than .... For one year and six months, for instance – while
that Home Office made their documents, that is to say. (local advisor on
Roma issues).
This first departure from the community opened the path of a constant
migratory flow for the next years and to the same destination, London. It is not
very clearly stated where from was picked up this solution to emigrate with visa
for India, but is was a procedure that benefited the first persons who departed:
these stories were heard, were getting around, they too heard that this method
would work. The first persons departed from the community had nothing
pre-arranged at the destination, so they went through a period of searching
until they validated their situation and found a job; subsequently, they
brought their families.
They left alone, until they solved their situation, until they rented a place,
until ... Those people from Home Office gave them a house, gave them a
meal, gave them everything: a TV and refrigerator and many to buy
dishes ad all. After they got a job to work, after this. Than they brought
their family. (BASED ON WHAT THEY REQUESTED …( POLITICAL
ASYLUM?). The reasons, you know, this is the only way you can get
political asylum, only on political basis (local advisor on Roma issues).
We asked for political asylum like this and like that, and they
approved...Well, I asked for political asylum because I am gypsy. And it
is true that I am gypsy, this is the truth, I can’t say that I am Romanian or
Hungarian, because I am gypsy. (migrant from the community).
Subsequent to these first migration experiences, starting with 1997, these
departures abroad were a constant but only to this destination – Great Britain,
based on the relation with the first three persons who left initially. Currently, it is
estimated that in Great Britain there are 40 for the Roma community in Floresti,
respectively, about 150 persons.
Most of these persons in Great Britain work in the construction sector. The
women work too in hotels, mainly as housekeepers. All the children of these
families are going to school in Great Britain, the respondent declaring that a
significant financial support for the families in Great Britain is represented by
the allowances granted by the British state for children.
223
Regarding the financial support required by each person when they left, the
community representatives declare that this was not an issue: taking into account
that most of them had worked during the communism and after the revolution,
thus saving some money or borrowing from relatives, friends and reimbursing
these amounts after one month of working in England. Another solution was the
support offered by the relatives who were already in Great Britain:
There were many who were living and telling the driver to take them
there and that they will pay there or they would send an order via the
coach and when the coach got there, they would pay. Or they would
borrow from acquaintances, relatives; I myself helped a lot of them! Each
had worked for some time and each had something put aside, right?
That’s how they left. Or, those who had nothing, borrowed and sent the
money and... I helped so many, who left,... (local advisor on Roma issues)
Thus, all persons who left the first three ones, went to „a certain source”,
having the accommodation and a job ensured. All the persons who departed to
Great Britain, validated their situation, they all have legal documents and are
working legally.
Most often, the migrants reasons for departure are related to the difficulties
they face at home, especially the difficulties faced in obtaining a job: Roma
from Floresti are not involved in agricultural activities, they do not own farming
lands, and their chances of employment have dropped significantly due to the
economic crisis, on one hand, and because of the new measures against illegal
work and employers discriminating attitude, on the other hand.
The destinations selected by the community for international migration are
Great Britain and Hungary. Taking into account the fact that many of the
community are self-define as Hungarian gypsies, and that they speak Hungarian
Language, Hungary meant an accessible destination for seasonal, occasional
work (in agriculture or construction sector) or to exit the origin country on a
Hungarian passport. Hungary represented an alternative destination, especially
until visas cancellation in respect to the rest of Europe.
But, regarding the migration experiences frequency, the main destination is
Great Britain country where, according to APL representative, there are about
10% of this community members, permanently established there (with jobs, living
in rented homes, their children are going to school, learning the English language,
returning to Romania for short periods – on holydays and thinking to return
home permanently but in a very distant future). The local advisor mentions that
there were a few persons who went to Italy, who returned frequently in Romania
but who ended up in Great Britain, in the end. Estimations show that about 30%
of the community has traveled abroad, at least, once (including seasonal
migration to Hungary). Main occupations of migrants are in the construction
sector and a few in the agricultural sector:
224
Well, most are craftsman but without qualification, diploma. They are
craftsman – they built, lay parquet, paint, all sorts of staff; but they are
unqualified. They return sometimes, like on holiday. Yes, of course. Look,
for instance, on Christmas many came home. On 5th January they went
back, because they bought the ticket and had a fixed date for the flight
back. (local advisor on Roma issues)
Regarding the migration of majority population, there are cases of Romanians
and Hungarians fro the community who went to Great Britain, but by comparison
to these two communities, Great Britain is a characteristic destination mostly for
Roma people.
Also, on the level of the two communities in the village there are support
relations being mentioned cases of Roma people living with money borrowed
from Romanian friends, ex co-workers, these commitments have always been
honored by the persons who departed:
He didn’t have the money to go to England and he helped him; gave
him the money; the men worked and sent the money back. Yes, this boy
helped him. He gave him the money and the men, after he worked gave
the money back, because they are family friend together; and than of
course they helped one another. (local advisor on Roma issues)
Migration flow continues in the present, depending on the work opportunities
identified by those who are abroad already:
Now, my son-in-law said that he needs ten persons after Easter. He told
me to send them because he found them jobs; but only those who are
good craftsmen. Painters, who knows how to lay ceramic tiles... because
it is a hotel that’s being built. You should know, from here there’s a whole
string that’s leaving: it shows that they are good workers. That it’s like I
am coming to you and I am painting you a room and your friend comes
and likes it; it’s the same there, right? (local advisor on Roma issues)
More important than the support provided on departure is the support
provided at destination: upon leaving you must have minimum 400 pounds,
plus the cost of transport, money which are lasting until your first pay. For
those who are leaving, the support provided at destination by acquaintances/
relatives is essential in finding a job or in solving with the documents required
for a legal stay.
You must have around 400 pounds on you when you go to England
….until, you know... Right? Minimum 400 plus the ticket... Until you
start working, right? That’s how my son-in-law went, too. It just that the
woman who helped him, an aunt of mine, did not asked of him not even
a penny for rent, because she wasn’t … If he paid... In return I helped
her with other things. No, he didn’t have employment agreement. He
went and he found work by newspaper adds. He bought the newspaper,
225
read it and he submitted his CV, all these things and he was going to
interviews. He had a fried that knew how things were going there and
that friend helped him... Indeed, he made him all the documents, legally
and all – and now he found a job …
The case recommended by the leaders of Floresti community to illustrate
an example of success is one of the first persons that went to Great Britain and,
according the recommendations, this person is financially well established there.
Radu left Romania in 1998 with visa for India, in a plain with stand-over in
London, he got off the plain in London, after a while he obtained political asylum
and, currently, he is living there with his entire family, working in the same work
place for over 10 years. The interview was conducted when he returned home
during the Easter Holyday.
Migration as a chance to start a new life
Respondent name: R. I.
Age: 52 years
Level of education: gymnasium
Domicile in Romania: Floresti Commune, Cluj County
Countries where the respondent worked : Great Britain
Date of first departure abroad: 1998
Period of staying abroad: 13 years
History of travels abroad
The migration experience of the respondent sums up to a single country of
destination, Great Britain, where Radu went in June 1998 to work and from
where he did not return for ten years (because he did not have the required
documents). He returned home in 2008, to visit and than just on holydays, leaves.
He currently has thirteen years of stay in London, ten years in the current work
place and he does not want to migrate in another country because he is extremely
pleased with his current situation.
Situation previous to first abroad departure
Like most persons of his community, Radu finished eight grades at the
school in Floresti. He could not go further because „that’s how it was”. Coming
from a poor family, with six brothers cared by one parent, the children had to
help their parent once they reached adolescence. Thus, Radu started to work
when he was sixteen years old, being hired at a footwear factory where he got
his professional qualification:
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I worked at Clujana, I finished there because I attended training. I worked
in the mineral tannery. My father worked there and I said to my old man
„hey, why don’t you talk there and take me to work with you? To help
you with what I can?”. My father talked at the factory, I finished school
and I went there because we had not the conditions to continue school.
And I was hired directly at Clujana. Right there, at Clujana, at 16, and
I wasn’t allowed to do 3 shifts and my father signed for me.
At the footwear factory Radu worked until he was 19, when he was
drafted, but that was not so hard for him because “the old man solved me
and I went to army here, in Floresti”. After the army, he worked one more
year at Clujana, and than he was hired at a poultry farm in the locality, a
change he desired due to better working conditions.
With regard to occupations, previous to leaving abroad Radu
accumulated four years of work at the footwear factory and thirteen years of
work at the poultry farm, followed by another fourteen years of work in
Great England. Thus, before 1998, the year of his first departure abroad, the
respondent worked at the poultry farm from the locality, where he
accumulated ten years as unskilled worker.
The circumstances of the subject departure are not described,
necessarily, in negative terms: here was good too, we had what we needed,
I can’t say it was bad here for us … I worked, I had a job, I had all I
needed ... it was bad just a little, because we couldn’t afford to have much
money, not to do one or the other... I changed my mind and I went overseas.
When he left to Great Britain, Radu was 38 years old and married a
second time with four children from this second marriage. The oldest child
was in the V grade. He married his second wife in 1990, and they were
together for eight years when he went to Great Britain. His wife remained
home to keep working at the poultry farm for three years after he left.
Than, after three years, Radu brought his wife to Great Britain.
In 1998, when Radu arrived in London, three more Roma persons were
there (the first three who left Romania by the same method of India visas),
thus Radu being somewhat part of the „pioneers” category. As the
respondent declares, they left to work temporary abroad, without a very
well structured plan, thus this being a decision of temporary migration, for
exploration purposes, and not necessarily a final one. Hat is very clearly in
the respondent’s interview is the persuasion with which he refers to the
need of having a job, as well as the way he separates him self from the
Roma waves that migrated subsequently to Europe for the purpose of making
money from illegal activities.
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Abroad stay experience
The respondent’s decision to leave Romania was based on the desire/intent
to „build a better life for himself”. The element triggering the decision was an
incident he faced at his previous work place – the poultry farm, namely the loss
of his job. He selected the destination country based on the example of previous
departures from the community. Especially his family members contributed to
this decision (his brother who was already in London with his family), this being
the main reason for selecting the destination country.
Well, I decided that...what? I went to make a better life for myself, that’s
the truth, everybody leaves for a better life . Here, at home, things are
already going down...the wheels are not turning right, something or
another thing is not working, it’s not... I have my job, my wage, I am
legally employed there. I work on a crane, loading trailers, it’s very...it’s
going well the work there...And now I wait, if I stayed there so many
years, I wait to get a pension, that’s what I a struggling for.
The main long term purpose is to accumulate enough working years to get
a pension from the British state. Like the first migrants, Radu used the method of
leaving the country on tourist visa for India, in a plain with stand-over in London:
Nobody helped me, I went to, what’s it called...to the embassy in Bucharest
and I made for an India. I chose India because it was with stand-over in
London. And there I asked political asylum, that’s the truth. I asked
political asylum and so and so, and it was approved. Well, I asked for
political asylum because I am gypsy. And it is true that I am gypsy, this is
the truth, I can’t say that I am Romanian or Hungarian, because I am gypsy.
With regard to the method, Radu confesses that he asked his friends, that he
heard there is a good method of emigrating and acted accordingly, like some
acquaintances that left Romania in this way, one of the first free persons who
departed being his brother:
It worked, to ask political asylum in England, when I got there, when
they gave me a paper to fill in, you know? They gave me a paper to fill in
with data about where I am going, but I could not get out, because after
a couple of hours the plain in England was leaving for India. And they
gave me a paper to fill in and I did. And when I got off the plain, they
asked me, „sir, where are you from?” – „from Romania.”, „why are you
here?” – „mister, I want to ask political asylum”. And they gave me
political asylum. Because, then they were giving it.
For one year they gave me social welfare, I lived with their help – on
what they gave me, they paid for my housing, they gave me everything.
They gave me temporary housing, they paid for it. And that was that,
after that they gave me permit to work and I went to work and I worked.
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To get money to leave home, „I sold my furniture, I sold my place...my
land, what I had here...here I have built another house. Before, at my
house, there, where’s that little house, I had my place.....I sold it for
7,000, the money from that period, I don’t know how much that was, I
sold my furniture, it was „belvedere”, I sold it, I got the money and I left.
One of the advantages of his departure consisted of the fact that his brother
was already in Great Britain for one year. To obtain the residence permit he
asked his brother help:
Well, after that, when I asked for political asylum, they ensured my
housing. When I got there I stayed at my brother’s, for about a month…Yes,
of course I stayed, one month. Than, I went and I did the documents and
I submitted my ...The political asylum application was already submitted,
I did it at the airport, when I got there. They sent some papers at my
house, because I had to fill them in, they sent everything. I did not know
English, but my sister-in-law knew and she helped me to fill the papers.
Yes, I went with her were I was supposed to, I submitted the documents
and they said to go and wait at home. You receive the documents by
mail, there, you do not have to go to...
The bureaucracy was easier to deal with in Great Britain than in Romania,
the whole procedure being perceived as a simple procedure:
10,000 more easier. When I went to the interview for political asylum, I
went there and from there I went nowhere else. I went at the interview for
housing...I went and I asked a place to leave in. When you turn yourself
in there are certain conditions, they have conditions and must comply
with them; they tell you these conditions, conditions that a migrant must
comply with. They made sure I comply with all the conditions.
Radu succeeded in bringing his wife after three years of stay in London, in
2002, the children being left at home with the subject’s mother because „they
were little and they remained with my mother”. After about 4-5 years, the children
have been brought to Great Britain, when they had the right age to work.
Occupations had abroad
The first job was in a car disassembling park. For Radu the success condition
is the workplace and he declares that he did not accept to remain somewhere
without working. The friends network helps him again to identify this first
workplace where Radu worked three years, and after that, again through the
friends (Roma persons, Romanians but also English persons), he found a new
job on a crane where he is working also now. It is interesting the effort made by
Radu in learning as well as possible the two professions, especially when, at the
beginning, he did not know the English language.
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First time I worked in a car disassembling park. I disassembled wheels,
radiators, anything I was told by the owner to disassemble from the car.
It was very well. If you work, anywhere is well, if you do not work, there,
you do not handle, if you work – you have money, if you don’t... I found
the first job asking to the left and to the right....I went and I asked. I went
all the day long and I asked many friends of mine. And I arrived there
and I worked. At that moment the owner gave me 25 pounds per day. So
decided the owner.
Let me tell you, there, when I arrived to car disassembling, I told to my
superior: :look, I don’t know English” and he answered me: „it doesn’t
matter. I show you.” And he showed me: this is called in this way, this is
called „radiator”, same as in Romanian, and so on, telling me the name
of all the parts of the car. In ‚98 when I went there, very few Romanians
were there. We were, if we were, 20 persons or even less. They stayed
almost in the same quarter as my brother. Yes, a quarter as this one from
here, where we met Saturday to a football, a beer, a grill...
After 3 years, I found another job, though other friends, because I have
already had English friends and I found this job on a crane where I work
since more than 10 years.
On the crane, an Englishman thought me how to work with it. I didn’t
know and I asked him „what this button is?” and he said me „this button
is to go down” – I took the pen ball and I wrote in Romanian this go up,
this go down and stick the notes there for 2-3 days, after that I removed
the notes and I memorized, this is the true, because everything on the
crane is in English, it is written on the buttons how to start, but now
there are also computerized. I stick a note in Romanian and then, in the
afternoon I remained 2 hours over-time to learn for me...
In case of Radu, due to the strategy focused on obtaining the political
asylum, the entry in legality was fast enough. The stay permit was obtained after
about one month since his arrival, which did not mean also the right to work.
The alternative identified by the subject, at the advise of the English people is
that of a “self employed”, which means legal work but not based on an
employment contract made by a local employer, but the equivalent of the certified
natural person in Romania. It is a collaboration contract and not an employment
contract, and the self-employment does not mean the option to be hired according
the English Labor Code. Therefore, until in 2007, the subject work illegally and
then, based on this type of collaboration contract not covering everything
represents the „right to work” and not offering the opportunity to be hired by a
local employer:
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If they let us now, in 2007 they did not give us the right to work, but I
work as self-employed, I pay my expenses and everything else. Well, yes,
with this alternative we could go because they did not give us the right to
work, we did not have the right to work there....now I pay my taxes, I
pay insurance, I pay all my problems. I heard about this alternative of
self –employed from the gays, the English boys ....they told me „look,
you may work in this field, you can be hired, you don’t have the right to
work and you cam do in this manner. I worked also on the black labor
market, because this was the situation, first time this was the situation. It
was dangerous because we did not have the right to work, we, the
Romanians we did not have the right to stay there, we lived as we could,
we made false passport because this was the situation. It is not a
shame...because I did not go there to steal, I did not heat in the head anyone...
Social relations
The support received at the destination from the others is significant. As the
subject also told, at that time it was easier for those leaving the country: he was
helped by the relatives who were already there (his brother and sister-in-law), by
his English work colleagues and even by his superiors:
I found the second job with the help of an English friend, a superior, the
superior who was near me at my workplace. I wanted to go to him,
because this superior of mine did not want to increase my salary first
time, because I worked without contract because this was the situation,
if you wanted so – you worked, if you did not...And this superior told me
that „don’t worry, I find you another job”. He spoke with another English
man and he called me and I went to work and I remained there, being
still there also today... Oh, yes! With them I stay, with whom else? With
the English men because they gave me work. So, in weekend, on Saturday,
Sunday...then all the week I am with them at work, from the morning
until the evening I am all the time with them. We go to a pub, we drink a
beer, we make sometimes a grill, we go to a football if is good weather....if
not, we stay inside and we joke.
