The ghost children: the Horahai, excluded by the Roma and the Turks, illiterate and undocumented, they do not exist for the Romanian state / How an NGO managed to increase the number of preschoolers from two to six preparatory classes

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In a locality in Constanța, a community of more than 1000 people, more than half of them children, live below the poverty line, a good part of them do not know how to speak or write Romanian and many of them do not have identity documents. They are the Horahai Roma, i.e. Turkish Roma, Muslims, who are excluded from both the Roma and the Turkish community (Horahai means „Turkish” in Roman, meaning „non-Roma”). Another community, of over 3000 Horahai (out of a total population of 10,000) is in Babadag, Tulcea.

The children of the Horahai do not exist for the Romanian state. They are born into large families, their illiterate parents don’t register them, they don’t send them to school, the boys become labour, and the girls are sold into marriage for a few thousand lei. So a new generation of horahai is starting all over again. Neither will it exist for the Romanian state.

Horahai parents don’t send their children to school fearing that they will „learn nonsense”, that’s how emancipation and literacy are seen. Another reason is that poor families need help in the yard or at work, that’s how it is that at no more than a meter tall and only a few years old dirty but big eyed, glassy and clean little children are often seen in the city rubbish heaps or with bags of scrap metal on their backs.

In the community of Castelu, the children of Horahai started going to school through the insistence and stubbornness of NGOs that have been active in the area. Some of those involved in getting the children into school are Horahai themselves, who have overcome their condition and have now returned to the community to help others do the same.

But NGO representatives say that working with the system itself is essential in the fight to get children into school. Their resources are limited, and collaborations with the school and the Castelu town hall have come a long way, according to the activists involved.

Today, the number of children in Castelu attending kindergarten has been increased to 17 and the number of preparatory classes has increased from two to six, according to Reality Check, one of the most active NGOs in the community. Through its programmes, the organisation has managed to enrol four new classes of Horahai children (100 children) who start learning to read and write from 2022. In addition, three Teach for Romania teachers are working at the school in Castelu from 2022.

Little Neylan and the road to school

• Note: Because she is a minor and we do not have written parental consent to reveal her identity, but also to protect her from a possible negative community reaction, we have agreed with a representative of the NGO Reality Check to use a fictitious name for the child. We will call her Neylan, which in Turkish means „wishes come true”.

Little Neylan’s story begins in 2019, on one of the Reality Check visits to Castelu. Neylan was living in no more than 20 square meters with six other people. Her mother searched for scrap metal all day, the other adults worked abroad, the story of almost every house of the horahai.

Because Neylan’s mother didn’t have an ID card at the time of her birth, the girl was admitted with her mother-in-law’s ID, and Neylan’s certificate was issued in her name.

Neylan’s situation changed in the NGO’s literacy bootcamps, when she bonded with the activists, came to the activities even though she could hardly manage because she did not know Romanian, and even though she did not know the days of the week or the timetable of the classes, she participated in almost all the activities run then.

Why activists need the authorities and vice versa

Sociologist Oana Ganea, with over 15 years of experience, co-author of the first Social Services Audit in Romania and contributor to the Anti-Poverty Package launched by the Romanian Government in 2016, works for Reality Check and told G4Media that the team’s greatest satisfaction is when children like Neylan finally get to school. Oana also shows how all the problems in the community are „taken home” by those involved because of the high emotional burden and dramatic stories:

• ” In principle, the work we do is like any other. We have some goals that we try to achieve as best we can. But when it comes to working in communities and helping vulnerable people, it’s very hard to stand out. All the problems out there you take home with you, they press you and it doesn’t matter what time or day of the week it is, somehow you feel responsible all the time, you think of solutions. Einstein’s famous quote – „Those who have the privilege to know, have the duty to act” – accompanies us in whatever we do and perhaps things would be better for everyone if we all understood that we have a responsibility as a society to people in poor communities. No one wants to be poor and pushed to the fringes of society. Probably the greatest satisfaction is seeing children from poor communities in school every day. Although things don’t change overnight, we already know that these children, if they learn to read and write, will have a better chance of finding a job and a better life as adults. The results of our work will probably be seen in 10 years’ time,” Oana Ganea told G4Media.

The NGO representatives also stressed that their work with local people is very important to increase the effectiveness of their actions. On 22-23 October, the Medical Caravan organised by Reality Check in Castelu is one of the examples of how the link between authorities and NGOs works:

• „We set up the link with the team of doctors and cover part of the costs, the school provides the classrooms and helps to set up the medical stations, the town hall pays for the doctors’ accommodation and meals. We take care of the communication to the community through school mediators (school), community medical assistant (town hall), Reality Check team”, explained Simona Ilaș, Reality Check communication specialist to G4Media.

Background

The commune has two villages, Castelu and Nisipari, with 5000 inhabitants, of which 1150 are below the poverty line (650 are children). 200 families receive social aid. Most of the poor people are in Castelu, in 3 compact areas: Balta, Garoafelor, Ferma, according to Reality Check information.

Most poor parents have zero grades, are intimidated by school and need help enrolling children. Children speak Turkish at home and don’t know any Romanian when they start kindergarten or school.

Some parents are afraid to send their children to kindergarten because they have to cross the local European road (two children died). Others are afraid of having their children stolen (by ambulances – local myth).

Adults go to Constanta to beg or collect plastic and scrap metal and often take young children with them, or leave their slightly older children at home to look after their siblings instead of going to school.

Most of the Horahai houses were made out of mud until 10 years ago, with dilapidated roofs and no windows or doors. In the meantime, people have started to move abroad, and some families are managing to erect brick houses with tin roofs and double-glazed doors and windows, the NGO’s website says.

Translated by Ovidiu H.