The proverbial poor status of the Roma in the social strata of the Serbian community has deteriorated even further since the NATO bombings of Serbia in 1999. Along with Serbian and other non-Albanian citizens, the Roma were also forced to flee Kosovo. Upon their arrival in Serbia, the life of the Roma hit an all time low. The Serbian nationalistic ideology led to a ten year crisis and four different wars - a situation which made it impossible to welcome the Kosovo refugees with open arms. This was particularly the case for the ca. 35'000 Roma.
 
The largest proportion of the Roma fled to Serbia and settled wherever they could throughout the Republic. In Makisch, north of Belgrad, ca. 3'000 Roma gathered and settled down as best they could - with no water, no electricity and without any basic sanitary installations in place. In the surrounding area of Belgrad there were around 50 different settlements - all with tents of light fabric which offered no resistance to the wind. With summer temperatures on the 40's these tents were like saunas and offered only relief from the direct sun. "Houses" were constructed with junk and scraps from wrecked cars and furniture was improvised from whatever could be found. The thought of the coming winter brought fear - not only of the normally frigid temperature, but of disease in the cramped quarters.

Relief actions from humanitarian organizations and a few non-governmental organizations strove to provide the basic aid and assistance: food and other provisions to assure the minimum level for survival. The root of the problem for the Roma condition stems from their economic weakness. In order to set up an effective organization they need money, specialists and an active and qualified work force. This is the source of their powerlessness.

© Marc Kollmuss (Photos), Milanka Saponja-Hadzic (Text)

For the complete text please contact Marc Kollmuss: marc@tmwork.com