Except his family, Radu confesses that he does not keep contact with other
Roma persons from the community who went in England or with other Roma
migrants:
I even don’t know who are they, miss ... I do not know them and I don’t
care about them. I don’t care about them, I clearly tell you. Firstly I
don’t care about them because they are too....I don’t like them. Do you
know how they are? I tell you: if you bring them to you, in your house,
then they try to steal from you. It is better in this way...we meet incidentally,
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„ciao” – „ciao”, „how are you?” – „I’m well, bye”. I’ve no business
with them. Now, since the entry is free, everybody...those gypsies, those
tent makers came from Germany, France and gathered all in England.
But English are smart, because they catch them and send them....
An important step was learning the English language, fact which increases
the opportunities to interact with the majority population from there:
I learned from one person, from other person, because if you work only
with English you must learn. I told him: „I don’t know English, but...”
and he told me: „I show you”. Well, the superior showed me, I didn’t
know to disassemble tires, I didn’t know to taker a radiator-alternator, a door...
For 10 years, Radu kept in touch with those remained home only by
telephone. Starting with 2008, he comes home each holiday, in the community,
where he built a house based on the savings made in England:
Only by telephone. I didn’t see my children for 10 years, or my mother
or anybody else for 10 years. By telephone: what are you doing, how
are you....I called every week...Every week. Or the second or third day,
depending on how much they miss me. For sure that I sent money in the
country... Yes, for sure, how else! I sent them to live, to... For the family, only.
Valorization of the migration experience
In terms of consequences of the migration experience, the perceptions reveal
certitudes concerning the positive effects of this experience on the subject life.
Radu confesses that „ there I live not only well but very well”, that he had the
opportunity to bring his entire family there, the opportunity to accumulate incomes
and to build a house in Romania. This experience gives him the opportunity to
obtain a pension from the British State, to offer to his children another education,
to be able to develop a business to his return. An important element for the
subject is also the professional evolution, from the migrant who didn’t know the
English language at all to leader of a team of more than 30-40 persons. As
positive effect is considered by the subject also the certain distanced from the
remaining community from which he comes: migration gives him the opportunity
to separate from the community but not from the family which is on the first
place in his relational context.
I didn’t help anybody to come in England. What is the purpose to say that
I helped? I didn’t help anyone. Many ask to me but...I didn’t help anyone. I
helped my family.
I don’t know how many hundreds of gypsies are there, I don’t know.
There are, there are also from Floreºti. There are also Romanians, Roma
people and...you know? Let me tell you that I don’t care. I don’t care.
Also when I worked here, I didn’t care. I have more Romanian colleagues,
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in order to understand me, I am with them, I played football here...I had
another mentality. That’s me.
Well now what can I tell you more, this was my story, it was hard at the
beginning, for sure. Also now it is very hard in England if don’t have a
job you must go there with the plan that you should steal ... this is not a
life. For me it is no longer hard, I overcame the difficulty. For me it is not
hard, for my family it is not hard. We are not going to stealing, to go to
steal or... No, we have our jobs, we’ll manage this manner, we take the
salary – this is for food, this is for the lease and the money remained we
save it and we go on.
We live very well, we work, we have no problems, we live in a leased
housing, we pay the lease, we pay our expenses...
The Romanian State? Nobody helped me, with nothing. Nobody, nothing.
I helped myself, I didn’t go to the Romanian State or to those Roma
people to help me ....no, I’m not interested in this.
Another benefit of the migration is the entrepreneurial spirit, Radu
mentioning that this experience has significantly increased his capacity to
professionally adapt. An aspect deserving to be remarked is the work motivation
reflected in competitiveness spirit and desire „to do the tasks well”, to be
available any time.
If I came in Romania, I would no longer work. I made enough money to
open a business or to do something that I want. If I came back I would
open something...Yes, for sure, I don’t go on the site to work with the
shovel or...I don’t know, until now I don’t know. Because I didn’t decide
to came back home. This we will see after we will come back from there.
Firstly, money are the basis. You afford buying what you want, to eat
what you want, anything....to buy a coat or a necklace, or gold, or a
bracelet, anything. Here...for sure. How can you? People don’t have
what to eat, how can they buy anything else? There I have 4 salaries and
every week they gave me money. Money enter Friday, already on
Thursday money enter so that on Friday I can go to withdraw them, to
buy anything I want, to....every week money enter in my account. I don’t
know what to say to you, I told you, this living standard. There you can
afford to buy anything you want, if you work for sure. If not...it is worse
than to us if you don’t work, because here we have a friend who gives a
wine, a beer, but there nobody gives you a thing.
Well related to this....in England I work for money, if I stay from 4 o’clock
in the morning until 10 o’clock in the evening they pay me 15-16 hours,
the time worked is paid. In Romania, the salary was fixed. Yes, correctly,
I stayed even more and this was the situation. Because if you weren’t
obedient, your superior doesn’t like you. But there I work for money. I
have 12,60 lei per hour usually and if I stay overtime, I take 13. No, they
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don’t supervise me, I am team leader there and I supervise my boys. I
have gays subordinated to me, there.
I reached to a better position because my superior saw me I work for so
many years. Also there the superiors follow who is hard worker, who
accomplishes the tasks, doesn’t miss from work, doesn’t drink, comes
regularly at work and there daily you are recorded on the payroll sleep.
I have a number which I entered to the chronometer and the supervisor
sees when I entered and when I leave. I am not late for work, I come on
due time at work. English workers, on Saturday or Friday they don’t
come and when they want they don’t come for 3-4 days. But me, if they
need, I go also on Sunday at work.
Besides the benefits, there are mentioned also some problems in the attitude
of the majority population who are mostly in connection to the perception on the
migrant status and not necessarily on the ethnicity. The respondent considers
that the factor useful for him to overcome these preconceptions is his own attitude
against the work and the fact that „he correctly works”:
There are English people and they might say wondered how a migrant
could be team leader to them. But there, you know how it is, if the superior
sees you working...for superiors it doesn’t matter who you are. Migrant
or whatever you are, if you work well the superior sees from the
beginning. And you are the chosen, that’s it. You don’t like, thank you for
your effort. But I know that they comment....because I see them....
Plans for the future
In the present, England is the only alternative identified by the subject as
option for a good living standard, Radu emphasizing repeatedly how satisfied
he is by the life there. Learning of the English language is also one of the aspects
linking to this option. At the same time, it is taken into consideration also the
came back in the country, but on an uncertain date and not before obtaining a
pension from the British State:
I don’t go anywhere else from England. There I established, there I like
and I have a job. If I go to Germany, I must learn German language or
if I go to France, the same...No, no, I have a god job here.
I come back, I will come back in Romania. I don’t know when. If things
are good for me there, If I have my job and I don’t think if tomorrow I
still have the job.....but if things change, we will come back home, but if
not....Well, I hope to remain there until ... if I live until the retirement, to
solve with....for this I fight now. I have good job, I have permanent job,
for me there is no problem.
…I am very happy that I left the country. Because what I achieved, here I
wouldn’t achieve in a life time. I clearly tell you this!
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II. Case Study Petrilaca, Mureº County
Community
Cuci Commune, Mureº County, comprises the villages of Dãtãºeni, Orosia,
Petrilaca and Cuci – the residence of the commune. The residence of the commune
is located at 7km distance from Iernut, on the European Road E60 connecting
Cluj-Napoca to Târgu Mureº. Petrilaca is a more isolated village of the commune,
located at 7km to South. Documentary attested in 1331, Petrilaca initially was a
village integrally made of Romanians, where, following the sedentarization policy,
about ten Roma families established. After the Revolution, the village further
attracted Roma population from different parts of Transylvania, the ratio between
the two relevant communities reaching to almost equal rates. Being a small and
relatively isolated village, without opportunities for young people, most of them
left to study in other areas and established their domicile elsewhere. In the village,
within the Romanian community (containing approximate 380 persons according
to the data offered by the Town Hall representatives) remained only the retired
persons who worked at the Cooperative of Agricultural Production, whose main
occupation is the agricultural activity.
It is estimated that within the „Dupã Vale” (Beyond Valley) area where live
Roma population in a grouped manner, there are about 100 families, while at the
Town Hall only 260 Roma persons are registered as belonging to Petrilaca Village.
According to the information provided by the respondents, duet o the Romanians
migration to other neighboring localities or counties, many houses remained
abandoned leading to the fact that most of the houses where Roma population
currently lives are only occupied and not purchased. Practically this is the reason
for which Petrilaca has represented an attraction point especially for poorer Roma
population from other areas, which had no homes, such housing availability
determining many of them to establish here.
The Roma people from Petrilaca are not part of a traditional lineage, most
of them coming after the Revolution, from the neighboring localities or from
other counties so that the entire community has not a very great seniority. An
interesting fact is that the leader of this community is a woman – CÂNA, the
equivalent of „bulibaºã” (the male leader of a Roma community):
They do not have a „bulibaºã”, the community being led by a woman
named CÂNÃ, a feminine equivalent of the male leader „bulibaºã”.
She is the women knowing to read because the other, either adults or
children, do not know, she knows also to write, these making her
advantage based on which she was proposed as leader. When different
campaigns involving also the Roma people are developed, she plays the
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role of the translator between the campaign promoters and the members
of her community. In addition, she has the power to convict the other
Roma people about something (teacher).
The area inhabited by Roma people has gradually extended but generally
the two communities avoid each-other in terms of housing. Moreover, the social
relations between the two communities knew also tensioned moments.
With regard to the education inventory, the children of the Roma people
from this community are enrolled within the 1st – 4th classes of the school from
the village, these being mixed (however, the majority being made of Roma
children). The main issues signaled were those in connection to the school
attendancy, especially in case of children whose parents are abroad to work.
With regard to the occupations, things relatively are simple at the level of
the Roma community because no one is employed and no one is professionally
qualified. In the village, the main activity bringing incomes is the activity of day
laborer for the Romanian families owning agricultural lands. Those who are not
leaving abroad, live from the welfare and the allowances for children. The
incomes of those temporary migrating are seasonal, covering the family needs
for several months. Although generally the two communities avoid each-other,
the only existing relations being those between day laborer and employer, the
Roma people are used as electoral maneuver mass by the power poles of the
majority community, during the period of elections.
Most of the Roma people houses are built of clay and straws, except the
houses newly built, belonging to those who worked in France. These houses are
built of bricks, they have more rooms and they are located nearer to the village
center, neighboring the houses of Romanians. Within the area where live only
Roma people there are no utilities, except few houses benefiting of power supply:
Most of the houses are made of clay, except Doru house which is made of
bricks because we see that he builds from bricks. In such brick houses
live those who worked in France and returned with some money, knowing
how to save money, because saving the money gained is essential, or
those who occupied the houses left abandoned by Romanians. Those
who worked abroad and could buy houses in Petrilaca, not in our
neighborhood but within the village, also bought brick houses. The new
houses, built by Roma people have 2-3 rooms…... (teacher)
With regard to the international migration behavior at the level of the two
communities, things are radically different: if at the level of the Roma community,
the temporary migration abroad is a frequent enough behavior, the estimations
showing that about 50% of Roma people left for abroad at least once, the
Romanians remained in the village do not migrate at all in other countries. The
Romanian population remained in the village is more aged than the Roma
population, according to the information given, most of it being composed of
pensioners from CAP, farmers who do not think to go abroad to work.
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The international migration began at the level of Roma community after
withdrawing the visa requirement, subsequently to year 2004. At the beginning,
the Roma people from Petrilaca went in Hungary, then several members of the
community went in Italy, Spain, but most of the members of the community
went and are going also now in France, in Paris, Marseille and Toulouse. To all
these three destinations is the same migration pattern, the life story of the selected
subject being an illustrative case for such temporary migration type, extending
on two-five months, with returns and departure during the same year. The three
families initiating the departure have gradually attracted more members of the
community in the same experience so that during the following years, most of
the families of young Roma people left the village. The departures are made by
using the well known travel by coach especially intended to transportation of
Roma people from Petrilaca but also from the neighboring villages. The coach
belongs to a transport company from Alba Iulia and it is exclusively contracted
for the departures and returns of the Roma migrants. The interviewed respondents
state that after the legal days-off this coach has even three departures a week for
France. Departures are made in group, the persons migrating to work abroad
making such thing since years as it is the case of Doru, too. The reason for
which the departures and returns are so frequent is in connection to the status of
the migrants in the destination country: most of them only occasionally work,
they live in abandoned houses, they work in improper conditions, their strategy
being to save during few months enough money in order to live in their origin
country; after the revenues saved are spent, they leave again the origin country.
Most of the migrants do not have ensured jobs in the locality of destination, the
pattern being to identify on-site the work opportunities. Their occupations abroad
are not very diversified. Men usually find day laborer jobs or gather iron scrap,
while women sell in the second-hand markets, all the objects abandoned by
French people and found by them.
They go there, they stay 2-3-4 -5 months, they come back and stay home
2-3 months and then they leave again and generally they leave with all
their families, they do not leave alone…now we have only one case of a
family where parents left alone, leaving 7 children at home, by themselves.
Yes, they saw that the others come back with money, cars. In fact, for
these families, small amounts of money mean a lot, thus, we do not speak
here about fortunes and big amounts of money….Then, they left in big
numbers; most of the young families left. It is a special coach coming to
take them from Petrilaca and to lead them to France….thus, there is a
coach especially intended to their transportation. (teacher)
The travel payment is negotiated with the coach driver; by instance also
those who have no money could use this coach but within an established
term they must pay the equivalent value of the travel to the owner of the
relevant transport company which is specialized only in passenger
transport, according to the understandings agreed with by both parties.
(teacher)
237
They manage as they can, they beg and, as I found by asking the children,
they, generally the women and children, gather the cloths, the TV sets, the iron
scraps left by the others on the border of the streets and they sell them in a
second-hand product market. They told met hat they won about 20-30 Francs
per day. But begging is no longer profitable because at the beginning they won
money begging but now, no one gives them money. There, They live in poverty
as they lived also here, but eventually abroad they can obtain some money easier
than here. (teacher).
Although many of them complaint in connection to the life abroad, clearly
they obtain incomes significantly bigger than those they could obtain as day
laborers, this being the sole reason on which is based the international migration.
The Roma peoples who went abroad have maximum four classes and they are
not qualified in any sector; however, it happens that those who work in construction
sector could get the necessary skills.
It is a community from which the migration is made in group, pattern with
benefits but also with costs for the Roma people in Petrilaca: by one hand, the
group migration offers safety so that each member of the community could more
easily integrate and could follow abroad the trajectory of the migrant group, but
by the other hand, such pattern offers very few alternatives for evasion or deviation
from the group, very few chances to have an individual trajectory, different
from that of the group in the destination locality. As such, those leaving Petrilaca
usually leave the village in the same period, with the same transport means,
migrate in the same country and usually in the same cities (Paris, Marseille,
Toulouse), many of them live together during the stay abroad and have same
occupations or activities bringing incomes to them.
The respondent selected from the community is one of the young persons
emigrating in Marseille to temporarily work as did the other young Roma persons
from the village. Doru is recommended as an exemplary positive case, because
he was one of the few migrants who succeeded to save some amounts from the
incomes earned in Marseille and to buy a house in Petrilaca.
Migration or the sacrifice for a better life
Respondent Name: D. R.
Age: 22 years
Education Level: no education
Romanian Domicile: Petrilaca Village, Cuci Commune, Mureº County
Countries where the respondent worked: France
Duration of stay abroad: 4 years in successive periods of 3-4 months,
separated by periods of several months of coming back in Romania.
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History of the departures abroad
Doru went for the first time in Marseille in 2007, experience followed by
repeated coming-back and departures in each year. Starting with 2007 and until
in the present, each year, Dory successively stays two-three months in Marseille
and two-three months in Romania. The international migration started once he
got the age, when it was no longer necessary the consent of the parents in order
to be able to go abroad to work. As all the other members of the community
working in France, Doru states that during the last four years, the incomes obtained
abroad represent his main income source.
Status previously to the first departure
The parents of Doru came from Sângeorgiu de Pãdure, Mureº County, and
established in Petrilaca after the Revolution, Doru being at that moment of 6
years old. Coming from a family with four brothers and one sister, none of the
children goes to school.
He married at 18 years old, in 2007, when he left the country for the first
time. Before leaving, his only incomes were those obtained from the day laborer
activities, performed to the persons from the village. In fact, he has no attempts
to hire somewhere, Doru having as sole option to obtain incomes, the option to
leave the country together with those migrating repeatedly to France.
Successive abroad stay experiences
He went abroad for the first time in 2007, at 18 years old, going in Marseille,
France, together with his wife who, being under 18 years old, needed the consent
in writing of her parents. At his departure moment, the subject had a brother in
the destination locality, temporary staying there, who found for him a temporary
job to a French owner.
Well, first of all one of my brothers went there and after that a boy, friend
of mine left the village to go there and then he brought me also with them.
And I got a job. Other 3-4 families from our village were already there.
The first who went there was not from our village but he called there a
friend of his, from our village and then, many others from here.
