Coventry is home to a thriving Roma community.
The Roma community is diverse, originating from North India and travelling throughout the world to settle in different countries.
The first Roma settlers arrived in the UK as early as the 16th century, and in Coventry, settled in the Foleshill area.
People can sometimes talk about Roma, Gypsy and Travellers as if they are a single group, with one identity, but each group is different.
In Britain, the term GRT (Gypsy, Roma, Traveller) is used and the communities are ethnic minorities.
Wherever they settle, the Roma are in the minority.
The Roma in Coventry originate from Romania (where they are seen as a minority), and there is a big population of Romanian Roma here in Coventry, as well as Birmingham and London.
Most of the Roma community in Coventry live in Foleshill after the original families first settled in the city.
“There is this misconception about Roma people being dirty or throwing things on the ground and not caring about the ground and this project shows that this is not true, and that they actually care, they are getting educated,” Maria Raluca told CoventryLive.
Ms Raluca is a digital content creator from Coventry who has worked with Rosa Cisneros, a Roma academic and community leader on a book called ‘Roma, Recycle, Reimagine: Corcodusa Saves The Park’.
Coventry Roma children wrote the book with the support of Ms Raluca and Ms Cisneros, both of whom have worked with the community for years.
(Image: Rosa Cisneros)
Ms Raluca added: “This project means a lot, [because the reason] this racism that is happening in Romania as well is because there is not enough information on who Roma people are. Nobody knows, nobody is interested. This kind of project brings light and education.
“It is offering a counter-narrative to what is normally thought about Roma families, people, Roma in Coventry. It’s like ‘look, this is them, they do care about education, this is them and what they have to say’,” Ms Cisneros said.
Ms Raluca explained that in her home country of Romania, Roma also experience a lot of racism.
Coventry’s Roma Project told CoventryLive that it’s difficult to get a figure of the number of Roma people living in the city, as most don’t identify as Roma on official documentation for fear of discrimination.
Bernie Flatley, of Coventry Roma Project, said: “We have around 1,300 families registered so with an average family of four that give us over 5,000.
“That figure both Amir who works for me and is Roma himself and I believe can be at least doubled so we think a figure of around 12,000 men, women and children is realistic and indeed given that we deal mainly with the Romanian Roma it’s difficult to estimate the population of the Czech, Lithuanian, Estonian, Bulgarian, etc.
“The real figure is actually likely to be higher.”
Stay informed about the impact of Covid-19 on Coventry and Warwickshire through our daily email newsletter.
For free twice-daily bulletins direct to your inbox, sign up to our email newsletter here.
The newsletters come out once in the morning and once in the evening, with the latest news, what’s on and sport from across the county.
And just why are the community marginalised? Ms Cisneros said: “It’s the fear alongside the lack of information that feeds into this cycle of violence that turns into racism.
“If you ask the council and services they are quite proud of the Roma community in Coventry. A lot of them, thanks to the Roma project, are in school and university.
“When you ask local citizens there is still some tension that the Roma just come for benefits, they don’t want to work, they are dirty, they just sit outside and congregate.
“There was a lot we had to challenge. There are some families that do get into trouble but the majority aren’t.
“And so [we are] kind of shifting that narrative saying, look, there are so many that are working at Dominos or their kids are in school or college, they do well, their families speak English, that’s not always seen.”
For a copy of ‘Roma, Recycle, Reimagine: Corcodusa Saves The Park’ email Rosa Cisneros: ab4928@coventry.ac.uk
Keep up with all of the latest local news with our daily newsletter
(Note: This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed. PriyaSaha.Com Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. Please visit the Source Website that deserves the credit and responsibility for creating this content.)
