CEE Pray for the Roma
Stepping out from the garbage dump: The Roma of South Europe
Near the capital city of Skopje, Macedonia, is a settlement of Gypsies known as the “Romany capital of the world.” Here amidst the trash, potted roads, laughter and music a microcosm of the Romany culture thrives.
The community of Shutka tells the story of the Romany people. It began as a gift from the Yugoslav government after many Romany neighborhoods in Skopje collapsed during a 1963 earthquake. Their new home was three kilometers away on the site of the city garbage dump. Gifts like this are indicative of treatment of Roma worldwide. Never truly at home and with no land of their own they are the foreigners, the outcasts, the “waste” of society.
Always adapters and survivors, the Roma turned Shutka, literally meaning “trash,” into the world’s only self-governing community of Roma, complete with a Romany mayor, lawyer and headmaster and total freedom to speak the Romany language. Although the town may look more like a refugee camp than a suburb to a visitor, the Romany residents are proud of their homes, courtyards, shops, playgrounds, games and music. Their savvy business ways draw shoppers from Skopje to their outdoor market while their poverty and joblessness draw both disdain and sympathy from others. They are the enigma of Eastern Europe.
Roma are thought to have originated in India and historically have had a nomadic lifestyle, although it is uncertain if the latter has been by choice or by necessity. Their host countries have viewed Roma as thieves and parasites because the wanderers’ borders are cultural, not geographic. Roma were the second target people group annihilated by the Nazis, as hundreds of thousands lost their lives during World War II.
Yet Roma have survived and some have even thrived with a fierce independence and ingenuity. The handful who make it out of Shutka and into a university are fiercely loyal and come back to help pull others into a better life. One example is Fatma, a young girl who is the first Romany woman to graduate from the university in Macedonia in the last 15 years. Since finishing school she has opened a learning center that offers after-school tutoring for all grades, literacy and English classes and health seminars for the residents of a Romany neighborhood.
Most Roma are illiterate—not because they do not want to learn, but because they cannot afford the books to go to school. Eighty percent of Roma are also unemployed due to their inability to read and compete academically with the world around them. This never-ending cycle is what Fatma and a few others like her are hoping to end.
The Roma’s illiteracy and independence are two of the biggest barriers to reaching them with the Gospel. They are skeptical people who do not easily “buy in” to what they hear after living under the rule of many different cultures. Roma adapt to the country in which they are living, but only on the outside. Inside their hearts, their Romany culture—pagan in nature—remains strong. This has served to protect them from many false religions, but also erects a barrier to true Christianity.
Today Roma are one of the most responsive people groups to the Gospel in Central and Eastern Europe. Please pray for their hearts to be open to the words of truth.