When I went there, I found a man, a French man, who brought me with
him to demolition works, to…. If a house had to be demolished, I went
with him and he told me: „Do this, do that”. I gathered the materials
from there, the resulting iron scrap was mine and in addition the French
man paid med. The only person working with that French man was me,
the others from my group working for other person. WHY DID YOU GO
THERE TOGETHER WITH YOUR WIFE? Well, to go there by myself,
leaving her alone at home? She went there with me and she gathered old
cloths from garbage containers and she went with them in the secondhand product market and sold them….
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The decision to leave is motivated by the absence of options at home with
regard to the way to obtain incomes. As the others from the community, Doru
left with his wife to work together in order to maximize the chances to obtain the
money necessary to buy a house in Petrilaca.
According to the information gathered, in 2007 most of the community
members left for France, being a period much better than the current one from
many points of view: there were many work opportunities in construction sector
and the tolerance of the population from the destination country against Roma
population was higher. For the first departure, that of 2007, Doru had to borrow
120Euro repaid in one month. It is the only member of the migrating group who
had the opportunity to work for a French man:
I borrowed money from one of my cousin. Well, I needed only 120 Euro.
Any time I went it was not the case. I worked also for that person, the
French man, being the only person from my migrating group who worked
for a French man… No, we could not, we did not know how to better
handle, we did not know the language, we did not have the necessary
knowledge. We could not enter in legality.
Each time they left, the Roma people from Petrilaca lived in abandoned
houses identified either by them selves, or by those for whom they worked in
Marseille. During the period when Doru worked in demolition sector for a French
owner, this one offered him accommodation in an abandoned house. However,
there were situations when the Roma migrants from the village, among whom
was also Doru, did not know from the beginning where to live; in such cases,
they „lived anywhere possible”, including in parks, until they identified a shelter
for them and their families. Although they lived in the same place, each of them
independently obtained money according to the opportunities identified at local
level. The abandoned houses, where the Roma population from Petrilaca lives
during their abroad stay, are called „Relinquishes”, and here, each family
improvises one booth. Most of the times, the places identified by Roma people
in Marseille for living there did not need the payment of a rent taking into account
that the houses were abandoned. But there were also situations when such houses
have been sub-leased to them by Roma people staying there for a longer time,
the new comers being obliged to pay to older comers a monthly amount of
about 300 francs as average, in exchange of the permit to temporary live in
those houses, according to Doru statement.
Well, that man where we lived gave us an abandoned house to live there.
In this house we lived a lot of Roma persons from Petrilaca, Romania. All
of them came from here, from Petrilaca. Each of us worked anything he
found there. Well, there we had money…. we did not pay a rent and other
similar costs.
How can I say? Anywhere we found a house, we gathered all the Roma
people together and each of us had a small room in-there. May times it
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was relinquish and we did not find enough rooms, in such cases being
necessary to build by ourselves rooms from wood. Yes. Each of us had his
room. And each of us went to find a job, each of us managed as he could.
As such, sometimes I remained in the room with my little girl land my wife
went to win money, sometimes my wife remained in the room with the little
girl land I went to find something. What can I do? I troubled enough this
girl, too. Sometimes I went with the wife and child to garbage containers
but I was afraid not to throw the Moroccans with bottles in them and heat
the girl in her head because they were very bad persons. But what can I
do? Because there, if you stay doing nothing, you get nothing, as it happens
here also.
Each migration experience meant a hard experiment for Doru family
especially during the periods when they left with their child of one year old. The
biggest issues faced by the Roma population from Petrilaca in Marseille were
due especially to the absence of employment or paid activities on longer term
opportunities as well as to the lack of a permanent domicile. Practically, in
Marseille, Doru performed the same activities executed also in Romania (day
laborer activities, gathering the iron scrap, selling abandoned objects), but in
exchange of higher incomes than here. Such incomes involve also very big
sacrifices: the groups of Romanian migrants often were in conflict with the local
authorities in Marseille, especially after the decision of the President of France
on the Roma population expulsion in Romania; another type of conflicts is in
connection to the relations with other groups of migrants. All these elements led
in case of Doru and his family frequent coming back in the country with the
coach making regular travels:
We went there, we stayed sometimes in parks….it ran, we hid under
blankets, we often slept on pasteboard, covered by a plastic foil and a
blanket. We are the only one knowing our sufferance faced in order to be
able to buy a house for living in it. Many hard things were there, too,
madam. When we found “relinquish”, if we had not many children, police
threw us out of the abandoned house because police from there is enough
of us and our problems.
Each year, after each three months of staying abroad we come back home
and we stay here one or two months. Because we could no longer stay
there, we had no longer possibilities because of the scandal with the
Moroccans who attacked us in the abandoned house and threw over us
bottles with gasoline and fired us, including our children. Many times
they cracked the heads of many of us with bottles and they come over us
with knives as coming to a war. We did not know where to hide away from
them. And we had to wait for the coach, staying in parks or anywhere
else we found a convenient place. When the coach was coming we went
to it in group. We did not bring food for the travel, our only thought being
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to arrive home. And here, when we arrived, we held some money. When
money finished, regardless of our situation, we had to go back in Marseille,
because here we have no place to work and get some money. And we
went back there.
The migration experiences of Doru reflect a trajectory characteristic for
Roma people from Petrilaca: housing at destination in improper conditions,
performing occasional not qualified short-term activities, successive coming back
in the country and departures. He had the chance to win more because he worked
for a period in the demolition sector. For other Roma people living in the same
„relinquish” (including his wife), the only option to win money was to resell the
things abandoned by the locals to the second-hand product markets or to sell to
a scrap collection center, for a price of five francs per kilo, the iron scrap gathered.
It is interesting to mention that although the Roma people left together Romania
and lived together, in the destination locality each family (or even each individual)
not only is on his own in getting the necessary money but also is in a real
competition with the others, in capturing the income resources. Such competition
is either between migrants coming from Romania, or, most of the time, between
migrants coming from different countries, Doru specifying that a real threat for
them was represented by the Moroccan migrants:
In one place lived many families not only from our village but also from
other parts of Romania, people that we knew or relatives. And all such
group found a relinquish and we stayed there until police threw us out
from there, if we had not enough children, moment when we were obliged
to live in parks where we were attacked by the Moroccans with bottles,
and scandal and street fights began in such manner. In such circumstances
we hid anywhere possible, together with our children, but all the times
only in Marseille, because I was not in other city to know the customs
from there. And in such conditions we struggled to live day by day.
People gather iron scrap. In Marseille is a forge facility. The iron is very,
very cheap. But all the iron scrap must be gathered and we must search
all day long for iron scrap and gather it to deliver it to a collection center.
If after a day of work you do not find any iron scrap…..you get 5 francs
per kilo. No, because they did not throw such object anymore, and in
addition the Moroccans are more Gipsy than us, gathering all the iron
scrap and delivering it to the collection center.
One of the main difficulties faced especially at the beginning was learning
the French language; the respondent states that even now he does not speak well
enough French.
It was hard also there, but we are the only ones knowing how much we
suffer because we do not know the language. We stayed… We did not
know French as well as we know how to handle the situation. But people
from there knew us. We went there, we stayed one, two or three months,
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we won some money, then we came back home and after that we went
again there and we started again to win some money. And this life patter
repeats all the time: 2-3 months there, then 2-3 months here.
During the subsequent migration experiences, Doru had the opportunity to
work again in demolition sector, but the requests from French people became
occasional, without keeping contact or entering into legality. The respondent
together with his wife supports that he could not stay longer there because
„gypsies like us do not have the necessary knowledge...we could not stay longer
period...although there is much better than here, we stay there only for money”.
The answers of the subject reveal that he did not even think how to legally work
or how to have a stable job abroad because it is sure that no one would hire him,
being satisfied that he has these opportunities even if this means to work in very
hard conditions. No other destination location represents for him an alternative
because, as the subject says, they already know Marseille and it would be
impossible for them to accustom with another location.
Others laugh but they may laugh because other job we do not have. We
are satisfied with such job, with anything we find and anything God gives
to us during a day. And if one day we do not find anything, we go again
next day, and the day after next day, and the day after that one…
We went to the same house. When we went there, I still was in connection
with the French man who guided me. We did not go anytime. We searched
for iron scrap, for one thing or another. No, no. In 2007, when I left first
time the country I did not know French….neither now I could say that I
know French …If we go there, we can not stay more than two-three
months. We stay here until we finish the money we saved there. How long?
Well, that money is enough for us for one-two months. During one month
stay in Marseille we get about 500-600 Euro.
We went in Marseille because the acquaintance about whom I spoke to
you went for the first time. And he told us that it would be well enough
there. We did not think to go elsewhere because we do not know the customs
and we have no place to live. Here we already know the city, although
that city is big…
We could not stay a longer period because you need official documents
and I could not obtain such documents. For such thing you need a
permanent domicile. Yes, you need also a work permit and other similar
documents and…And I worked either me or my wife as day laborers, and
…People knew us when we went to gather waste. We searched also in
waste containers, with the pram, and we picked up footwear, cloths and
we sold them on the market. With such products we obtained 20-30 Euro
per day. It depended on the condition of the footwear; with the money
gained I went to the market and I bought food and other products
necessary for us, spending the money gained. It remained for saving
only 10-15 Euro.
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As in the case of the other migrant cases analyzed, the migration experience
is seen by Doru mainly in terms of material benefits, although if out of the five
cases, Doru seems to have had the biggest difficulties. The money gained in
France allowed him to buy a house in Petrilaca and to move in it with his family.
Those amounts of money gave him the possibility to live a better life than that of
those from the village and those who left the village for abroad but did not save
any money and who “are poor here but are also poor there”:
Obviously leaving the country was a good thing. It was a good thing
because if we had not left the village to win some money we did not have
anything today. This small house we could not afford and we were obliged
to live either to my mother or to her mother, both situations being bad.
But leaving, we managed, firstly I went alone, I stayed a period alone
and then I went with her. I searched for iron scrap and other things on a
street, and she searched for same products on other street, knowing
already the streets in Marseille, because if we went together we did not
find anything. And we met to the deserted joint where we stayed during t
he night. When we did not find a relinquish we stayed as we could, then
we went again to find products; if we found it was good, if not we went
again. This house is bought by us. We bought together, by ourselves, no
one helps us.
Our life changes in a better life after leaving the country. Yes. It was very
hard for us, but we suffered for our progress because, even if we went no
longer abroad, we have our home. Yes, we have our own house and we
succeeded to buy it after two years. Yes. We saved money both of us. We
were able to save a little for.... We shall go again abroad but in the same
location. Well, it depends on how long we can stay.
It is much better than we lived in the past. Yes. In the past we worked as
day laborers here, t olive from one day to another. We thank to God that
we have a house to live in. And we live better than those who did not go
abroad at all.
Future plans
Now, Doru and his wife are building a new house, adjacent to the house
purchased. This is the reason for which he intends to go in Marseille also during
the next period to finalize the construction. The context is not a favoring one
because „things are getting worse there, too”, being an experience even
dangerous both as housing and as relations with the other emigrants and with
the French authorities:
Well, I do not know. As it is possible, we try to go again, to see God knows
what. At least until we finish the house …
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In contrast to the migrants from Floreºti, in case of the Roma persons from
Petrilaca we can not speak about a real adaptation to the life abroad. Roma
persons do not leave to integrate there, they leave because of their needs, they
work and live in conditions much worse than those from the village, they do not
learn the language of the majority population and they have no relations with
the local population (Doru is the only one from the community who succeeded
to work for a French man). The absence of any options in the country makes
him to experiment some situations, sometimes on the edge. The lack of education,
professional qualification or resources does not offer to Roma people many
options in Romania as well as in Europe. The scope of the migration of such
type is not even a temporary establishing in Occident but the quick accumulation
of resources able to represent a basis for them in their origin locality.
At the same time, the opportunities offered by the Occident for those who
migrated after 2007 as the Roma people from Petrilaca, are more reduced than
those offered to the first leavers. The efforts are significant and the strategies
for obtaining incomes are conjectural, without a long-term finality in the
destination country where they do not benefit of any support, either formal or
informal, living a kind of semi-nomad life by moving from a “relinquish” to
another and alternative coming back in Romania. Practically, Marseille, has
become for them a simple extension of the area explored to identify work
opportunities:„the Roma people from Petrilaca leave for Marseille as they would
leave for another county in Romania, not in order to effectively live there but
to accumulate, in an as short period of time as possible, enough resources
allowing them daily life at home.
…Our life has changed in a better one after we left. Yes. We have suffered
but we did this for ourselves …
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III. Case study Feteºti, Ialomi a County
Community
The Roma community from Dudeºti quarter – Feteºti city, Ialomiþa County,
comprises about 1400 persons according to the expert on Roma issues from the
locality. Old traditional community of Roma coppersmiths, all of its members
speak Romany language, the older women still wear long skirts and headscarves,
one of the old customs concerning marriage or traditional wearing still having
impact on the community. The information gave by the locals shows that it is a
community formed at the end of ’90s when Roma persons from the current
Dudeºti quarter came from Slobozia area.
A period long enough the Roma people from Dudeºti were seasonal migrants,
working to the boyars within the area: „the men made aluminum kettles and
boilers and the women performed different household activities, fortune telling
activities and other activities”. The members of the community succeeded to
avoid the deportation in Transnistria in 1942 due to the protection offered by the
boyar to whom the Roma persons within the area worked.
The period of the communist regime produced some transformations at the
community level: most of them have been put in possession of land by the
sedentarization policy and, at the same time most of the Roma persons from
Dudeºti gradually renounced to the traditional occupation of the community,
that of coppersmith:
…because they did not have land, in ’54, they have been put in possession
of lands and it was attempted the policy to sedentarize them, being offered
to them, by the regime, training courses, education in school. Many of
them learned and renounced to the handicraft of coppersmith, remaining
very few to exercise such handicraft, ….in 1970 I think that the last old
man made some kettles (community representative)
Duet o the fact that within the sedentarization policy the lands assigned to
Roma persons were usually located at the edge of the localities, also in Feteºti,
the community from Dudeºti quarter is located at the edge of the city, being by
consequence also in the present a compact and separate community, living on a
street called the „Roma people Street”:
Yes, I live at the edge of the city. The issue that we have discussed now, at
the Roma people Day, is that we have there, a street of Roma people. I
had such name recorded in my identity book until one month before and
an employer when sees the Roma people Street tells to us „please come
again, we will see”, thus, this is an issue for us, it is a discrimination
because on the street it effectively is the name of „Roma people Street”…..
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In the present, the quarter is formed of houses „similar with those of the
Romanians”, and the community living there is characterized by the expert on
Roma issues as a model community whose living standard does not differ from
the living standard of the majority population. The relation with the majority
population is not defined as being an issue:
There were no interethnic conflicts between us and the majority population
but rather internal conflicts between members of our community, between
relatives.
The average education level in the community is of eight classes, some of
the boys studying sometimes the professional school, while girls stop at maximum
eight classes when most of them marry. In the present, about 10-12 persons
from the community go to a faculty. One of the issues in connection to the
education aims the school attendance, from such point of view being differences
compared to Romanian children.
With regard to the Dudeºti community stratification, the relative networks
are still important, generating a structure of social statuses recognized and shared
by the community members. At their turn, the relatives are divided on families,
generating an unwritten hierarchy of the community prevailing the status ensured
by the education: according to the respondents, a individual coming from a
family “poorly quoted” from social point of view within the community, will
hardly succeed in his life either within or our of the community.
To us, the social status is strongly taken into consideration and it counts
very much when you are evaluated meaning that, finally, the community
judges you and concludes: he is a good boy but he is the son of the poor
….., while ……. is from the family…..which is a good family. Therefore, it
is an issue very ……… and this is what counts in the personal portfolio
within the community, although in relation with the majority it does not
count. But within the community, the person’s name is what it
counts…(expert on Roma population issues)
There are also examples of persons who succeeded by their education to
move away from the “common destiny”, who left the community and who, in
the present, enjoys of recognition within the Roma community of Dudeºti. The
cost of such success is the breach from the community: the biggest are the personal
successes the largest is the breach from the community.
Generally, the community is characterized as a poor one in terms of the
opportunities to obtain incomes. Among the income resources are mentioned
the agriculture and different activities needing no qualification (street sweepers,
janitors). A special category is represented by the occupations of those having
higher studies, about 10-12 persons who left the community.
The international migration began in 1991, having as destination Yugoslavia,
then Greece and Turkey. It is estimated that 10% of the members of the community
left at least once for abroad, meaning about 200 persons. The first leavers were
those who lost their jobs in the country. Firstly left the men and the wives migrated
247
much latter, after 2000. The main scope of the migration is to temporarily work.
With regard to the long term plans, the expert on Roma population issues affirms
that about 4-5 families from the community will permanently remain in Greece,
while the others will return in the country.
The first left after ’91-’92. They went in Greece … where our people
found a Roma community which accepted them to work to them at carpets
and different other things, and step by step, our people took also their
children, their relatives, men not women. After that, latter, they began to
take also the women when they saw that the situation there is ok, they
have housing, food, but the migration rate is about 10%, not higher.
Some of our people tried in Spain and in Italy but they understood that
there are not places fit for us, because there, we must have another
temperament, another way of thinking... (community representative)
Firstly I think that about 10 persons left. They were persons having lost
their jobs, who had no longer living resources, thinking that it will be
better to search for jobs. For the first time, they tried to leave for
Yugoslavia. In ’91, in Yugoslavia, I think, and then they moved to Greece,
they passed the mountains, in difficult conditions, because they had no
visa. And then it followed a period in Turkey, where they performed
different works. Here in Turkey, we effectively worked, among these
migrants being me also (community representative).
