19 PICTURES THAT SHOW LIFE FOR GYPSY FAMILIES IN ROMANIA

Their names are as mysterious as their origins: often called the Roma or the Romani people, they’re also known as gitanos in Spain, Kale in Finland and Portugal, Manush or gitan in France and Travelers in Scandinavia.

And almost everywhere they go, they’re referred to — somewhat pejoratively — as gypsies, a people who have migrated throughout the world over the course of several centuries.

The Roma have one of the most dramatic stories in human history, but few people know their ancient tale of travel, persecution and survival.

This series of pictures show the lifestyle of gypsy families living in huts and Communist-era buildings in Romania.

The city of Baia Mare in northwestern Romania has a population of about 150,000 people and lies near the borders with Hungary and Ukraine. According to the census of 2011, the ethnic makeup of the city is around 84 per cent Romanian, 12 per cent Hungarian and three per cent Roma. An estimated 10-12 million Roma live throughout Europe, making them one of the EU’s biggest ethnic minorities.
Originally around 1,500 Roma people lived in a shantytown called Craica on the outskirts of the city. Selling scrap iron salvaged from abandoned mines in the area is their main source of income. The slum area has no clean water and only a limited electricity supply.
Since 2011, local authorities have been demolishing the shanties and rehousing Roma families in various types of accommodation, ranging from disused factories to old government offices. It considers the group as illegal squatters.
Another part of the Roma community lives in a slum-like area of rundown apartment blocks on Horea Street. In 2012 the city mayor Catalin Chereches controversially ordered a wall to be built around this settlement. Although the move was popular with many of the city’s non-Roma residents, Roma rights groups condemned it as a modern form of segregation. They also argue that forced evictions violate the rights of the Roma.
The local government says it is trying to lift the Roma out of poverty by giving them better housing an improving their access to education and employment. As of February 2013, plans to build modern social housing for the Roma consisting of 500 homes are in limbo, whilst funding is finalised and the search for a suitable site continues.
A woman stands in front of her hut in the Craica neighbourhood of Baia Mare
Children look out of the window of a hut in a shantytown
A little girl stands in an apartment block on Horea Street
A family is seen through the smoke of a stove in an apartment block on Horea Street
Children stand on the staircase of an apartment block on Horea Street
A boy and a dog walk over deserted rail tracks
A woman leans on her broom in front of her hut in a shantytown inhabited by Roma people
A small boy looks out of a an apartment block on Horea Street
A boy makes a snowball among huts
A woman stands in an apartment block on Horea Street
A man stands in a shantytown inhabited by Roma or Gypsy people
Children play in a shantytown inhabited by Roma or Gypsy people in the Craica neighborhood of Baia Mare, northwestern Romania
A woman looks out of a window of an apartment block on Horea Street
A woman walks past a hut in a shantytown inhabited by Roma or Gypsy people