Roma Women in Oldham Library, Manchester
KaskoSan Roma Charity
Roma Women Group at Church Event
KaskoSan Roma Charity
KaskoSan.org, Roma charity in the North of England, key partner of Ando Glaso Roma charity in Glasgow, opens doors to traditional Roma Women in the outsider world through the Roma Connections project implemented in collaboration with Oldham Coliseum Theatre in Manchester.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RomaWomen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RomaWomen</a>’s 2nd chapter opening in 2022. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RomaConnections?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RomaConnections</a> with <a href="https://twitter.com/MariaPalmai?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MariaPalmai</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/OldhamColiseum?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OldhamColiseum</a> continues! <a href="https://t.co/0qX9qLn64i">pic.twitter.com/0qX9qLn64i</a></p>— KaskoSan Roma Charitable Company (@KaskoSanLtd) <a href="https://twitter.com/KaskoSanLtd/status/1491532208447832072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Roma women were very excited about their first ever trip to Oldham library in Greater Manchester. Maria Palmai, a traditional Roma woman herself leading the group was extremely delighted to share these moments with them: “These women are illiterate, they have never been to school, never read a story or a book, meanwhile they have always served the survival of their families and have never had their own dreams. They have no familiarity with the outsider world and never believed that they could also engage with the opportunities around them. That’s what this visit among many other activities is meant to achieve as well.”
Roma Women by the Wall
KaskoSan Roma Charity
To tackle their excitement, Roma women were singing a traditional song in Romani Gypsy language on the way to the library.
On their first ever library trip, they discovered working tools their Roma ancestors would also use in the early 20th century, they were cheerfully exploring an exhibition in the library, learned that they could learn English without reading skills and could also get a free laptop to ease their job search attempts.
Roma Women at Oldham Gallery, March 2022
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Maria says that “…the fact that we managed to move Roma women outside their traditional roles is the result of years of support work provided by KaskoSan Roma Charity volunteers to several hundreds of individuals in the Roma community since 2014. Women, many of whom got married as teenagers arranged by their parents, enjoy the full support of their husbands and the wider community too."
Maria has been introduced by Pastor Vasile running the ‘Burning Bush Roma Church in Oldham, Manchester to the wider community at the church counting more than 500 members who are extremely grateful to Maria for opening doors to Roma women in the 'gadjo', non-Roma world.
Roma Women's Group, Roma Connections Project, KaskoSan Roma Charity, 2021
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Roma women have been greatly inspired by the trip and now they are planning to research their own cultural heritage and to display and share their own cultural stories with all other British residents too. Maria is organising a second trip to the library for the women so they can benefit from the services offered to all residents in Oldham. More unique content is coming out soon so stay tuned!
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