It is clearly that first of all Roma persons left aiming a better life because
at that time in Romania opportunity to win money was poor and in such
circumstances, the Roma person had to have something …. being part of
our social basis, having 3-4 children, being a more dynamic person,
wishing something better from his life, clearly are the conditions for
searching for something better in life and if life in Romania does not offer
you anything, …. you must try somewhere else. (community representative)
During the last three years, as in the case of the other communities analyzed,
especially young people left the country. They left based on the family networks
ensuring them support in the destination country. The women from the community
continue to migrate in less number than the men, the explanation being in
connection to a certain traditional status of the woman within the coppersmith
families, according to which “to us, there is the culture saying that the woman is
a woman and she must stay home”. However, during the last years the migrating
flow included also women although in a smaller number.
Firstly the 10-12 persons left for Yugoslavia, then, they went in Greece.
Generally they were the same. Now, recently, during the last years, the young
people left in waves. They are those who finished the school and they did not try
to find a job, something, here. They left because they have someone abroad.
Generally, even when you leave by yourself, you must go with someone familiar
with the destination location: “I go with him because he knows there; I do not go
248
by myself”. After a period of time, he begins to act separately but, generally, for
the beginning, this is the mentality. The members of a family help each-other.
Thus, mostly when you leave for somewhere, family counts very much… you
know that eventually you share bread in…. community representative)
Now, for several years, since 2004-2005 until in the present, but until
then, no. Spain, Italy, several persons went also in England but together
with other Roma relatives from Pãlmeºti quarter community, which has
there a large community ..... they went there to work as baby-sitters by
instance, because women remained home with us and especially those
being now widows said to us “well, I stay with the children of that person
and I win some money per month …” (community representative)
The comparison with the migration behavior of the non-Roma community
was difficult to be carried out being necessary to perform a parallel between the
respondents’ behavior and that of the remaining population of Feteºti, taking
into consideration that Dudeºti quarter is exclusively inhabited by Roma persons.
The subject selected for telling his life story was recommended by two
representatives of the community who supported their selection by several criteria:
education (he is one of the few representatives of the community who has higher
education), his current status within the community (president of an NGO), the
complexity of his migration experience and the fact he was among the first persons
leaving for abroad.
Migration as life experience
Respondent Name: M.G.
Age: 37 years old
Education Level: graduated lyceum, currently student at law
Domicile in Romania: Feteºti city, Ialomiþa County
Countries where he worked: Greece
Duration of stay abroad: 10 years, with temporary coming-back in country
Departures abroad: Greece 1997-2007 (Athens, August – October 1997,
Crete 1997-2005; 2006-2007)
Situation previous to the first departure abroad
Mihai comes from a family having faced many difficulties, the first event
marking his life being the lost of his father at the age of seven and half year old.
The respondent describes with nostalgia the childhood period and his educational
trajectory, the fact that he was protected by his family, both by his parents and
by his brother and three sisters. The family of Mihai is a typical family for the
community from Dudeºti, a relevant example being the attitude against education
of the parents and grandparents but also the educational trajectory of the children
249
of the family: the parents’ protection means to keep the children as close as
possible to the family, this meaning an attitude of avoiding the educational
environment or other factors able to bring major changes or deviations from
the typical patterns of the community. As such, Mihai is „protected” by not
being enrolled at the kindergarten or by loosing even one year of school
education; one of his sisters abandons the school after the 9 th class without
following her dream to follow the Dactylography School in Bucharest, and
the other sisters graduated maximum eight classes, abandoning the school
to marry. Also the grandparents of Mihai worked for free in benefit of the
teacher from the village only in order to make the teacher not to oblige
their daughter to go to school.
Mihai seems to inherit his father with regard to “a certain attraction
for education”. His father followed the primary education and, being
salesman, he won certain recognition within the community. Despite all
the difficulties, both of familial nature and resulted from the community
traditions, the respondent succeeds to graduate the lyceum, to overcome
the preconception related to discrimination, by interiorizing a certain feeling
of responsibility to his family:
It was the stimulation come from my sister who wanted more from me and
the fact that all of them invested somehow in me not to feel the absence of
the father. THEY INVEST IN ME …. They invest in terms that in their free
time they did not stay home with their little children and they came to
protect me and even invest money in me, buying for me everything I needed
to school, thus I did not miss anything of the things necessary for a child
to school because there were five-six families giving to me and ensuring
me in addition the summer camps organized in school. I could afford to
go in such camps. And for all these, I felt a sort of responsibility that I
must do me also something for them.
You can also have an attitude of “I deserve it, me also, as anybody else”.
Such an attitude I had in high school land many times I was also upset
because I am Roma person. Even I had an inferiority complex related to
the friendships with girls. This complex was also because in high school
I did not have money as I had in secondary school, allowing me to go
well prepared and with goods of a better quality. The difficulties already
appeared for my sisters and the support came only from my brother and
a little from my mother. I went – I remembered that I had - with an
anorak of my brother, with rubber boots and school bag I did not have,
using an “diplomat” briefcase brought by my mother, which belonged
to the boyar and which was let by his son somewhere… Imagine that I
remembered that appearance of mine, wearing gray anorak, rubber
boots and “diplomat” briefcase!
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The future wife of Mihai comes also from the Dudeºti community, being
one of the few persons who graduated also a faculty after finishing the lyceum.
Interesting are the mentions of the subject according to which both were part of
that generation wishing to break the community patters. They knew each-other
at school, at fourteen years old. The two married latter, after a first departure of
Mihai abroad, period during which she followed the faculty courses in Bucharest.
Occupations had before the migration experience
The first two years after finishing the lyceum, Mihai supported the admission
exam to the Military School but without success, and subsequently he searched
for a job with the help of his brother who succeeded to be employed at a food
warehouse from the city.
At the food warehouse, Mihai worked two years as un-skilled worker, after
that going one year to serve in the army. After the military service, when he was
already 22 years old, he found a new with the help of his relatives, one cousin
telling him that a company is looking for a person with high schooleducation to
work as insurance agent, opportunity agreed with because he felt that the former
workplace did not fit him: I was not comfortable with what I did there … it was
not a job for me, I wanted more dynamics, more space, if I could say so … Latter,
Mihai understood that neither the job of insurance agent does fit him well, reason
for which he stayed only seven moths in the relevant company.
The following job was sales manager for two counties in a beverages
company, which experience was appreciated both due to the formal training
courses within the firm, and to the practical activity from which Mihai learned
very much:
I had contacts with this world of sales, sale technique, sale methods and
all other related things. They trained me. Yes, we had training courses. At
the beginning they kept us there for two weeks, ensuring our
accommodation, and then, we went at each four-five months to such
training courses; we were very motivated also by the salary. Effectively
they supported us very much at that time, it was a company good enough
and it was ok, and I consider that I managed well enough.
To this company, Mihai worked for one year and a half but then it followed
a more difficult period because of family issues. Within the context of such
issues it followed also the change of job generated by his wish to win more and
by the need to repay a loan:
Yes, and I managed somehow … I did not control myself related to what
I wanted to do and I engaged more than rational, spending more money,
fact which determined me to contract a loan exceeding my repay capacity;
this was because of my wish to faster accomplish my goals. Yes. I took a loan.
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Coming back in Feteºti, after a period of several months of doing nothing,
due to announcements from the newspaper, Mihai found another job in Bucharest:
Well, I stayed with the newspapers in front of me, consulting the
announcements and in this way I found a cheap company. It was in 1996,
it was a company which fits me because it was in Bucharest where my
girlfriend – now, my wife – was at faculty and this company offered us an
apartment where we could live as long as I worked for them. At that
moment I left home and I stayed to them one year until a control to their
factory found that they did not ensure good production conditions,
following which they closed the company.
The loss of this last job meant the coming back to home, within the
community, where the reintegration was more difficult:
Yes. Then, back home. My relation with and within the community was
already somehow broken because of my departure, of things that I have
done, things like those… I took distance from the community and within
the community was the attitude that “He is a small loafer, somehow going
in who knows what cities”. It was …. It was difficult for me when I came back.
The next months represented a period when Mihai performed rather
occasional activities, specific for a day laborer in Feteºti, in different sectors as
wagon unloading, agriculture, which easily brought him incomes.
Let us go, but where? Let us go to grapes during night, to gather two
sacks until morning. In the morning, the customer came and we sold the
grapes to make wine. Or we went in the orchard with the sacks and we
took fruits from there saying that it is not theft because the orchard belongs
to the IAS… I had also an episode with the police. It was an organized
group and they caught us selling fruits and it was a bad situation but I
was lucky that a commissioner saw in me, during the police investigation,
something else than a person who simply wants to…. “You from there,
what are you doing together with those ones; taking into consideration
that you graduated the high schooland you have an education, I had
some expectations from someone like you. Do not put me ever in the
position to catch you again!” And he helped me conceiving the statements
– because I did not know how to give such statements in order to escape
from accusations – in a manner allowing me to get free from the context
and we divided the damage found among many persons.
This experience with the police commissioner represented, according to
the subject story, a revelation moment when he decided that he wants more from
his life. The remarks of the subject related to his different occupations are
interesting, the subject considering them rather opportunities which “came and
were taken”, representing sudden changes in his individual destiny. The event
with police represented an ordeal moment which determined him to search for
new solutions for the future.
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The first migration experience – Greece, August 1997
In August 1997, Mihai decides to go in Greece with the help of an
acquaintance from Constanþa who was migrants guide. This is a decision for a
temporary migration aiming the accumulation of financial resources.
He was a good man because if I had to cover only by myself that damage
it would be very difficult. One of my nieces – the daughter of a cousin of
first degree – married a boy from Constanþa, from somewhere in Mãcini.
He went in Greece and guided people there; he was a sort of migrants
guide. And this man tells us: “Do you want to go in Greece? Because you
have no jobs here… and if you want so…” At that time such action was
thoroughly illegal. “Let us go, too.” I contacted him and I asked him if he
wants to take us, too. I went with a cousin of first degree, that who spoke
with the sister of my wife.
The amount necessary for departure to Greece was of 150 DM according to
the respondent, money obtained by this one from the sale of some shares in
Petrobrazi. The only possibility to arrive in Greece was the informal, clandestine
way: departure took place in the summer of 1997, in a group of seven men and
five women, with the plan to initially arrive in Yugoslavia as transit point to
Greece. The whole story of the adventures on the way from Romania to Athens
seems to be the script of a movie revealing the different strategies of the first
migrants for arriving in the “Land of Promise”:
The group was formed and we went. “Let us go!” How do we go? We go
passing the border to Yugoslavians. At the Yugoslavians there is the
following prohibition: everything dark-skinned, out! You can be also
Marrakech person, if you are a little dark, you may not pass. What did
they do in such circumstances? They went and took a boat. There were
persons who pass them illegally the Danube. One sub-group of our group
was dark-haired.
After that, we re-gathered in our group in Yugoslavia and we went to pass
the border to Macedonians. Obviously we did not have the right to pass
the border in Macedonia and we passed between border control offices.
Therefore, we went by foot, among mountains, through orchards, and we
illegally passed the border. The guide showed us “Look, in this point
there is a group of soldiers and in that point there is another; the soldiers
are afraid to come to us, but we will go by the middle of the distance and
we follow this trajectory”. All kind of such events; if I knew, I would not
try … (AND WHAT DID YOU DO? I SUPPOSE THAT THE RELEVANT
PART OF THE ROAD YOU WENT BY FOOT …) Yes, by foot. Well, it took
us one day and one night to pass the border from Yugoslavia to Macedonia.
After that…. We traveled by bus; but firstly we went by train, then we went
down from the train and we took the bus and traveled by bus up to an
area at 35-40 km distance from the border, where we stopped to be able
to guide. Then we pass the border between the control offices, I do not
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know where we passed the border, anyway, through thorn bushes, ditches,
everything being a kind of adventure. We arrived and the guides expected
us. They were persons knowing the trajectory for illegal migrants and
they waited for us.
(THUS, EFFECTIVELY YOU ALSO PASSED THE BORDER WITH
GREECE IN THE SAME MANNER, BY FOOT. HOW LONG WAS THE
ROAD BY FOOT?) There we went by foot two, even three days. Until we
arrived in Athens, it passed seven days. We went on 10 July and we arrived
on 17 July in Athens. And at the departure we proceeded in the same
manner: we passed through the gardens of the people, jumping fences
with women following us while locals went out of their homes and cried
to us: “Gretska, Gretska – towards that way!”. They knew that we are not
bad people and we do nothing bad and because we disturbed them, they
preferred to show us the way to go quickly on our route.
We stayed until there God knows where, without food and drink... We did
not know their language, we did not have any phone set and we had
anything to us, no possibility to communicate and so on. I went to Athens.
I went up in a train where I discovered that I know to speak English,
based on what I studied in the school. I think it was a feeling of surviving
also in relations with the others… In train, in Greece, was the same situation. I
traveled many hours – eight hours – to Athens and in Athens other guides waited
for us and accompanied us to a community of them, similar with our community….
The final point of the travel was a quarter of Roma people from Athens
where the brothers of our guide lived. Living in the barracks of this quarter was
only temporarily, Mihai finding after that a housing solution and he started to
work. The support at the destination is, as we can see, offered by a Roma
community.
According to the respondent perception, the first experience within the
community in Greece was not very successful; Mihai, together with the other
migrants from Romania had to identify other methods to adapt to the reality
facing with and to learn new cohabitation rules. The expectations with regard to
the migration destination viewed as the “Land of Promise” are blurred by the
difficulties of the new world. The subject discovers having communication skills
leading him in the position to identify new opportunities for improving his living
conditions:
And after – as I told you – in my first day of work, I gave an amount to t
hat person as “smart gay commission” – I do not remember the value of
the amount – in order to let us free, after three-four days I found a Greek
gipsy man who searched for masters.
I went with him; how can I explain you? The community with bad fame
was here and we moved 300m away, as when you crossed the street. Yes,
I worked in construction with my cousin. I was the hodman and he was
the master. We stayed there about three months, from August to October.
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The second migration experience – Crete, stay period:
1998-2005
The incident related to the hashish at the previous workplace represented
the trigger for the decision to go in other part, being chosen Crete as destination,
based on the contacts obtained from the Bulgarian Roma people. The travel
does not miss again adventures especially because Mihai and the members of
his group do not have legal permit of stay:
Yes, I liked that part of Greece. I stayed there one month and a little more
and I liked very much working joinery because carving in wood and
similar things represent one of my hobbies. When I saw the incident with
the hashish I decided and I told to the others: “I stay here no longer.
Look, here is a lather coat to put in it the money we won for our work and
let us go away from here”. We met two Romanians who knew a little to
speak Greek – they were there for a longer time – and I told them: “Where
can we go?” – “We go in Crete, to work in olive orchards!”. –”Mm... let
go!”. (BUT HOW DO YOU MEET THESE TWO ROMANIANS?) They were
there, in that community. Many Romanians were there, working. Yes, many,
many Romanians were there. And we took them and we prepared to leave…
At the boat: visa, passports, “are you here legally or illegally?” and so
on. The person asking the Romanian – I let him to answer the first – was
from Râmnicu Vâlcea and the Romanian answered that we have visa.
What visa? We had nothing. The controller looked in passports and said:
“Where are going all those people?” –”Well, in Sitia, Crete, gathering
olives. Come on captain, let them go!”. When I heard this, I flew up to the
boat deck. We went by boat and crossed the sea to Crete, traveling 12 hours!
The conditions found at the destination are better than those in Athens because
here the group has already arranged the housing and job. It followed, as Mihai
told us, the first essential test for surviving abroad: learning the local language.
The efforts of the subject to learn and adapt to a completely new environment
are remarkable and the subject reached to face successfully such environment:
learning the foreign language, identification by own resources of a job, working
at -20°C in a ice-cream factory, opportunity to sane money for sending in the
country, obtaining of a legal employment agreement in a relative short period of
time, are elements transforming the migration experience of Mihai into a success.
In Crete, I called the relevant person, I took a cab and we went in the
village where they lived to host us and to see what solution they offer to
us. I found one of the son-in-law of the old man who brought us back in
the city, in Sitia, where it was the harbor and where he found a room for
four persons. We lived all four in a room. YOU PAID A RENT FOR THE
ROOM, I SUPPOSE. Yes, yes; we paid a rent for one month and then
started the hard life for us: to learn the language. It was very difficult, I
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learned with dictionaries and by watching TV. Dictionary and TV; difficult,
very difficult. After one month and half I went out, I searched for a job
and I found it. The olive season started on 17 November and I found a
job for three months, including accommodation, meal and six thousand
drachmas as salary;
After three months and half of working at olives, the season finished and
I called to a number and I found by phone a job in an ice-cream factory.
BUT FROM WHERE DID YOU KNOW TO CALL PRECISELY TO THAT
FACTORY? I took a catalogue …. A TELEPHONE BOOK …. Yes, a
telephone book and I saw hotels, companies … AND YOU STARTED TO
CALL. Yes, I started to call.
