Romni in Dzerzhinsk (on the border with the so-called DNR)are trying to make a living by peeling nuts. Girls are helping their mother.
Roma families from Dzerzhinsk try to earn their living by gathering nuts in the woods, peeling them and selling them somewhere else – where the nuts do not grow. But now the roads to the places where one could easily find or buy nuts are blocked (Roma used to go to Gorlovka for that in the past), meanwhile the border control to Russia got toughened and the Russian market is no more accessible. It became difficult to sell the peeled nuts and those few places that still accept them, pay so little that the traditional Romani job brings almost no income. Not-peeled nuts are getting really expensive, while collecting nuts in the wood is very dangerous in our days – recently Rom Jimmy went to gather the nuts and was wounded by a mine – one of the many “memories” in the area of war and the battles of the near past. Jimmy’s life was saved by the doctors, but he lost one eye and the medical care bills cost the last savings of the family.
If you want to express your solidarity with Roma of Donbass and support the campaign, follow the link (click “support”):
https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/38840-solidarityromaukraine