I'm in Bulgaria, visiting a CRED partner FSCI and getting my head round some of the work that they do. There are two key strands at present - 1 is working with young people as they leave the orphanages, providing supported living in 'Houses of Opportunity' to help the young people with the massive transition from institutionalised care to independent living.
The other focus is in supporting work in the Roma community - a big but very marginalised group here in Bulgaria. As part of that work, yesterday we went to Stara Zagora to meet a project that FSCI is partnering with called World Without Borders. Led by a Roma Christian guy called Ganshaw, this project is doing some really good work within the Roma community, and also in breaking down the barriers between Roma and Bulgarians.
We went for a bit of a look round the community, the largest Roma community in Bulgaria at 40,000; there have recently been bulldozings of hundreds of their 'illegal' homes and as a result it wasn't safe for me to take any photos as tension is high, but whilst we walked we chatted about various aspects of the life of the Roma. One conversation stood out for me above all else - here is the summarised version.
We were chatting about education, and how much it is, or isn't valued within the Roma community and Ganshaw was explaining that it is very hard to keep Roma girls in school beyond age 12. The reason for this is that when a Roma girl gets married (always arranged, never for love), she has to be able to provide proof to her in-laws that she was a virgin on her wedding night. So the day after the wedding day, a suitably stained sheet has to be produced.
For this reason, the girls are married young, before any 'mistakes' can be made, and once married they can't go to school. No chance for the girl to state her side of the story - what the circumstances are that means she wasn't a virgin, or didn't have the proof. No forgiveness, no second chances - its all about the damaged pride of the parents and in-laws.
The increased cruelty of it all comes with the outcome of not having the stained sheet. If it isn't produced on the morning after the wedding night, it is assumed that the girl therefore wasn't a virgin and the marriage is declared null and void; the girl is then taken back to her family who in turn will cast her out and declare essentially 'dead to them'.
At this point there are a few possible outcomes for the girl:
1. she runs away and lives on the streets
2. she tries to survive as a prostitute in Bulgaria
3. her family sell her into a trafficking ring, and as a result they get some money, and she gets the 'promise' of a new life abroad - little knowing that she will essentially be a domestic slave or prostitute slave
4. her family sell her to an underground ring where the girl is 'used' as a baby-making 'machine' to keep the illicit overseas adoption business going
What a desperate bunch of outcomes for the girl, and you can see what the thought of a life abroad, where she would have a roof over her head, and someone to find some work for her can be seen to be more appealing.
Yes we as a receiving country of trafficked girls know that it isn't like that at all, but faced with the alternatives, and when the traffickers have got their speech so smooth and slick and enticing, you can see how girls buy into it.
How sad, how desperately sad. And all because a community won't consider forgiveness and second chances
The other focus is in supporting work in the Roma community - a big but very marginalised group here in Bulgaria. As part of that work, yesterday we went to Stara Zagora to meet a project that FSCI is partnering with called World Without Borders. Led by a Roma Christian guy called Ganshaw, this project is doing some really good work within the Roma community, and also in breaking down the barriers between Roma and Bulgarians.
We went for a bit of a look round the community, the largest Roma community in Bulgaria at 40,000; there have recently been bulldozings of hundreds of their 'illegal' homes and as a result it wasn't safe for me to take any photos as tension is high, but whilst we walked we chatted about various aspects of the life of the Roma. One conversation stood out for me above all else - here is the summarised version.
We were chatting about education, and how much it is, or isn't valued within the Roma community and Ganshaw was explaining that it is very hard to keep Roma girls in school beyond age 12. The reason for this is that when a Roma girl gets married (always arranged, never for love), she has to be able to provide proof to her in-laws that she was a virgin on her wedding night. So the day after the wedding day, a suitably stained sheet has to be produced.
For this reason, the girls are married young, before any 'mistakes' can be made, and once married they can't go to school. No chance for the girl to state her side of the story - what the circumstances are that means she wasn't a virgin, or didn't have the proof. No forgiveness, no second chances - its all about the damaged pride of the parents and in-laws.
The increased cruelty of it all comes with the outcome of not having the stained sheet. If it isn't produced on the morning after the wedding night, it is assumed that the girl therefore wasn't a virgin and the marriage is declared null and void; the girl is then taken back to her family who in turn will cast her out and declare essentially 'dead to them'.
At this point there are a few possible outcomes for the girl:
1. she runs away and lives on the streets
2. she tries to survive as a prostitute in Bulgaria
3. her family sell her into a trafficking ring, and as a result they get some money, and she gets the 'promise' of a new life abroad - little knowing that she will essentially be a domestic slave or prostitute slave
4. her family sell her to an underground ring where the girl is 'used' as a baby-making 'machine' to keep the illicit overseas adoption business going
What a desperate bunch of outcomes for the girl, and you can see what the thought of a life abroad, where she would have a roof over her head, and someone to find some work for her can be seen to be more appealing.
Yes we as a receiving country of trafficked girls know that it isn't like that at all, but faced with the alternatives, and when the traffickers have got their speech so smooth and slick and enticing, you can see how girls buy into it.
How sad, how desperately sad. And all because a community won't consider forgiveness and second chances
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