They live in extreme and marginalized poverty. They continue to face limited access to almost every aspect of human development. They say that so far no one has ever tried to bring them close to normal, or lead them. They understand life as something that is ‘written’, while they have all their hopes in God and the new institutions. Despite extreme poverty and misery, they are happy. This is the reality of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian – RAE community in Mitrovica, where as soon as you enter the neighborhood, you see the signs of social inequality.
When you continue walking a little and approaching their houses, you notice joy, because you notice music of different genres and languages, the sounds of which are not missing for almost a moment.
One of the residents of this neighborhood, who agreed to talk to KosovaPress, but without revealing his name, said that there are a total of nine family members who live only on their father’s pension. Despite the difficult conditions, he said he was happy and satisfied with what they had.
“We are nine family members, three of my children go to school, two in the primary school ‘Bedri Gjina’, one in the high school ‘Frang Bardhi’. I am unemployed; we live on a father’s pension of 180 euros, 80 euros I pay for electricity and the bailiff. In terms of conditions, the conditions are average, but we should be proud of what we have. We are happy, as Allah says, we will live”, he said.
Bashkim Jahiri, a high school student from this neighborhood, says they are poor but happy.
“We are poor, but we are happy,” he said briefly.
Artan Bajrami, another resident of the neighborhood, said that there are nine family members and none of them work. He says the unemployed life is very difficult. He called on the representatives of the respective institutions, mentioning the Roma MPs, to visit and help this poor and marginalized people.
“We are nine family members who live in this neighborhood. What should I say it is difficult for us to be unemployed, of course it is difficult to be unemployed. Eh, from stress, when someone is in stress, plays music. I call on the municipality of Mitrovica to visit this place, not to leave it aside, to help this people here. Even our Roma MPs should come and visit this place here and should not leave aside this poor people”, Bajrami told KosovaPress.
Mul Toskaj also says that the situation of the locals is deteriorating more and more, he calls on the new mayor of Mitrovica and the prime minister to visit them and help them, because they hope in them.
“I would ask the new mayor Bedri Hamza to come and visit us, because many of us have supported him in the elections. Now we hope that Albin Kurti will help us”, said Toskaj.
Habib Hajdini, representative of the RAE community in the Roma neighborhood in Mitrovica, mentioned unemployment as the main problem among the many problems that this community faces.
According to him, in this neighborhood with about 300 houses and more than 1 thousand inhabitants, only 10 people are employed.
He criticized the institutions for their lack of interest in these residents, while he hopes from now on in the support of the newly elected mayor of Mitrovica.
The music that is heard in almost every neighborhood house, despite the hard life, he explains in an interesting way, saying that it is something hopeful.
“Here we see the life of our population which is facing very difficult conditions… The unemployment is their problem. In the whole neighborhood we have about 300 houses with more than 1 thousand inhabitants, and I do not know if 10 people work… Institutions before and so far have not helped us at all, we have no help, we hope in the future, since the new mayor has been elected and now it is Bedri Hamza, we hope that he probably remembers and comes to visit us sometimes here in the neighborhood and we hope that he will push forward the problems that our community is facing… Yes, of course, it is better to play music than to be sick, to give yourself hope”, said Hajdini.
Vllaznim Hoti, a family medicine specialist who has treated the residents of that neighborhood for almost a decade, says that the level of hygiene in that population is something that has always worried him.
According to him, the residents of that neighborhood are extremely disciplined patients, especially in terms of therapy. He has admitted that most of the residents in that neighborhood are poor but live happily.
“Usually the main complaints have been regarding the same pathologies as in other people, but the level of hygiene has worried me, both before and after the war. They have been meticulous patients in terms of therapy. Living conditions were not high or average, most had very poor conditions, but they are happy. It means that they knew how to be happy with what they had”, said Hoti.
Tthe psychologist, Artan Fejza, told KosovaPress that based on various studies, it is often found that people, even when they are not wealthy, they manage to create happiness with the means at their disposal, establishing good relationships with people. In this context, he added, the aspect of happiness is related to a very large extent to the aspect of being optimistic.
“The specifics of being happy in sociological and psychological conjunctures best define the happiness of the individual in relationships that the individual creates with other people, in the good relationships that the individual creates with family, environment, social circle, etc… In many social studies it is often found that people even when they do not have enough money or are not wealthy, they manage to create happiness with the means at their disposal, creating good relationships with people, and in this context the aspect of happiness is related to a very large mass with the aspect of being optimistic or not”, said Fejza.
On the other hand, based on the reports of the regional police in Mitrovica, it turns out that the ‘Roma Neighborhood’ is one of the quietest areas in terms of public order and security.
“It is an area that has a large number of inhabitants, but given the number of cases or incidents that are reported, it is not an area where we can mention something special. So, we can freely consider that it is one of the quietest areas in terms of public order and security”, said the police spokesman for the Mitrovica region, Avni Zahiti.
Otherwise, during a global study on happiness and optimism conducted a few years ago, researchers were surprised by the high optimism among the poorest strata in Africa and some Asian countries.
According to this research, the efforts to survive may be the reasons for high optimism, i.e., individuals with miserable conditions need to be happy and optimistic in order to survive.