The money necessary to arrive in Crete have been saved from the work to
the joinery workshop and the amount covered the cost of the travel by boat and
the living costs until the employment to olive orchard. All the jobs until now
were without legal employment contracts and the salary paid was without legal
forms. Once the work in olive orchard finished, Mihai had to search for another
job to get money for him to live and for covering the debts remained in the
country. His employment in the ice-cream factory meant his first legal employment
contract abroad:
I could send money home for debts I made there. The last time, I sent in
December money won working at olives and I settled my debts, having
no more problems. After that, I found a job to the ice-cream factory, which
was there… In the factory, I arranged the ice-cream in the refrigerating
warehouses. I worked at - 20°C, when in Crete were the hot waves, and I
wore three pairs of socks, one pair of shoes which was mine and over
that, one pair of boots of the factory, two pairs of trousers and a padded
coat, a jacket, a sweater, two fezzes, two pairs of gloves, because I had to
enter in the refrigerating room to arrange the ice-cream in freezers. I ate
very much ice-cream during that period. I worked very much. I worked
from 12 o’clock until 11 o’clock in the night. I won five thousand
drachmas, less than for the job to olives, but the major advantage was
that I was legally employed. The owner had this initiative because he
could not keep as employee without the related legal documents. I was
already legally employed when the Government of Greece made legal
forms for everybody. It was an identification campaign. They called us to
take our fingerprints but without making us any bad thing. So, I was in
1997, 1998... in 1999, in spring of 1999.
The change in the legal status of Mihai happened after two years since
Mihai departure from Romania, after a period of illegal stay, due to a context of
positive circumstances related to some measures for legalizing the statute of the
migrants in Greece:
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Yes, two years I stayed illegally. During that period when we saw police,
we hid …. And then, the Greek authorities started the initiative to give us
a legal statute, EU asked them to do so and they legalized the stay of
anyone was there. They requested us to meet some requirements: to be
employee for a certain period, to have insurance and to have official
documents and permit. They requested me documents and I proved them
that I am in Greece … For me was easier because as I told you I was
employee since 1998 and I could prove this to them. If you wanted to
send some objects or money from a company, to home, you could not
send if you were not there … And then, this was a support document.
Another six months of olive gathering season followed, Mihai benefiting of
each such season during the ten years lived in Crete. In fact, all these years spent
there, his occupations were divided in two seasons: the season since the middle
of November until the end of February when olives were gathered (period during
which Mihai was officially unemployed and his work was paid without official
forms) and the summer season when he performed seasonal works in the touristic
resorts of Crete, under legal employment contracts. The first experience of Mihai
in these resorts was as waiter in a restaurant, job resumed by him on determined
period, also in the next years spent in Crete:
I saved some money and I went in other city in Crete, at 100km from
there, all the season. There are the best touristic resorts in Greece. The
one where I worked and Malis, the best in Crete – two resorts only and
Crete is the best touristic area in Greece and at that time those two resorts
were the best in Greece. I arrived there also due to an announcement in
the newspaper. I went to an interview to somebody who told me that he
needs a pot-boy. I told him “I did not work until now as pot-boy, but….”
YOU COULD TRY TO SEE HOW YOU HANDLE. Yes, and it was very
interesting my courage there. And it followed a period of four-five years
at the same owner, in the same tavern. My wife also was with me…
Temporary come-back in Romania
The first temporary come-back in Romania was after two years and half
since the date of the first departure, when Mihai had already the official documents,
during his legal annual leave of 30 days. Subsequently, such come-back annually
repeated as visits during the legal days-off or during the legal leaves, at their
end, Mihai returning in Crete to work. In one of these holydays, he married and
then, his wife followed him in Crete.
After that, I came back. … No, not every time I came home. I do not know
why I stayed there one year in addition. I came and at that time there
were those alternatives: with work permit, with visa, all that madness.
There I felt effectively and physically the discrimination. In Romania I
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created by myself a discrimination because I left home with an inferiority
complex , with those ideas; there I really felt that we are Romanians, not
gypsies. ALSO THERE WE WERE DISCRIMINATED BASED ON … Yes,
based on other things … We stayed there nine months and when I finished
we both went gathering olives.
The wife of Mihai stayed in Crete until in December 2000 when she remained
in Romania “to search a house”. During this period, Mihai remained in Crete to
work even this decision affects the couple harmony especially after the birth of the
first child. The story of Mihai reveals that his migration experience meant always
a permanent weighting of the costs compared to benefits: the costs were represented
by the family relation in Romania and the wish to be close to his family and the
benefits were represented by the substantial material gains from abroad allowing
him to ensure the daily life of his family at home and to help his sisters.
I had the money for a house and we searched for more than one year
such a house. We went together to see a house and after one year and
half we bought the same house we have seen together. So, she wait for
me two years and half and we married when I came home. I took her with
me and after that she remained home and I went alone to work. She
remained alone and she was not satisfied with her life as lonely soul. But
we had the others, the material situation; I had to help also the others
who left their difficulties on me and I could not avoid supporting them,
situation valid also in the present. And for this reason I preferred to have
much money in order to be able to give them and to have enough also for
my family. I stayed there many years, until in 2005.
Final come-back in Romania
The final come-back in Romania occurred in 2005 following the decision
to be close to his family followed by the employment as sales agent to a food
distribution company in the county:
I received in one year the remuneration that I would receive there in one
month. But I decided to be close to my wife. She gave birth a boy in
November 2004. I could not adapt here, from material point of view and
I left. Then, I left for two seasons and then I came back forced by my
family situation because my wife trusts no longer in me, thinking that I
have there a relation and that it is better to divorce.... I put in order my
decisions – where, how and what I want for my life – and I renounced
before the end of the season. I left before the end of the season, without
presents, without anything else. And then, I decided to come-back in
Romania and to stay here permanently.
The came-back home represented for Mihai a more intense involvement in
the family life but also a professional reorientation. Now he works as social
worker, volunteer in a center for helping children and he is president of this
organization and the manager of some projects of interest for Roma people.
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I stayed and stayed, for almost one year after my come-back. After that I
worked as guard agent to the highway, job found due to the relation of my wife.
She knows someone here and I came. I was also volunteer within an organization.
Now I reached to be the president of this organization.
Mihai is the case where the dilemma of the migrant being between two
worlds but not having the feeling that he belongs to any of them can be seen the
best. The period of successive departures and coming-back is described exactly
in this manner as “living in parallel universes”. The migration is for Mihai an
experience which “take you from your usual life, throws you in another plan,
parallel in time”, an experiment hard to be managed from psychical point of
view. From the five cases studied, Mihai is the only one who acknowledges and
expresses these costs related to the alienating experience of migration and who
perceives such experience beyond the material benefits.
Let start in this way, with BAD THINGS…You do not face same events in
life. You leave a reality and then you come back. You fold in time. I feel
that I lost a period of the society progress….I came back and I found
prices much higher than there, or I came back and I found other currency,
or I came back and I found a law different from what I knew. I felt that I
do not live here, that I was already in other parallel world. In exchange,
I participated there, in Greece, to their changes. But I lost ours. I found
my mother a little older, a nephew taller than in the past and I lost the
opportunity to see him when he was less tall than now. This was the bad
thing making me to stare at the ceiling every night, counting the days
remained until my return home as well as the loneliness killing you. In
such circumstances, the nervous cells are obviously spent without any
sense. I refer here that it was not well to think in such manner and to be
depressive; but inevitably you catch a depression.
At the same time, the benefits related to familiarizing with attitudes as
tolerance, acceptance of diversity, overcoming the preconception related to the
role of the woman, understanding for the other and trust in people as well as
gradated perception of your reality, are also acknowledged by the subject.
And GOOD THINGS are that you get experience and you see the world
with other eyes from equality point of view. Thinking at life I think to
equality: all are human beings and I do not refer only to Greeks. I had
relations with people from all the Europe and sometimes with Americans
in vacation and I know how people think in Austria, Holland, Germany,
England. We are not different. We have good neighbors and bad neighbors
as we have good leaders or bad leaders; taxes are everywhere bad things
and the governments and laws never protect the simple citizen as well as
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the woman is never seen with the eyes from home. Outside you think that
the women must be obedient and must do what his man says and outside
the child is a good child but within your house things are very
different....And in this way you understand that it is only a period of time
lived by a country and another period time lived by another country
which means that we are at the “zero level” and they are at the “second
level” but we are going to the same “second level”. And all these learned
me that whoever you are or whomever you address or whatever you
address, you must understand the frustrations of the other in order to
have a good relation with somebody. Every human being is same as you;
regardless of its Japanese, English, etc. nationality, he is same as you
and he has the same issues with his neighbors, at his workplace, with his
wife at home, in connection with whom must lead the house, whom must
prepare the meal, whom must take out the garbage, ….
In addition to the material and professional benefits clearly revealed by the
story of Mihai, we can assess as benefit also the maturity and evolution of his
personality to a global, objective and equidistant perspective on the others and
on the experiences lived: migration is for Mihai an experience which significantly
formed him intellectually, in addition to all the other gains.
I got the ability to weight people characters. Not in the way of not trusting
in them, but I consider that everyone doing something had a reason to
do so. I never criticize him for the thing done. If he did such thing it
means that he had a reason; let find the reason in order to understand
him. In this manner it is easier for me. “He came and he did not do this
thing or he did such thing because it would be useful for him”. But in
fact, he did…. I do not think that people have a plan initially bad meaning
that you fixed a strategy in our mind and for this reason you did the
relevant thing. It is too much to think at people in such terms; in fact, they
feel to do something and they did such thing. PROFESSIONALLY WHAT
DOES IT MEAN THIS DEPARTURE ABROAD FOR YOU? More
determination and capacity to take decisions and it formed me as leader
able to take my decisions. I could see from other people what means to
be firm and to keep your way straight in order to have success. I had two
very good employers from this point of view and I knew persons who
could teach me good things, I may say. It means that if you are a
professional, you must follow your profession, if not, leave it because
anyway your lack of success is obvious. If you want to fulfill your tasks
you must seriously work as much as you can do because no one is perfect
and you must say to yourself: “Yes, if I want to make this project I will do
it perfect and….” You can do ten things but when all ten things can be
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done 80% well and 20% improvable. I think that from professional point
of view, the experience to be correct at my workplace, to respect my
superiors and colleagues, counted. First time, I began to work with two
hands but now I know this profession of waiter which a beautiful one,
containing a lot of psychology because you talk with people and you
must make them happy.
WOULD YOU MANAGE IN THE SAME MANNER IN ROMANIA? I do not
know. I want to think about me that I would manage also here, but the
opportunities were much better there and things went in a positive
direction. Financially I do not think that I would have in Romania the
same achievements as there, because the apartments where we are living
now were always the most expensive in town and we could not afford
them. We probably would remain to the parents and we would modernize
that house, continuing to live together with them within the community,
although we had other ideas. But if life offered me such opportunity,… As
I told you, plans are never made in advance, there are opportunities
leading to certain plans. Because, I told you about the loneliness feelings
that I lived … In ten years, there were many moments of loneliness and
absence of the warmness of a close soul; this is the real sufferance of a
person when leaving home. IT GENERATES EFFECTS AFTER THAT, I
THINK… Yes, it generates effects, because when you come home you are
alone. You feel alone and you want to be alone and sometimes you have
an excessive desire to be with friends, to communicate and you fall in the
opposite EXTREME. I do not advise the others to leave. Rather I advise
them to search for a job here and to manage somehow, to sell something,
to buy for sale and to resell; I do not know, to manufacture something…
but here, in Romania.
During the interview, Mihai always considered his stay abroad as a “life
experience”, “dilemma and question period” and less as “opportunity to make
money”. Although the stages passed reveal actual skills of adaptability to life
abroad, the valorization of this experience is much deeper than in the other
cases. Currently, Mihai accustomed with his option to choose the family life and
building a career in Romania, although the effects of his past experience mark
all the aspects of his life.
But, I do not know, as a sort of conclusion, I must tell that working abroad is
well only from financial point of view - only at financial level. At all the other
levels, related to discrimination, or inner life, family life, etc., working
abroad is not a good thing, not at all. You can not feel yourself accomplished.
There is an emptiness which remains…
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IV. Case study Cornu de Sus, Prahova County
Community
The Roma community in Cornu de Sus (Dumbrava Commune) is a compact
one, formed from about 800 persons grouped in a quarter located in the center
of the village. As declares the expert on Roma people issues, it is a community
of bearwards, which does no longer respect the old customs. Moreover, according
to the representative of the local authorities, at the last census, many of the
members of the community avoided to declare themselves as being Roma people.
The village monography certifies that the first Roma people were brought there
as thralls by the boyar Cepelneþ, reason for which the area was called Ciupelniþa,
in 1400. Those Roma persons established in the village, in time, their community
growing also due to different acquaintances, who came from other areas.
From housing structure point of view, the Roma people situation does not
differ from the situation of the houses of the Romanians from the village, all of
them having access to drinkable water and electricity in the approximate 100
households in which they are living (in the yards of these households are grouped
2-3 houses). Within the Roma community there are two categories of houses. By
one side there are the houses of the unemployed persons who did not ever work
(either in Romania, or abroad): old and poor houses, built of clay, covered by
pasteboard, because their inhabitants do not afford protection materials more
expensive (iron sheet), having maximum 2 rooms where sometimes live even
15 persons. The second category is represented by the houses of those who
have or had at least one employment, distinguishing the houses of those who
worked abroad. These houses are built of resistant materials as BCA, they are
covered by iron sheet and they have many rooms and even two interior bathrooms.
The income sources of the members of the Roma community are limited to
the welfare and seasonal works. Out of the 260 families from the locality, 60
benefit of the unemployment allowance, while in the closed villages part of the
same commune there are about 4 families benefiting of welfare.
An important source of incomes comes from nettle trade which is the main
occupation of the women. To sell the plants, the members of the Roma community
travel by train 15km to the markets in Ploie;ti. Occasionally, men work as day
laborers to earthworks in Bucharest. They are transported by another wealthier
member of the community and at the end of the day, they are brought back.
The family situation of the members of the Roma community in Cornu de
Sus frames within the rural Roma family pattern, with a high birth rate of 5-6
children as average per family. Girls married at early ages even if they do not opt
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for a legal marriage, living tally with their future husbands since 13-14 years old.
Abandoning the school in sixth or seventh class without finalizing the secondary
education cycle, girls dedicate to the family and the maintenance of the household.
Boys go to school until an older age and they graduate maximum eight classes, in
the entire community being only five children who finished the lyceum.
The international migration began before 2000, according to the local
representatives, after this year being more frequent the departures to Spain, France
and less, to Germany. The members of the Roma community leave more
frequently to pick up strawberries in Spain or to work in construction, in Germany
and France.
Right now, two of us went in Germany to a circus to work to the animals
of the circus. As they told, weekly in Germany there are organized the days of a
city, commune, village and they have an owner who transport them everywhere,
they install tents. AND WHAT DO THEY WORK IN SPAIN? They pick up
strawberries and they work in construction (expert on Roma people issues)
The estimations of the respondents reveal that about 60 Roma persons were
abroad to work, most of them coming back within the community. Approximate
10 persons remained there for ever. Therefore, it is a temporary migration focused
on the activities bringing incomes. From the family either the man or the woman
goes to work and in less cases, go both to work because one of the parents must
remain with the children. The cases of those who remain abroad more than one
year are very few according to the respondents, most of the migrants being
called “seasonal laborers”, persons who go abroad for periods of maximum 5-6
months or even less and come back in Romania and then leave Romania again.
Maximum 50-60, not many of us left the country. WE DO NOT LEAVE
THE COUNTRY IN EXTRAORDINARY GREAT NUMBER. And many of us
left the country but came back after a very short time. They did not adapt
and they came back. For such action those remained home had to send
them money. And those who went abroad had to borrow money under
usury in order to leave the country. There are some gypsies in Bãrbuleºti
who borrow money with usurious interest. They went to look for members
of our community who left the country. They are not interested in the
amount of money requested but only in receiving the related interest. And
our community members, debtors, send money from there to pay such
interest. According to them, the interest is of 10% per week. BUT WHICH
IS THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THEY NEED TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY,
FOR BUS TICKET AND SO ON? …200 Euro for one travel, that to the
foreign destination.
The number of persons established there reached maximum 10. They come
back. They come back annually or once at two or three years. Men and
women go equally but in fewer cases the entire family. Also women
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without their husbands go abroad to work, or vice-versa, as I told you, to
pick up or to package strawberries or to take care of a child. Someone
took care of a dog and received 5 Euro per day to go out and walk with
the dog.
The person who established abroad stayed there three years and in same
situation was also a boy whom I met this Friday - he worked with me at
“1 Mai” factory – and who came back after two years. But the others
worked as seasonal laborers, for 5 or 6 or 2 or 3 months. How they
managed to get such jobs… they let there their phone numbers and when
the employer needs them, he calls them and the relevant leave immediately.
Usually, the employer sent also some money to them in order to create
them proper conditions for leaving for abroad…(expert on Roma people
issues).
The decision to leave the country is influenced by the power of example,
the community mutual help networks operating in such cases and leading to the
identification of housing opportunities financially advantageous:
Well, the city being so near it is normal because they communicate eachother. Also Mizil and Ploieºti are near. They told one to another “X sent
me money to go to him”, but it happened that … someone told me that
they have an apartment and that they did not pay any rent …. X sent them
money to have for the rent...(expert on Roma people issues)
Within the Roma community from Cornu de Sus there were not big waves
of departures abroad but rather a constant rate of departures. In opposition to the
migrating Roma people, the Romanians from the locality going abroad most
often went based on a legal employment contract or on a pre-established work
arrangement and not „on risk” as the Roma people did. The number of migrating
Romanians is much less than the number of migrating Roma people.
