Mobilisation of Roma communities in Bulgaria
Can Roma communities resolve their own problems? We looked for the answer to this question in two Roma communities in Bulgaria. One of the villages, Seslav, in the northeast of Bulgaria, was beforehand defined as better organised and thus with greater capacity to attain community tasks and objectives. The other community, the nearby town of Senovo, was defined as having weaker organisational abilities, and a lower capacity to achieve community targets. Both communities are comprised of Muslim ´Horohane´ Roma. Both communities number about 500 people and live 30 kilometres apart.
First impressions
The first impression from both communities is different. The Roma in Seslav seem less energetic in comparison with the Senovo Roma. This impression however is misleading and comes mainly from the greater reticence of the Seslav people, connected with the habit arising from the Muslim norm to refrain from loud manifestations of feelings.
In Senovo in contrast, the people are noisy and very expressive. They prefer to exhibit their relationships with neighbours. Street quarrels between neighbours or families are frequent. In Senovo, men make a very dynamic impression. They change their occupation frequently. one day they collect metal at garbage depots, next day they will pick herbs and berries. The day after they buy livestock to milk it, sell it the other day and then they move to a large town or abroad to work as unskilled workers at a construction site.
In Seslav, there are many more families who are permanently engaged in livestock breeding, who possess land which they have been farming for years, and if the younger men or women leave the village to look for jobs in larger cities or abroad, the older people look after their farming animals or land
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