A Never to be Told Story: The Roma ( Gypsy) Camp

A never to be told story; the Roma ( Gypsy) camp

This is a story that was never to be told. This is a story I buried deep in my mind. I am so ashamed of my negligence and irresponsibility that like a trauma, my mind tried to destroy the memory. and bury it . It lingers. It returns at the least expected moment. It’s time to tell this story.
In the first summer of my service with the Department of National Defence Schools (DND), in our Volkswagen camper-bus when Lindsey was 5, and kate 1, we travelled from W Germany to Athens Greece, through what was then called Yugoslavia, now the Balkan states. We dawdled at our own pace along the Adriatic coast to Dubrovnik.

Along the way I was fascinated by the number of Roma ( gypsies) people we observed travelling in caravans or camped along the road. I have since learned that they still are the 3rd largest ethnic group in the Balkan states, with large populations in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria as well. They were as vigorously sought out and exterminated by the Nazis, as were the Jews. Hundreds of thousands of Roma are included in the total number of 6 million Jews exterminated during WW2. They are still persecuted in many countries, especially in Hungary. Canada accepts Roma refugees today from Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. They have even been discriminated here in their refugees applications in Canada as well. For example recently 70% of recent applications are positive in Ontario from a low of 20% a few years ago. They were over 5000 Roma living in Canada in the 2011 census they common name Gypsies has become a stereotyped as a culture of cheater’s and thieves. I was “gypped” at the market. Rumours persist that they steal children this terrorizing neighbourhoods when travelling through. As a young pre-school boy I was mesmerized by the strip of closed retail stores on Queen St. West of University Ave where a small cluster of Roma had settled in Toronto.

Travelling along the coastal road to Greece ended at the Albania, almost impossible to travel through at that time. It was a closed off communist state and few travellers entered, so we turned off the coastal road and up over the Pindus mountains. For miles we travelled through a vast empty stretch of rocky scrub land with nary a sign of human activity. Suddenly coming around a curve a in a flat field there was a large encampment of Romas. Dozens of tents and carts formed a big circle. A large fire was raging and sounds of accordions and guitars could be heard from the road.
I parked the bus, grabbed my camera and raced off to the encampment blindly, inspired by my dream of recording a rare culture in its most natural environment.

As I came close enough to the group around the fire, I pointed to my camera, visually asking for permission to take pictures. Some elders all signalled together with out-stretched palms. “Dinar, dinar”. I handed a fistful of dinars and began shooting. Some men pushed forward a beautiful teen and told her to dance for me. She danced, I took photos. They asked for more dinars and I had none left. I signalled with empty palms, thanked them and bowed. I turned to return to Ann and the girls who I left in the camper-bus. The blood drained from my body at the scene I observed. The bus was surrounded with teenage Roma boys who surrounded the bus and were all banging on all the windows trying to break in. My first thought was the rumour that the Roma steal children. I exploded across the scrub gap and as I approached the bus I emitted a roar that would cower a lion, I never knew I was capable of, swinging my camera from its strap like a mediaeval flail. Turning to my bloodcurdling roars and screams, with my weapon a blur, they backed off and I was able to get into the drivers seat and relock the door. Ann was in the passenger seat with Kate and Lindsey huddled in terror. I put it in gear and roared off.
I immediately felt shame. How could I have raced off so thoughtlessly. So irresponsible. What audacity and rudeness to enter the enclave so brazenly. I have always felt guilt for both digressions. I never expected I would ever tell this story.

Note 1. The Roma emigrated to europe in 800. They originated from the Punjab and Rajasthan and still speak a version of Punjabi and Bengali though they have adopted Eastern Orthodox or Islam depending on their current location. They were thought to come from Egypt originally, hence ‘Gypsies’.
While mostly considered a pejorative, some groups proudly call themselves Gypsies
( note 2. photos ; the dozens of photos I took have long been lost in numerous moves. These two photos are closest I could find on the free internet access that approximate my memory of the people I photographed )