No, no. There were not massive waves, no. We never had something like
that; maximum 10% - 30% left the country to work. There are those who
go annually abroad to pick up strawberries as the “strawberry gatherers”
do. The strawberry gatherers go by the end of the year. HOW MANY GO
WHEN IT IS THE STRAWBERRY SEASON? Maximum 10-15, thus, not
many. BUT THE SITUATION OF THE ROMANIANS FROM THE LOCALITY
IS THE SAME? ARE THEY ALSO LEAVING ABROAD? A part of
Romanians go also abroad but most of them went based on contracts,
they do not leave the country on their risk... The Roma people risked to
go abroad, knowing nothing, because risk means their life and I suppose
they slept under bridges...Romanians went mostly under a contract. Those
who went abroad regardless of the risk are the Roma people. (expert on
Roma people issues)
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THERE WERE CASES WHEN ROMANIANS ARRIVED ABROAD HELPED
THE ROMA PEOPLE? DO YOU KNOW IF THEY HELP EACH-OTHER
OR IF THEY ARE SEPARATED? …No. But Roma people called to them a
Romanian. Yes. This Romanian integrates there, stays and cooperates
only with Roma people, but he is Romanian. But he was a friend of them
and they took him with them in Germany, at Oktoberfest festivals organized
there, in order to install and disassemble the tents and he is there since
three months. He was abroad with these Roma people also last year and
two years ago only with two of them. (expert on Roma people issues)
The recommended subject, member of the Roma community has, according
to the criteria mentioned by the informal leaders, the richest migration experience
in the village. At the same time, he is considered a successful case because he
went abroad each time based on legal employment contract and he is financially
accomplished (he won a lot abroad, he bought houses for his children and now
he is building for him a house in Cornu de Sus).
Migration or money chase
Respondent Name: ª. T.
Age: 58 years old
Education Level: Professional School
Domicile in Romania: Cornu de Sus Village, Dumbrava Commune,
Prahova County
Countries where the respondent worked: Israel, Germany, Spain
Period of stay abroad: 9 years
History of departures abroad
The history of the departures abroad is relatively complex in case of ªtefan,
who visited 3 countries different one to another from culture and organization
points of view. After a stay of 4 years in Israel, the next destination was Germany
for one year, being chosen due to the employment contracts available to the
Ministry of Labor. It followed a stay in Romania of almost 8 years when ªtefan
worked to a trading company from where he was obliged to leave because of the
company bankruptcy. During the last period, 2007-2010, he went to Spain for a
new job under employment contract, in construction sector.
Situation of the respondent previous to the first
departure abroad
The life style in Romania of ªtefan was atypical for the Roma community
of which member he is. Being aware of the importance of the studies and the
opportunities offered by skills, knowledge and a diploma, he followed the courses
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of a secondary school, subsequently completing his education in professional
school and with professional training courses. A substantial advantage for his
successful educational experience was that ªtefan worked in Bucharest
immediately after finishing the eight classes. The opening and multiple
opportunities offered by a big city materialized in the fact that ªtefan followed
professional training courses in construction sector.
For 25 years, ªtefan worked in Romania only in special petroleum
engineering sector, acting within two big companies: at the first company he
worked before the Revolution, before going abroad to work, and at the second
company he worked 8 years long, starting with 2000 until the company fell
under bankruptcy proceedings. Being dedicated to work, observing the work
schedule and adopting an efficient work style, ªtefan reached a good position
in the occupational hierarchy, as “team leader”, leading also to a better living
standard for him.
Here, in the country? What can I say? I lived well before and after the
Revolution because I permanently worked, I did not stay without making
anything, I was not one of those proceeding in such manner. I was … I
mostly worked to those with petroleum installations, in constructions. All
over the country, because this company has such kind of works. And
after the Revolution I went abroad. I was several years in Israel, about 4
years… Before leaving the country I worked in constructions sector, mostly
industrial installations. Here I have 25 years of work, I have several
years of work in Spain, hoping that all my employers will give me pension
when reaching the legal retirement age. …
WHY DID YOU RENOUNCE TO YOUR JOB TO GO IN ISRAEL? OR
WHAT DID IT HAPPEN …Money difference, this is the reason. I am the
man chasing after money. Let say that I come to you for one year, by
instance, for 10 millions and latter I find a correct position for 15 millions,
in such case I go to those paying me 15 millions. If you offer me also 15
millions I stay to you. This is it. THUS, IN FACT, YOU GO WHERE YOU
RECEIVE MORE… …For sure, I chased for money.
Although accomplished from family point of view, married with 4
children, the subject declares that he considered important to gain enough
to be able to help even such capacity meant to leave his family for a
significant period of time. He went to Israel at work in order to offer material
support to his family when children were relatively small, the first born
being of 16 years old and the last born being of 10 years old. Going abroad
to work has changed the family structure, because his wife left ªtefan as
well as the children had together.
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Experience of successive stays abroad
In 1994, as the respondent states, most of the departures were to Israel. The
strategy to go abroad at work began with the attempt to find out information at
the Office for Labor Force Migration27, located on Valer Mãrãcineanu Street, in
Bucharest, which was subordinated to the Ministry of Labor. Taking the decision
to migrate in order to work, ªtefan considered that the first proper action would
be to collect information from the most important institution responsible for the
communication of the jobs existing abroad:
This was the opportunity at that time, most of the employers were from
Israel and most of the departures were for Israel, during a period of time.
And then, employments in Israel ceased, now nobody going there… BUT
FROM WHERE DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT ISRAEL? WHO TOLD YOU
ABOUT? Well, there were a lot of companies accredited by the Ministry of
Labor, weren’t they? I went very often to the Ministry of Labor looking,
for sure, for information. And those from there looked for such information,
those from the building located on Walter Mãrãcineanu Street, behind
which is also the building of the institution for Roma people, if I understood
well, that building…
The Office for Labor Force Migration (OMFM) provided with list of the private
agencies authorized to mediate employment abroad as well as with other information
necessary to anybody wishing to go abroad based on an employment contract (by
instance the list of necessary documents, legal information, etc.). The selection of
the destination was somehow randomly, the subject explaining his choice by the
fact that Israel was a “trendy destination” at that time for those wanting a job
abroad. He selected, based on the information received from OMFM, a company
intermediating employment contracts in different countries among which Israel,
he filled-in the necessary documentation and papers and he arrived in Tel Aviv.
He left Romania in the eve of the New Year and he spent the New Year of 1994, in
a foreign country, after several days beginning also his new activity. Although the
employment contract was obtained since still being in Romania, ªtefan had to
pass a test of his skills and knowledge before being assigned a position to him.
The test consisted of the execution of a construction design, task successfully
fulfilled by the entire team of workers coming from Romania:
The first departure was in the eve of the New Year. I spent the New Year
there. After that, I began the normal work schedule, following the test
given by the employer to see if we are fit for the contract obtained, showing
that we are good…WHAT DOES IT MEAN TESTING YOU? WHAT KIND
OF TEST HAVE YOU PASSED? Work trial, to see if you fit with the position
27 During the interview, the respondent refers to OMFM as to Ministry of Labor. OMFM disappeared in 2007, and the
responsibilities related to the protection of the rights of the Romanian citizens working abroad as well as their monitoring
have been taken over by some departments of ANOFM
267
assigned to you… Well, what could we do? The test was in constructions
sector. They put before us the design and they told us: “Build this beam”
and we built it on due term. However, we work much faster than them.
The first came-back in the country was after one year. During the period of
work based on the employment contract established since he still was in Romania,
ªtefan lived in a dorm, together with team of workers with whom he left Romania.
With regard to the occupations in Israel, ªtefan specifies that he worked
permanently in constructions sector – joinery, smithy – activities performed by
him also in Romania, before his departure. He came back in the origin country
only during the legal leave periods although such periods extended sometimes
also up to 30 days.
With regard to the manner in which he approached his new workplace,
ªtefan had to adapt to a new work method: in addition to the new technical
rules for building, generated by the geographical differences between
Romania and Israel, ( “in constructions sector there are same rules, except
that the resistance system is lower compared to ours because in Israel there
are no earth quakes and to us there are”), it was also necessary learning a
new work culture. The activity is more serious, the effort made is more
substantial, not necessarily because of the inspections of the employer but
mostly because of the own responsibility for performing a work at the level
of the remuneration received.
The adaptation to a thoroughly different culture began for ªtefan with learning
the language: working with persons from Israel, helped by the conversion guides,
he succeeded to learn relatively fast the language enough to handle in the new
world where he had arrived.
Handling with the language? Well, if you are ambitious, you learn
everything…THUS< DID YOU LEARN? Yes, certainly. I perfectly spoke
the language. At the beginning I used a language guide and I studied it
but I mostly learned speaking with the men with whom I directly worked
because is compulsory to learn. If you work with Romanians it is more
difficult to learn, but if you work directly with them...
After a period of one year, ªtefan renounced at the initial employment
contract signed in Romania, together with other workers, and they moved in an
leased apartment where they lived during the entire period stayed in Israel. The
reason of such change was the “wish to better gain”. Since the date of renouncing
to the initial employment contract until the date of his final departure from Israel,
ªtefan a changed at least 10 jobs.
Well, in Israel I worked on the black labor market a long period of time,
because Israelites do not respect the arrangements and due to this reason
you must run from an employer to another and this means working on t
he black labor market.
268
Due to abandoning of the initial employment contract and passing to
working on the black labor market, ªtefan was finally sanctioned, being obliged
to spend ten days in arrest. Knowing the strategies for solving the situation, he
sent to his relatives the money necessary to buy him an airplane ticket for
coming back home; because he had such a ticket for his return in Romania, the
authorities from Israel have been obliged to release him after ten days to allow
him coming back home.
In 1999, it followed Germany as work experience, for a period of one year.
ªtefan departure occurred again due to his contacts identified based on the
information provided by OMFM, in Bucharest. Although the labor force
employment company through which ªtefan had left for Israel for the first time
had employment offers also in other countries, ªtefan could no longer use it
because he had breached his contract, hiring to another employer, without legal
forms. Therefore, ªtefan found another labor force employment company which
had employment offers in many countries and he chose the best paid job which
was in Germany. He went to work in the same constructions sector, but not in a
big city as in Israel, but in a place in Germany, rather isolated. Living in camper
vans specially arranged for workers within the site, ªtefan succeeded to evadate
from the work environment very seldom, working and living only together with
the Romanians from the construction team coming from Romania. This was the
reason for which he had difficulties in learning German language.
The differences in the working method are obvious, Germany being seen
as a country technologically and organizationally advanced: here every activity
is mechanized and the work flow is much better organized:
In Germany there is an advanced nation. They work mechanized; it is
something else. I worked in the same sector of constructions, for sure.
Yes. We hope now that we will go to them again because the only country
where things are good is Germany. They are no longer in recession, the
economy works again, they do not pay as before but, anyway, it is better
than in our country. Because our people ...THUS< IN FACT IN GERMANY
YOU WENT ALSO BASED ON AN EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT SIGNED
HERE< IN ROMANIA… Yes, yes, for sure, based on same type of contract.
Germans recorded our situation, our work seniority and so on, in the
labor book, they are not like our employers or like the Spanish employers,
who …., they give you separately pension.
HOW DID YOU MANAGE IN GERMANY, WHERE DID YOU LIVE? In
Munich, at…, in Germany, workers sleep in containers. I slept in camper
van. In containers there are same conditions as in a block of flats. WHAT
DOES IT MEAN CONDITIONS AS IN A BLOCK OF FLATS? WHAT DID
YOU HAVE THERE? Kitchen, hot water, heating… I SUPPOSE< GAS<
ELECTRICITY< ALL UTILITIES…Yes, for sure, all utilities.
269
The end of the contract in Germany represented the coming back of ªtefan
in Romania. Hired again by the company of special petroleum constructions, he
remained on the position of team leader for several years, until the company fell
under bankruptcy proceedings.
In 2007, ªtefan, remained without a job in Romania and without options to
be hired in the sector he was trained, chose to migrate, for the third time, in one
of the European countries, to work there. This time Spain was chosen as
destination due to the big number of Romanians already working there, thus, a
decision again almost similar with the first one when he chose a “trendy
destination” for the Romanian migrants, offering in addition jobs in constructions
sector, well paid. This time also he chose the institutional way, consulting the list
with jobs displayed at OMFM. But in this last experience, the departure initially
changed in a failure, the difficulties faced being numerous, among them the fact
that he worked 4 months without receiving any salary for the activity performed.
He lived for 2 months thanks to the donations made by the churches and
philanthropic institutions from Spain, which granted food and cloths.
With regard to the housing, due to the contract concluded with the company
from Romania intermediating his departure (taken from the database of OMFM),
ªtefan lived for 4 months in the apartment mandatory ensured by the Spanish
employer. After the 4 months-period and the organization of a strike, the Spanish
public institutions ensured other jobs for the Romanian workers although the money
for the 4 months worked have been never recovered. However, this difficult situation
of ªtefan after his departure in Spain had also a positive result: he received the
residence permit and by consequence the right to legally work anywhere in Spain.
WHY SPAIN? YOU ALREADY HAVE BEEN IN ISRAEL, GERMANY, WHY
SPAIN FOR THE THIRD TIME? This was the opportunity appeared at
that time … the biggest number of jobs and Romanian workers were in
Spain. In Spain appeared the opportunity. I legally went in Spain, based
on a contract, from the database of the Ministry of Labor and I was
swindled during four months. HOW? WHAT DID IT HAPPEN? They did
not give me any amount of money. The personnel from the Embassy told
us that our situation will be settled by the Ministry of Labor28, and they
put a vehicle at our disposal to take us home for free but we refused to
leave and after that they have been obliged to issue official documents
for us, giving us the legal right to work in Spain. THUS, I SHOULD
UNDERSTAND THAT, IN FACT, YOU WENT THERE AND YOU WORKED
FOR 4 MONTHS BASED ON THE CONTRACT SIGNED IN OUR
COUNTRY…Without receiving any money. Only in exchange of food and
housing. AFTER THESE 4 MONTHS, WHAT DID YOU DO? After that,
those from the Spanish Ministry of Labor have been obliged to ensure us
28 OMFM – Office for Labor Force Migration
270
new jobs because we refused to return home and we organized a strike. It
was difficult enough, I stayed without work, a period, depending on the
mercy of those peasants…THUS, DID YOU WORK ON THE BLACK
LABOR MARKET DURING THAT PERIOD? No, I did not work on the
black labor market. I stayed home because the relevant employer was
not allowed to throw us in the street until he gave us the money and we
stayed home and people brought us food. In our country was the same
situation in case of the Chinese workers, nourished by Romanians at
Station Basarab 2, the employer being Romanian. We stayed in this way,
using the peasants’ food more than one month. After that, they found jobs
for us and they issued official documents for us and we remained there.
We went here to the Embassy, we filled-in the necessary documents and
they told us they will recover our money, but latter.
The decision of coming back in Romania was influenced by the decrease
of the salaries once the economic crisis affected the European Economic Area.
Working for salaries almost double until then, ªtefan refused a job where they
offered him a salary of 1,500 Euro, considering it too small for the level with
which he was accustomed:
I left Spain when the crisis began. When the crisis began, they offered me
a salary of 1,500Euro, but I refused it and I came back home. Now I
would work for such salary. THUS, I SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT
ONE THOUSAND AND FIVE HUNDRED WAS A SMALLER SALARY THAN
THAT GAINED BEFORE. Yes, obviously. This was their offer. Now salaries
decreased to 1,500Euro, and I did not want and I came back home.
YOU WENT, AS I SAW, IN ISRAEL, GERMANY, SPAIN. IN WHICH OF
THESE COUNTRIES THE SALARY IS THE BEST? WHERE DID YOU OBTAIN
THE BEST SALARY? Now is crisis. Before the crisis, in Spain was the best
salary of 2,000-3,000 Euro. This situation is no longer valid…
The principle guiding ªtefan in his professional trajectory was to permanently
obtain better revenues. He went in each of the 3 countries based on employment
contracts, but only in Germany he kept the same job during the entire stay period
because he could not look for another job, being isolated from the community in the
destination country. In Israel he succeeded to have more than 10 jobs after renouncing
to the initial contract, while in Spain he was also hired in several companies in
Catalonia where salaries are bigger, once the right to residence has been obtained:
Catalonia is an area richer than the others, as I told you. You pay a lease
more expensive, here the lease being double compared to the lease of
300-400 Euro in the agricultural areas. For my apartment I paid a lease
of 750 Euro, in addition to the equivalent value of the utilities consumed.
So, the total amount was of more than 900 Euro. Same situation as in
case of salaries in Bucharest compared to those in Bârlad.
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Obtaining of the employment contracts;
Bureaucratic experiences
In contrast to the other Roma migrants from the Roma community, tefan
went abroad at work only based on the employment contracts obtained by the
same formal method, through the Office for Labor Force Migration. The efforts
made to obtain jobs have been numerous and they have been undertaken during
several months, period when ªtefan visited many employment agencies identified
by accessing the information provided by OMFM. Following accessing the
database of this Office subordinated to the Ministry of Labor, each time ªtefan
prepared a list with the companies intermediating the employment of the
Romanian workers, abroad. Then he visited all these companies searching for a
company which does not charge a commission for the contracts concluded or
charged such commission only after the arrival of the Romanian worker at
destination and payment of his first salary. This strategy based on his lack of
trust in the reliability of the labor employment companies recruiting and placing
labor force abroad.
