Sa o Roma Daje, Sa o Roma Babo

Roma (Gypsies) are the largest and most discriminated minority in Europe. Their level of education is lower than other Europeans. Their health is poorer, their unemployment rate is higher and their life expectancy are shorter than for other Europeans. The history of Roma in Europe is dark and through the ages they have been subjected to racial hatred and outright extermination.



The last two years Sweden and other rich countries in northern Europe has been subjected for a desperate migration from extremely poor Roma people from Bulgaria and Romania. They have no other solution than to go to Sweden hoping to find a work and get money to pay their debts and feed their hungry children. Within the European Union it's allowed for the citizens to stay up to 3 months in another EU country without work and up to 6 months if you have a work.



Although Roma people has been subjected to persecution and oppression for generations in Europe, they are a happy people as you can see in the slide-show. Despite all the difficulties they have been through, they are always close to a good laugh. Joy and music welds them together and it has become a way for them to escape from all the hatred and oppression that they are constantly subjected to.



The Roma mothers and fathers in the pictures came to Sweden with the hope of getting work. Most of them did not find any work, and they had to beg on the streets to raise money for themselves and their children back in Romania. I didn't want to photograph them in a vulnerable position when they beg on the streets of my hometown. Therefore I decided to meet them on equal terms in their camp. I wanted to get to know them and build relations with them in order to photograph them at their own terms. If possible I shall visit my newfound friends in their villages in northeast Romania and meet them and their children and grandchildren in their own environment.

Click the following link if you can't see the slideshow on your tablet or smartphone: www.flickr.com/photos/chasid68

Text and Photo: Mikael Good

Jesus in Disguise

Every picture tells a story. This is the story of this picture. The man come from Romania and he belongs to the roma (tigani) minority. He came to Sweden to get a job and earn money so that he could support his sick children in Romania. He didn't get a job so he had to start begging for money so that he can get enough money for his trip back to Romania and hopefully some extra money so that he can buy some extra food and clothes for his children when he come back to them again.

Most people ignore the beggars. I usually try to make contact with them. It´s hard for me to speak with them cause they hardly speak anything else then Romanian or Bulgarian and they often don't know how to write or read. I think that it is important that we see them and try to do something about their situation. I work as an PR officer for the Swedish NGO Heart to Heart in Linköping and we try to change the situation for Roma and Rudari people in Romania, both through direct projects as individual help, school projects and through advocacy.

I looked him straight in the eyes when I kneeled down in front of him and took the picture. And I got that funny feeling that I looked straight in the eyes of Jesus. I took his hands and said God bless you. But I believe that I was the one that was most blessed by our meeting  outside a Swedish store. "The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved they are Jesus in disguise" - Mother Teresa.



Text and Photo: Mikael Good