Reading, Writing, and Gypsies

I have always loved the written word. As soon as I realized that words transmitted stories I have been enthralled. As I child my parents read to me religiously and although I struggled to learn to read with my hearing loss, I was determined. I remember the summer I really learned to read, i read everything I could get my hands on from the 1982 manual of Orthopedic surgery to every children’s book in the house and ton from the library. Although I loved history and historical fiction and science and science fiction the MOST. I read everything including fairy and folk tales. I remember reading a book of Russian fairy tales and I remember reading another book that talked about gypsies. Gypsies were either thieves or a mysterious people who came and hosted a fair of sorts, told fortunes, played music and danced. It was not till I was a sophomore in college that I learned that gypsies were not just in fairy tales, there were a real people group. A people group who had long been oppressed and enslaved by half of Europe.

I have interacted with gypsy families during both my trips to Romania. I have worked with disabled gypsies and cared for sick gypsies. I have been a guest in a gypsy household on several occasions. But I have never set in the mist of a traditional gypsy encampment until today. We got off the bus and began to search for a gypsy family that my contact had been working with for several months. We watched two gypsy boys get tickets for washing car windows in the mist of the street. We asked them where the individuals we were looking for were encamped. We had no luck. I am not sure if they just didn’t know or if they didn’t want us to know. It was obvious that the cops were coming down hard on the gypsies in the area. Finally about the time we were going to give up, two little gypsy boys appeared who greeted my contact and beckoned us to come. And so we did.

All of the sudden, Emily was nearly knocked over by a whirl of pink and a cry of joy. A 4 yr old gypsy girl jumped into her arms. We met more members of her family and were led by the 4 yr old back to the encampment which was hidden with the city main hospital on one side, a major highway on the other and and housing development on the third and fourth. Hidden amongst the trees were tents, cooking fires, four families and dozen children. We were ushered to a blanket under the wash line and before we could sit down, were surrounded by kids. We played with them, read them half in Romanian, half in English, we held them and sang with them. We took their pictures which they loved and I will post them soon.

They fought over us and wanted to be touching us at all times. Their parents were busy with cooking, washing and such. There were two infants, one who had a skin infection I could not identify but that I fear is not as simple as fleas or lice. One of the boys broke his leg two months ago and just got the cast off, he has sores all over his leg and I worry they will become infected. A 12 yr old and 8 yr old smoked a cigarette while we were there. Its funny…as soon as I adjust to the chaos around me I went into med student mode. Part of me wanted to turn it off but another part of me accepted that this is who I am now.

My contact met this family when they were begging on the subway. Struck by how beautiful the children were, she foraged a friendship with them. All of them from the 4 yr old up to the matriarch who is in her 50s beg, the infants and toddlers help their old siblings beg by being cute. Its the family business. Roma people are the bottom of the totem pole in Romania, although many of them are still trying to preserve their language, culture and lifestyle (transient), even those who try to integrate struggle to get jobs,obtain decent health care, do well in school, etc. The children I played with today lack birth certificates, they just aren’t routinely given to Roma children. As a result they are not able to attend school even if there parents wanted them to. The Roma are not trusted by Romanians and they are truly scum in the eyes of most Romanians. Its a vicious cyclic complex social problem.

The children fit into two groups, the ones who nearly knocked us over before they even knew our name they so wanted affection and contact with the outside world and the ones who took a good 30-40 mins to accept that Emily and I were not going to hurt them or write them a ticket. The kids ran wild after they warmed up, there were no rules, no boundaries and no inhibitions just a desperate hunger for what we had rather it be material, emotional, spiritual, physical touch, etc.

It was overwhelming although for first time Emily and I felt like there is no where else but here that we are supposed be but here. We will go back again soon.

Cases in the morning:
Suture Removal (which I did!!!) on 13 yr. kid we removed the mole on my first day here
Blood in the urine work up (Most likely a cyst on the kidney) on 65 yr old
High Cholesterol/possible Hepatitis follow up