I know the Ministry29 of… I know it very well. I went to the Ministry of
Labor30, I stayed until I had enough, because nobody receive you there;
everytime somebody came, he tells us that he is an acquaintance, he
entered then he came out and I remained still there, waiting…BUT TO
WHOM DID YOU GO THERE? TO THE SECRETARIATE OR DID YOU
HAVE…? Well, it was a period at that moment, with the Israel, when the
commission for the employment company reached at 2,000 Euro and I
went to the Ministry to ask them to give me a company not charging the
commission, but when I saw the manner in which enter the others, I went
out, I washed my face and then I entered again. I told them what I want
and that I do not want to pay the commission. I told them that I want to
go at work because I have family, little children but I want to go at work
without paying commission. From where can I get the money for the
commission? Should I heat anybody in the head? The Ministry gave me
other companies but it was useless. Yes, they asked for a commission but
after that no departures have been made in Israel, such employments
ceased. The commission of the employment company for Israel had
reached at 2,000 Euro.
Most of them ask for a commission and for the payment in advance. But
now they ask for commission on the spot, what … I ran, what can I say
you? Daily when I went to Bucharest, I went in the morning and I returned
in the evening. I ran to 20-30 accredited employment companies taken
29 OMFM
30 Idem
272
from the list displayed at the Ministry of Labor31, going by foot to each of
them. THUS YOU TOOK THE LIST…and I went to every company listed
there until I found a correct one. This was the situation. …AND HOW
LOG DID YOU VISIT SUCH COMPANIES UNTIL YOU FOUND THE
CORRECT ONE? Oh, my God, you need months to find a good company.
In case of Israel was the same situation, we ran until we were enough for
an offer there. But for Israel we were at the beginning of such departures,
when you could go for little money and without paying any commission.
After that period, they began to charge a commission.
Family situation during the periods of staying abroad;
Social relations
The migration experience left traces on the family situation, leading to the
change of the family structure. The wife lodged a divorce action after the departure
of ªtefan to Israel, finding another life partner. Their four children, with ages between
12 and 16 years old remained with the grand parent on paternal line, ªtefan being
put in the position to play “the role of father and mother at the same time”.
Yes, for sure. She did not manage the situation. Being women with a
strong temperament, she went to search her pair soul in other part. THUS,
IN FACT, WHILE YOU WERE IN ISRAEL… AND WHAT DID THE
CHILDREN DO? WITH WHOM DID THEY GO? WITH HER, OR…? Eh,
what? Is any of my children now, with her? She went alone. By herself
she came to me and by herself she left me. I remained to play the role of
father and mother at the same time.
The communication with the family remained home limited to 2-3 phone
calls per month. The direct meetings during the period of work in Israel and
Germany limited to the meetings during the annual leaves of ªtefan, taken each
year or even seldom, such leaves extending on period of 30 days.
The departure in Spain defined in another way the family relations, the
main factor for such change being the more mature ages of his children. Being
adults, the boys and sons-in-law of Stefan (the two girls of ªtefan married)
accompanied their parent at work, being helped by this one to find jobs. During
the stay in Girona, the 5 men formed a family team and worked together for all
the contracts, such situation leading to closer family relations.
I took them all in Spain. Well, first time I went alone, the Spanish saw that
I am good, they gave to me a working site and immediately I took my
family there. DO YOU HAVE ONLY BOYS OR GIRLS ALSO? Two boys
and two girls. Well, I took also my sons-in-law, everybody. It was a family
team. THUS, YOU WENT THERE TOGETHER ONLY WITH YOUR SONS
AND SONS-IN-LAW. Yes, my sons-in-law. ONLY MEN WENT THERE. Yes,
yes. Women remained home. Yes. And also my daughter-in-law came there
for a period of time. WHAT DID SHE WORK THERE? She did not work.
She cooked for us…
31 OMFM
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With regard to the friendship relations established at the destination, ªtefan
had friends only among Spanish people. In his perception, this thing is due to
the fact that it was the only context in the three destinations abroad where he had
the opportunity to make a team with the locals, to work as migrant with the
locals and to daily interact with them. Both in Germany and in Israel, the absence
on the site of the local workers was an obstacle for a potential intimacy to locals.
WHY DID YOU SUCCEED TO BECOME FRIEND WITH SPANISH
PEOPLE BUT NOT ALSO WITH GERMAN AND ISRAELITE PEOPLE?
Spanish people…The Israelite people do not work at all on the sites.
Germans work sometimes on sites but mostly mechanized, while Spanish
people work in all the sectors. You find, by instance Spanish working in
agriculture, everywhere, while Israelite people do not work at all in
agriculture or in constructions. There are none.
ªtefan did not involve supporting other Romanians in their attempt to migrate
due to his lack of confidence in them. Being sure that if he helps them, he will
never recover the money invested in them, he chose not to involve at all, the
only persons taken by him abroad, at work, being the members of his family
(sons and sons-in-law). Taking into consideration his own experience, ªtefan is
convinced that everybody must handle by himself, in his discourse mentioning
himself as an example.
The occupational trajectory of ªtefan was complex enough by the multitude
of jobs, especially abroad. All of them were in the constructions sector, as team
leader, joiner, iron worker.
He spent the first 20 years of his career in Romania, at the company
manufacturing and installing petroleum installations. At this first workplace, ªtefan
trained for the other activities to be performed in the future. According to his own
evaluation, the initial experiences helped him very much in getting the jobs abroad,
because he obtained a work culture as well as the skills and knowledge which
facilitated for him the promotion of tests given to him in view of obtaining the jobs.
ªtefan declares that in the three destination countries he had at least 10
jobs, the first being obtained based on employment contracts signed in Romania,
and the following being found after he arrived at destination. The permanent
change of employers was based on the wish to gain more and more money, one
job being abandoned immediately after he found out an opportunity to get a
bigger salary.
The migration experiences in different countries have been mainly evaluated
by ªtefan in terms of salaries obtained in each of them. As such, on the first
place was placed the experience in Spain as a successful one because “in Spain
were the biggest salaries, in amount of 2,000-3,000 Euro, when it was not crisis”.
Then, it follows Israel, also evaluated from point of view of the revenues obtained.
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Even if effects appeared on personal plan following the migration (the wife
divorce), the experience is evaluated as being certainly a positive one in terms
of financial gains and buildings erected with the money obtained.
BUT DO YOU FEEL SORRY FOR ANYTHING DUE TO YOUR
DEPARTURE ABROAD? MORE CLEARLY, THERE IS ANYTHING YOU
REGRET? Well, for what must I feel sorry? I DO NOT KNOW. For my
wife? She would leave me anyway. He that is born to be hanged shall
never be drowned. This is obvious. Well, now what would I do if I did not
go abroad. I would remain a poor looser. For sure. And then, what would
I do? THUS, YOU DID NOT REGRET AT ALL. Why? I achieved something,
don’t you think? With money gained in the country you can not afford all
these, although I received nice salary in the country, indeed nice salary.
But could we realize anything? I had this small house, we did not have
enough rooms for all of us, the other did not have his house.
The plans for the future include other departures abroad for working and
obtaining money, the only obstacle being the senior age of the subject seen as an
obstacle in performing his physical work. The Romanian context does not allow
gains as high as those obtained in the Occidental countries, thus, the solution is
the migration:
SHOULD I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WANT TO GO ABROAD AGAIN?
Well, who doesn’t want to go again? Ask them...Even tomorrow. Well,
who doesn’t? WHY WOULD YOU WANT? Well, I do not know if you see
the survey carried out in Bucharest: 95% want to go, 5% are those who
live with their children and don’t want to go. All the others want to go
abroad. BUT WHY WOULD WANT TO LEAVE... WHY WOULD YOU WANT
TO LEAVE RIGHT NOW? To gain money. To gain money, my girl. BUT
HERE WOULD YOU HAVE A JOB IF WANT IT? For the moment I do not
have any job because our State .... I stay for several years doing nothing
and the State gives me nothing, no welfare, nothing...what can I say you?
The State gives me no hen, no chicken, nothing. nothing.
Oh, good Lord! If I was strong and good for hard work, I would renounce
to the pension and to anything else and I would work until 100 years old
or 200 years old. I am serious. No, I would not go continuously, but
enough to gain money. And in such context I would create good conditions
for my grandchildren, too, I would help them, I would hire a babysitter
for them because here you can hire her for few money….This is the
situation!
“IF YOU HAD TO LEAVE ABROAD, WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO?
“In any country where I can gain money”
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V. Case study Bereasca, Prahova County
Community
Ploieºti hosts many compact Roma communities, the most important being
Bereasca, Radu de la Afumaþi and Mimiu. The Roma community of Bereasca
includes at its turn many branches as appeared from the stories of the interviewed
persons: Long-haired, Colalars, Moracs, Bearwards, Laies, Coalmen, distributed
in a certain manner within the quarter.
By instance, the quarter is divided between two branches, one formed by
the Colalars and Moracs and the other formed by Long-haired. They do
not stay together, they do not meet ever because it can appear problems
and, by consequence, each of them stays in his part of the quarter: on
the right side are the Long-haired where they have their area of walking
and performing activities and in the opposite side are the Moracs, living
together in the relevant area, all of them being relatives because they
married only within the branch (community representative).
In the quarter there are about 700-800 Roma people, all of them living in
the houses located in a former industrial area of Ploieºti. Most of the land where
live the Roma people has not an owner, locals establishing there with mutual
consent of the authorities, 100 years ago, at the beginning of the community
formation, even now not having property documents for the land. Currently,
there are 600 houses in that area without proper ownership documents, belonging
both to Roma people and to Romanians. According to the expert on Roma
population issues, Bereasca community is an old one where traditions and old
customs of Roma population are respected more than in Mimiu or Radu de la
Afumaþi communities. The community is compact, the cases of migration
between the three compact Roma communities of the city being rare.
WHAT IS KEPT FROM THE ROMA TRADITIONS? Marriage is very
important. Also the traditional clothing, the language. Yes, they speak
only Romani language... AND WHAT ABOUT MARRIAGE? WHICH IS
THE TRADITION CONCERNING THE MARRIAGE? The early marriage
is further practiced, they arrange the marriage of their children from
their birth…(expert on Roma people issues)
In the quarter, along with the Roma community there are living also
Romanians. The two communities, Roma and non-Roma, as they are called by
the interviewed respondents, geographically are well delimited. Generally, the
references to Roma persons from Bereasca reveal marginalization and selfmarginalization, but also the community spirit characterizing the quarter.
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With regard to the housing structure, the representatives of the community
specify that within the area there are utilities although many Roma households
are not branched to the relevant utilities. The main issue in solving this problem
is the absence of the legal ownership documents.
Bereasca is a very developed quarter. As I told you, it is asphalted, they
have permanently water, electricity, gas … The quarter in general has all
the utilities but not every family living there. Yes, the quarter is well
developed; there are also several trading companies because trade goes
well there, Bereasca being such a big quarter. But if you go in Mimiu, by
instance, there you do not find traditional Roma communities. ARE THEY
ALREADY ROMANIZED? You must know that they speak the language
but they respect no longer the traditional clothing and the traditions
(community representative).
But I tell you because I lived there. I do not know if you were in Bereasca
but houses there are very beautiful and people living there are people
who…. In a way the Roma community separates from the non-Roma
community but being in Ploieºti, in the city, I do not think that if people
found there an opportunity, taking into consideration that people want to
live in the city, they do not benefit of it. I know that now there is a big
pressure on the Town Hall to solve somehow the issues related to the
ownership titles, because with the declaratory actions is not…I know
that the Town Hall asphalted there because the quarter was not asphalted,
built there a medical clinic, a school, they have kindergarten, electricity
supply, sewerage, the area is at the border of the locality. No, it is not ....it
is very near ... for me, it is very near to Ploieºti, as distance, how many
kilometers are from there? (community representative)
As in the other Roma communities, the children from Bereasca community
graduate maximum eight classes, when girls but also boys abandon the school:
the cases of children going to high schoolare isolated.
Although there were departures even before, most of Roma individuals
from Bereasca community migrated in Europe after the Romania Accession in
EU, when the migrating flow got bigger amplitude. In case of this community
we also talk about a temporary migration, with short-term departures (of
maximum 5 months) and repeated came-back as well as about cases where
migration became a semi-permanent one, the migrants succeeding to purchase
houses in their destination countries.
The destinations of the migrants from Bereasca are Spain, Belgium and
Ireland. According to the respondents, the biggest issues in the European countries
are generated by the traditional Roma communities and less by the Roma
individuals, members of non-traditional communities. Generally, Roma people
go abroad not having a strategy very clearly established, adapting according to
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the opportunities identified in the relevant country. The community and relative
networks are the main methods to arrive abroad. As the Roma individuals from
Petrilaca, each time also those from Bereasca come back home, the experts
interviewed stating that the community and family relations are too strong for an
individual, member of the community, not allowing him/her to tear apart from
the community and to build a new life in the destination country.
They leave, they came back home in winter holydays, they stay home a
while, then they leave again, and so and so, a permanent movement…. There
are people staying abroad for one or two or even three years; I know families
not coming back for three years, they already begin to purchase houses there....
HOW DO MOST OF THEM PROCEED? Honestly, they go and stay abroad for
3, 4, 5 months, depending on their own on-spot judgment, because I told you
that they do not have a strategy...Depending on what they find, depending on
the priorities they have in the relevant country and on how they handle there
…IN FACT, THEY LEAVE FOR ABROAD NOT KNOWING THE SITUATION FROM
THERE AND THUS, DEPENDING ON HOW DEVELOPS THINGS THERE THEY
REMAIN THERE OR THEY COME BACK? Adrenalin, from this point of view
they are ok…(community representative)
I think that many of them go abroad to beg. Yes, to begging go those who
know how to do it, because those branches are traditional …The others, who are
less traditional, they no longer leave… THEY NO LONGER LEAVE FOR ABROAD,
DO THEY? Well, you must know that this is a general problem: except the
traditional Roma branches, the families who still respect certain traditions, the
others leave for abroad only if they have a job there. In Italy and Spain, except
begging, they collect iron scrap but I can not refer to this activity as to a job
because they do not have official labor documents. They work but without legal
papers…Yes, they collect pets or iron scrap, they have such activities… MEN
AND WOMEN ALSO? OR IN GENERAL? Yes, also women who give birth there
because their children will have French, Italian, Spanish citizenship and, as In
know, they receive also the related State aid (expert on Roma people issues).
I suppose, in Romania the remuneration is poor enough, the minimum
national wage is of 6 millions and with 6 millions honestly I do not know if we
can live and I think this is the reason, the financial part. Yes, and in order to
have an existence as good as possible, I say. (expert on Roma people issues)
According to the Roma community representatives, the relations of Roma
individuals with their Romanian neighbors in the quarter are close enough. With
regard to the international migration behavior, the main difference mentioned
by the respondents is the absence of planning in case of Roma individuals,
respectively a stronger control need in case of Romanians.
The local representatives consider that the migration abroad has a beneficial
effect in case of Roma individuals:
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Yes, I say yes. Because they have the opportunity to see something else
even if I can not know what are they doing there and which are their
daily activities, but I see them changed when coming back , changes can
be seen to them. Yes, even there they behave in a certain manner, when
they come back in Romania, they are more educated, nicer, more washed,
more arranged, more perfumed and this is a pleasant thing when you go
and see them (expert on Roma people issues)
The case recommended by the community representatives somehow deviates
from the community pattern for migration to Italy or Spain. The respondent,
Elena, comes from a family of Laies being married with a Coalman. It is
considered a successful case because she went abroad for a stable job which she
kept more than eight years and because she integrated very well in the community
from the destination locality. With regard to the migration trajectory, Elena did
not migrate with a intra or extra-community group and she did not use to this
purpose the relative networks; it is an individual trajectory. There is a support
network which contributed to the integration of Elena at the destination – a
religious network – The Witnesses of Jehovah.
Migration or discovery of a new family
Respondent Name: E. M.
Age: 45 years old
Education Level: 10 classes
Domicile in Romania: Ploie ti, Prahova County
Countries where the respondent worked: Germany
Date of the first departure abroad: 2003
Period of stay abroad: 8 years, with periods of stay in the country
of 4-5 months each
Situation previous to the first departure abroad
The only one destination of her departures is Germany, in Ausburg, near
Munich, location where Elena went in 2003, but where she returned each year
for an average period of four months, in order to work.
Elena lives in Bereasca quarter but not within the compact Roma area, on a
street where her neighbors are only Romanians. Before going abroad, she worked
at the food wholesale market as cleaner, being appreciated by the entire work
team. The opportunity to work abroad appeared from the part of a customer who
came to the market:
I worked in Ploieºti at the market, the central market. After that, my
superior – well, I also was considered the hardest worker in the market,
being obliged to work so due to my difficult situation – taking into
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consideration that a market had been built to us, in Bereasca, told: “I do
not go in Bereasca without Elena because she lives there and everybody
knows her”. We moved there. I can say that I continually worked three
days because the market must be opened in three days, when mister Mayor
came to its inauguration. There I had a friend to a dairy store, selling
milk. We had a close friendship. Being the cleaner, I spent the breaks with
her, drinking coffee, eating together. One day, a lady coming all the time
to the market said to this friend of mine: I look for a good girl, obedient,
honest, with a face aspect as nice as possible, to go in Germany to my
daughter”. This Romanian woman lived with her father to my employers
from Germany, being married here. My friend told me: “Come here, Elena,
to tell you something. Do you want to go to Germany?” – “I am not
sure”; “Come on, it is well, you will see…” and I told her “Let see”. The
lady gives me a cup of coffee, she liked me very much and she sends me
in Germany. In one week I think, I was gone.
