Ugrás a fő tartalomra

Flour or chocolate?



There are many difficult situations in life, and I learned at an early age that humour can help a lot.
My story dates back to my childhood, I was a shy, reserved, quiet little girl.
I grew up in Budapest but most members of my family live in Hodász, therefore I spent a lot of time there. I was bilingual as a kid, I spoke both Romani and Hungarian fluently. My mother taught me to be proud of my Roma heritage. Unfortunately, this does not mean that I have not faced discrimination because of my ethnic background. Often security guards followed us while we were shopping, hence I learned, if I liked something in the shop, I should not touch it but look at it instead.
I remember when I was in kindergarten and I was playing around the climbing frame after lunch. Suddenly one of my mates, a ginger-haired, freckled little boy came up to me and said that Gypsies are not allowed to play at the climbing frame. I was frightened and I did not play there that day. My mom worked near the kindergarten so I did not have to wait long for her to take me home. On the way home, I told her what had happened to me that day. I am sure, it must have hurt her to hear that her only daughter was insulted. Even though she was hurt, she did not show her feelings, just asked: “Shall I speak to the teacher and the boy?” I said no, of course, because I considered myself a big girl who can protect herself. Then something came to Mom’s mind and we agreed – she was not going to talk to them if I would ask a question from the boy the next day. Therefore, the following day I gathered my courage and came up to him and asked: “Which one tastes better, flour or chocolate?”
He was staring at me and said nothing. Neither then, nor after.
Written by Vivien Balogh, based on a conversation with Melinda Vajda 


Megjegyzések

Megjegyzés küldése

Népszerű bejegyzések ezen a blogon

What Counts as a Punishment?

What can a schoolgirl do to fight injustice? What do we look for in pedagogues? What can we do for our children to be taught of equality and accepting each other in school? In primary school, I always sat in the first or second row. I hated it! I always wanted to sit in the last row because there, I could have been next to the window watching the whole class. From time to time, some of the "worst" boys were seated next to me. The rules for table plan were the following: 1.   bad students sit next to good students 2.   if you are a good student and do something wrong (which happened to me quite often) then you will get a Gypsy next to you For a few days or for months, it depended on the scale of the punishment. I liked those boys because they found this process unfair, too. I had three seatmate by this method in the first four years of primary school. When teachers realized that this seating arrangement was no problem for us and we even made friends, I ...
Megjegyzés küldése
További információk

Who killed Somna Grancsa?

What does education mean for you? What would you sacrifice for studying? What can a young student do if her family does not support her in continuing her studies? How can she fight prejudices in the school every day? What is our responsibility for the youngsters and in providing equal opportunities for everyone in starting their lives and being able to study? The play provides insight to a really brave girl's life who has to stand up to her family's will.  The play of Giuvlipen Company from Bucharest is based on a real story; it presents the struggle of the girl, that results in suicide, from various perspectives, raising the validity of different approaches and at the same time pointing out collective responsibility that no one can escape.
Megjegyzés küldése
További információk

Pindral

Where do we really come from? Where does the centuries-long persecution of Gypsy people date back? Where did we travel around and how did kings and princes treat us? The tale of an old Roma women provides insight to the history of Roma people. She begins her tale on Gypsy odyssey with creation myths, but the story gets worse and worse and it does not improve during the Habsburg rule and reaches rock bottom during the 2nd World War. After having lost half of the family, may communism bring some relief? The old woman believes so, but her daughter who just arrives home does not agree. Let's face the past together to be able to build a better future! The Czech ARA Art company invites us to an extraordinary historic journey in a new theatrical form, using elements of circus arts too.
Megjegyzés küldése
További információk