The departure year coincides with the period when the respondent had also
some family problems, which influenced her to take the decision to go abroad. It
is the only case where the decision to migrate does not base only on pure economic
reasons, Elena affirming that she would not go if she did not have problems in
the couple relation. Also it is the only case of the five cases studied when the
departure abroad is made based on an offer, reason for which the migration
trajectory is much better established than in the previous cases. According to her
information, the housing conditions are better than at home. In Ausburg, Elena
works to the owners of a car laundry: “I work to Roma people like me, the only
difference being that they are Serbians, Yugoslavians – the owners of the laundry”.
Another element individualizing the migration experience of Elena is her situation
at the departure: she has a job and as she mentions “I managed very well in the
country, too, because I am a hard worker”, she is appreciated by her superior,
her only problems being of family nature:
Approximate in 2003, I do not remember well, I had big troubles because
firstly died my brother and then my mother. I suffered a lot, you know?
THEY WERE IN ROMANIA? Yes. AND COULD YOU COME HOME AT
THAT MOMENT? Although I worked for people members of Jehovah’s
Witnesses who never lie, when my brother died I had to lie that my mother
is very ill and I had to arrive near to her, but I found him already dead. I
overcame this trouble, too.
Yes, I have very good neighbors. Since my mother died, I consider my
neighbor as a mother. She helps me a lot if I do not have money, and
when I came back from abroad I always am attentive with them. I lived
very badly with my husband at the beginning. When I went abroad for the
first time, she had a relation, this being the reason for which I left my
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country. In other conditions, I would not leave my country because here
I managed very well. When I left I can say that I went with tears in my
eyes and I told to myself: “God, guide me where You want”. And He
guides me well. My employers gave me 600, now they give me 800.
She takes the decision to go in Germany based on a cost-benefit analysis,
following consultation with the entire family.
Yes, I discussed with my husband, with the children, with my parents-inlaw and they told me that it is well, having the opportunity to gain more
money. More difficult was for my superior when I left because he said he
loses me but he is sure that things will be better for me. He was very
found of me. And I had to go because I had some expenses, a lot of other
difficulties to face them.
Description of the migration experience
In the first year of her departure, Elena spent three months working in the
car laundry of the employers from Germany, after that coming back home. In
the following three-four years, she went in the same manner, for same periods of
three months each followed by the coming back home. In the last years, her stay
period in Germany extended to four-five months per year. Each time Elena
worked in the same place, at the car laundry, without legal employment contract
but in very good conditions, as declares the respondent who has a positive
perception on everything is related to her migration experience: housing,
interaction with the owners – Serbian Roma people, integration within the
religious community from there and even the work as it was.
The first round I was a little upset because I did not know what to do.…I
started; in about a week I began to learn everything. I was in a car
laundry. Now I am number one in Germany, at everything. I liked very
much when I went there and I saw the cars and then, I began to do
absolutely everything. WHAT DOES IT MEAN “EVERYTHING”? To polish
with the polisher, to cover the scratches, to make all general operations.
In fact, there I based on this kind of work: to take care of the entire car, in
interior as in exterior. What I am working pleases me. It is hard, but I like
it. Yesterday I arrange a car at my home, in front of my gate.
I accustomed very well there at my first departure…I did not have any
contact when I left my home, I worked several year without legal
employment contract because this was the habitude at that time. They
are members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and nobody controls them and I
could work in this manner. They were good with me. Now I can say that
they are like parents for me…they remained to play such role. I lost my
true mother but the woman from Germany is now my mother.
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Very important for the success of Elena migration experience was the support
received from the owners of the car laundry where she worked, succeeding to
develop with them a long-term relation. She works only temporary because she
wants to regularly come back to her family at home and because work in the car
laundry is not very easy. For the future, the extension of the stay period is also
taken into consideration, including the alternative of her final relocation together
with the family, in Germany. During her stay in Romania, Elena completes her
revenues from Germany by doing the same activity, car washing, her customers
being especially acquaintances; her former job at the agro-alimentary market is
occupied now by her son. Money obtained abroad plus money obtained from
occasional car washing in Romania are her only living resources but the
respondent declares she is satisfied with the amount gained.
The language... They are Serbians established there 40 years ago and
they have this car laundry firms. They have a good situation, they and their
children, too. My employer is 60 years old. Now his elder son will be my owner
because the initial owner and her wife are old. At my next departure, my employer
will be the elder son. I feel there as at home. Nothing misses me. They never
refused me what I needed. Me also, I am not a greedy woman and they told me
that I am the only woman coming to them…Look, now when I left, there works
another shift and they told me they are not at all pleased, wishing that shift
resists one more month until I feel rested. I came here two days ago to stay until
Easter. I stayed there to finish all the cars stock because the owner said to me
“new comers are beginners and you let me in a very difficult position”. And I
had to stay because they also help me and I could not refuse them.
Although Elena experience from abroad is presented as a lyrical picture
there are also specifications according to which work in Germany is hard and
stressing. Most of the support received was granted by the Serbian Roma persons
to whom work also some acquaintances from the area; we can not talh in this
case, as in the others also, about a formal, institutional support granted in Germany
or in Romania.
TELL ME HOW DID YOU SPEND THERE YOUR DAY-OFF? It is difficult.
IT IS DIFFICULT BECAUSE YOU DO NOT HAVE DAY-OFF, OR…I do
not have any day-off. Only on Sunday. The owner gives me sleep break
from the lunch to the evening, as much as I want. But in the remaining
time, only work. IT MEANS FROM MONDAY TO SATURDAY? Yes. AND
HOW MANY HOURS DO YOU WORK PER DAY? I woke up at half past
four in the morning, I dressed up, at five o’clock in the morning we went
to the workshop and at six o’clock in the morning we started the work.
Such work schedule is because I must come back to my family, at home,
and in a car laundry all the time there is work to do, you know how it is
in a car laundry and we can not support such work. This is a very big
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stress for me. This is the work there. You know how it is to Germans: to
work…AND DIDN’T YOU THINK TO TAKE YOUR FAMILY THERE? I
thought and I evaluated that it is other life there and also I discussed with
them to find me an apartment to live with my family. I told them that I
want to go with my entire family and I asked them to find me a solution.
But the owner said to me: “firstly bring the boy to treat him and in time,
maybe I will help you to stay here with the entire family”. Here it is very
difficult for us, especially because I treat the child surged on brain…I
surged him in hospital, it costs me a lot of money, my employers helping
me with the necessary amount.
Significant are the efforts of the respondent to help other families from the
community to migrate in order to work, attempts which did not have the expected
results. However, Elena became an effective support for many Roma families
for whom she tried to find jobs in Germany.
Yes, I brought there another person, a girl whose sister was a friend of
mine. When I had apartment in block, she stayed on the same block wing
as me. When I brought her there, how can I say to you? She was very
gentle with me, she flattered me here ….My husband told me: “Elena,
you have a good heart and you want to help, but she is not…; her eyes
show this!” –”Let her in peace Marius because she has a difficult
situation”. And I brought her with me and there she wanted to beat me.
Those owners told her: “Being senior worker here, Elena will show you
everything. You must do anything she asks you to do”. “Why does this
one give me instructions?” And she spoke very bad, very bad she spoke!
And the owners told me: “Look what you brought to us!” I was put in a
bad position. They retained her another month and after that they sent
her in Romania because they said that she is not fit for them not being
like me. I told them: “I made my duty to bring her also to you but since
now I will never bring you another worker…” This was enough; I will
not bring anyone else.
Yes. I always tried to help others to go abroad but people from here
behave in a way here and when arrive there and see the situation they
behave differently. They behave very badly. When I show them how they
must be there, they think that I want to be superior and to command
them, but this is not true. I tell them all the rules which must be respected
there and they think that I command them. Look, now it came a shift with
three weeks before my leaving; they listened to me very much but they
learned very few because it hard to learn this profession and I told them
so: “If you do this work with pleasure, you learn quickly and well. But if
you don’t enjoy it, the work seems hard to you”. I helped about two-three
families until now... My husband did not allow me to continue because he
saw them how they really are and he said that such behavior is not
admissible. Yes, I hop this shift will be a successful one.
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Elena also helped her own sons to work at the car laundry so that the last
departures were together with them:
My sons were all the time with me. I took one in every shift, thus, both
know the profession. FROM THE BEGINNING? The first shift I was alone
but starting with the second I took with me the elder son. He also knows
to do everything.
Valorization of the migration experience and plans
for the future
For Elena, the temporary migration destination became “a second home”.
The monthly revenues she can obtain now abroad are of about lei 3,000, money
which she would not succeed to gain in Romania. To such revenues are added
the supplementary benefits related to accommodation, meal, transport. Except
these material benefits, the migration experience had beneficial effects on her
couple relation, too:
First time I felt sorrow because I leave. I did not know what kind of people
I will meet. They were good with me from the beginning, since they saw
me. Well, they laughed on me because I was fat but I told them because I
saw them laughing and I was upset. But after we became friends, they
told me: “We were making us signs because we wondered how you will
work? But when I saw how you are and also you lost in weight...” I was
ambitious. When I left, they help me to go up in the Intercity train where
I traveled with a priest. In the compartment he read me the Bible, he
noted my phone number and he wrote me an akathist. I told him my life
story and he said to me: “God protect you!”
The possibility to purchase a better house in Romania, to help her family and
friends and acquaintances are some of the benefits underlined by Elena. The
experience from abroad meant also learning a new profession bringing to her
supplementary revenues also in Romania, but especially a profession she likes.
You know, if I did not go abroad …. I was the same hard worker but with
less money. But since I go abroad, improvements can be seen. I repaired
my house, I covered with iron sheet. I had a flat but I sold it and I bought
a house not so good and I regretted my flat. I connected the house to gas,
water and electricity supply networks because the house was an old one.
My children were luxurious, they had cloths, money….I repaid my bank
loans because I had such loans. I bought different things in my house;
thus, it can be seen an improvement. I sent packages or I brought
packages. I did not let them in difficulty. I sent packages, I helped a lot.
And not only my family, but also other people….I gave them money …
LOAN OR …As loan and also as gift.
I started to learn this profession at 37 years old and I liked it. Well, I
worked also here at car laundry or privately, at home, when a car comes
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to me. It means they heard about me. If I stay here one-two months is
better not to stay without doing anything. I worked in laundry; I had very
big salary, the biggest from there. They wanted to make me team leader
because they saw what I am doing but I refused. I did not want. This was
after my departure. I worked there, I came home where I stayed one week
and during this period, I spent all the money gained, on debts, on necessary
purchases and I needed again money because I can not stay without
money. My husband is niggard and he does not offer to our children
what I want. For this reason I take care of children and thus, I must go
again abroad to gain money.
Another benefit is the possibility to bring her sons abroad, at work, but also
the possibility to treat her son suffering of epilepsy, in Germany.
If the migration experiences, as described until now, meant good things for
Elena, her perspectives are likely to be even better, because she will work based
on a legal employment contract in the future. Successful seems to be also her
attempts to develop her own business in the country, in car washing sector. The
positive perspectives related to the workplace seem to develop inversely
proportional to the development of the health problems of her two sons.
My owners told me that if the shift does not handle and does not resist
one month more, they will call me immediately. But normally I should go
there in June. Until then I work here. Yes, yesterday I worked a car of a
friend of my family but better I did not clean it because it was very dirty;
I worked at the car four hours, while there, a car is finished in one hour
and half (only the interior of the car). THIS HAPPENS BECAUSE YOU
HAVE BETTER MATERIALS? Yes, for that, too but you know, there, in
Germany, cars do not come as dirty as here. To us it was horrible.
Well, I told you: I feel there like in my family. It is very nice, everybody
treats me well…We talk about eight years, they accustom with me. They
treat me like a family member. I am obedient but, at their turn, they help
me a lot. When I say something immediately they satisfy my request. AND
NOW YOU HAVE AN EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT THERE? Yes, they will
conclude with me an employment contract because the old owner was
replaced by the young one who told me that he will not work as his father
and that he will make me a legal employment contract....
Elena still migrates between the two worlds, the world from home with the
family problems and the world in Germany meaning a hard job but well paid and
an environment where she feels she is valued and appreciated by those around
her. In the future she does not want to renounce to any of these two worlds but
rather to opt for an average alternative consisting of continuing the temporary
work abroad and benefiting of the opportunities from Germany to help her sons.
Well, I feel there as at home. I miss my family but except this I can say I feel
very well there. Also the clime from there fits me, being good for my health. I
can say that here I feel worse than there.
285
Conclusions case studies
The life stories of the five Roma persons reflect in a certain degree a migration
pattern of the communities of which members they are. On an axis of closeness
– distance to the community migration pattern, the five cases analyzed are
differently located: in case of Doru from Petrilaca, the migration experience can
be highly identified with that of the community, all the members of this
community who migrate, migrating in the same manner; Radu (Floreºti) and
Mihai (Feteºti) follow the community pattern with regard to the departure, but at
a certain moment they go away from the group of migrants and they build their
own trajectories in the destination country; the migration experiences of Elena
and ªtefan do not reproduce in any way the trajectory of most of the migrants
from the community – the two persons do not leave the country with a group
from the community, they leave for jobs found based on their own extracommunity relations. In all these five cases, we talk about a voluntary migration
based on economic reasons, aiming the accumulation of resources during a
temporary period exclusively dedicated to work, in parallel being neglected other
personal plans (social life, family life, comfort). The person who deviates
somehow from this pattern (Radu) is also the only one of the respondents who
semi-permanently established in the destination country and who integrated in
the environment from there.
The period spent abroad is described in the five life stories as a period of
sacrifices, solitary and hard work, in most of the cases associated with a period
of living in improper conditions, working without an employment contract and,
most often, living in the relevant country without a legal residence permit.
If the decision to migrate of the respondents is justified by these ones at
discursive level by objective causes in connection to the external environment –
context of the individual (absence of opportunities in the country to obtain
revenues, lack of jobs, discrimination at the workplace or at hiring), the success
of the migration experience seems to be justified by those who tell their life
stories especially by subjective factors in connection with their personality:
…I had other mentality than that of the remaining community…I was not
helped by anyone (Radu)
…employers were found of me because I was hard worker….I was not
like the others …(Elena)
…I lived well before and after the Revolution, because I permanently
worked, I did not stay without making anything, I was not one of those
liking to stay …(ªtefan)
Summarizing the elements exposed in the five life stories, these have revealed
some of the conditions which influenced the level of success of the migration experience:
286
• Situation at the departure, the situation of the individual in the country:
in which extent the person leaving the country has own resources, a house or a
job; in which extent his/her community is a poor or a rich one; in which extent
the community left by the person is a homogenous, compact one; in which extent
the level of the compliance of the individual with the group is a higher one
(situation in which “the escape” from the community status is more difficult)
• Specific of the network by which the individual has migrated: if person
leaves individually or in group, if the group with which the person migrates is
exclusively formed of Roma persons or is a mixed group from ethnic point of view;
• Situation at the destination from occupational point of view: if there is
already an established workplace or the relevant person goes without any plan;
• Situation at the destination from relational support or even financial
point of view: the success is conditioned in the cases exposed by the manner in
which the formal or informal relational context of the individual in the destination
country was or not favoring for him;
• Manner in which the first migration experience is realized: the success
level, from different points of view, of the first contact experience with foreign
countries;
• Features of the individual personality: ambition, wish to have success,
competition spirit, perseverance;
The common element which seems to ensure the success of the migration
experience is the existing support in the destination locality, regardless of being
the support of a religious community (in Elena case), relatives previously migrated
(in Radu and Doru cases) or Roma community from the destination country (in
case of Mihai). With regard to the manner in which the migration experience success
is understood, there are two senses of the concept: the manner in which such
success was understood and judged by the members of the community who
recommended us the relevant cases and the manner in which the success was felt
by the main subjects of the analysis. As such, the criteria based on which the
success of an individual of the community is judged by the community are:
9 either the good integration in the destination country (Flore ti case),
this meaning the capacity to bring his family abroad, the existence of a
stable job, a potential professional or occupational progress, the existence
of social relations with the work colleagues and superiors from the
destination country, the legalization of his status;
9 either the increasingly recognition within the community from the origin
country (Cornu de Sus, Petrilaca cases) due to the resources accumulated,
this meaning the purchase of a house in the community from home;
9 either both criteria (Bereasca, Feteºti cases), where the migration
experience resulted in positive changes in both environments of the
individual.
Regardless of whether the temporary migration phase ended or not, none
of the five respondents excludes subsequent departures. The migration experience
left traces on all the five individuals, including on their future expectations,
radically changing their lives.
287
ANNEXES
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
Trustul de Presã „Cuget Liber”
Constanþa, I.C. Brãtianu nr. 5, cod 900711
Tel: 0241/582.130; Fax: 0241/619.524
www.cugetliber.ro/edituradobrgea
————————————————————Bun de tipar: mai 2012
Apãrut: mai 2012
Format: 16 / 23 cm
Coli tipar: 19
302

Roma situation in Romania, 2011. Between social inclusion and

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