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Interview, Ahmet Jasharevski, HDZR “DROM” – Kumanovo
Let’s keep the identity and break the prejudices
The condition of Roma people in Macedonia is very unfavorable. The latest statistical data show that 84% of the Roma population is social cases. According to our evaluations and views, the percentage is much higher – even higher than 90%, says Ahmet Jasharevski, the president of DROM.
HDZR “Drom” from Kumanovo is one of the most successful non-governmental organizations whose priority target group are the Roma people. In the period when Drom and its employees and volunteers make big efforts to ease the problems of the flooded families in Kumanovo and to reduce the consequences of what the natural floodwaters have done, we have talked to Ahmed Jasharevski, the president of this organization.
C.W. What has impelled you to enter the world of non-governmental organizing?
A.J. The previous activity, which was different from the present one. At the beginning of the ‘90's I was politically active and I took part in the establishment of the Party for total emancipation of the Roma people in Macedonia (PTERM). In 1994 I was a president of the PTERM branch for Kumanovo. I realized that through a political party not much could be done for the problems concerning the people, especially for the Roma people. In 1996 I stopped dealing with politics. I have been interested in non-governmental organizing since then. The first initiative was from a representative of “Roma Rights Programme” from Budapest, a Soros Foundation Programme. We registered in 1997 and here we are. We were a new organization, unknown to the donators. We had neither experience, nor skills for writing projects. Thanks to MCIC and IOOM, which have provided our training, we have strengthened. We have been building the image of a serious organization slowly, but surely. Today we can show off with five full-time employees, 35 part-time employees and 30-40 volunteers.
C.W. DROM has been active in several sectors. Could you present some of the activities?
A.J. We have some infra-structural activities, activities related to education and human rights. Our organizational structure has been made on that basis.
In the part of the infrastructure I have to mention the initiative for building the sewerage system in the settlement of Sredorek, the biggest Roma settlement in Kumanovo, which started in 1998. We have invested some of the finances, via RRP and the biggest part has been lobbied by the local self-government. There is still a part to be finished from the sewerage system in Sredorek. A part of our efforts was all the citizens in the settlement to get a water-supply network and water meter and we have succeeded in that. Through the municipality, we have initiated installment of water pipe in the settlement Bavchi. One part has been financed by Drom and for the other part we are trying the people to pay self-contribution. We are especially proud of building of the four bridges at the river in Kumanovo, two in Bavchi and two in Sredorek. Until the bridges have not been built, people literally crossed over improvised bridges made of bins and trees. Such bridges have also taken a man’s life.
We started with the education in 1998. Supported by “Romano dialogue” from Switzerland, the Jews Association from Switzerland and MPDL from Spain, we worked on informal education of children at pre-school age and combined classes. The next two years we were financially supported by the Swiss and Canadian Embassy. We have opened another center, too, where we organize some extra classes for the pupils. We cooperate with the primary school “Hristijan Todorovski – Karposh”. In this center, apart from the extra classes and the regular subjects, they get informatics classes, too. With MCIC, in the Program for applied education of young Roma, we implement cooperation with schools and some of the activities are for the pupils’ parents and some of them are for the courses for young Roma. The courses are implemented through the Workers’ University.
C.W. How do you build the relations with the target group?
A.J. We work on problems really concerning our target group. We listen to the whole target group. We do not expect everyone to love us, but they are aware that we work in order to improve their living conditions. The growth of the organization moved us off the track. As if we had become bureaucratic a little. We had fewer contacts, as if we had run away from the people. The flood took us back. This is what we are missing - listening to people’s problems and being with them so that they will feel us as close. They come here and talk about their problems, they want us to help them.
We are trying to inform the wider public on what we are working, via the Informant and we also have some good contacts with the media.
C.W. You have been working on overcoming the Roma problems for over six years. What is your opinion on the condition of Roma people in Macedonia?
A.J. Very difficult. The latest statistical data show that 84% of the Roma population is social cases. According to our evaluations and views, the percentage is much higher – even higher than 90%. The biggest reason for that is surely the bad economic situation. The closure of the companies has hit everyone, but I think that the Roma people were the first on the list. They were among the first to be made redundant.
C.W. Do you consider it to be a kind of discrimination?
A.J. In my opinion, one of the reasons for that is the bad education of the Roma people. Those with lower qualifications are always the first to leave. However, I think that their ethnicity also plays an important role, that is, the stereotypes created for the Roma.
C.W. Are there any other reasons for such condition of the Roma in Macedonia?
A.J. Education is the other reason for poverty. For example, 540 children from Kumanovo are involved in the process of primary education, and only 15-18 children finish it annually. This shows how big the number of children who leave school is, in most of the cases, forever. We have intervened in the Ministry of Education and in the schools, to take certain measures by the Law. According to some information, the number of parents who are punished because their children do not go to school is small. Punishment is most often avoided as a result of the fact that these parents are social cases which do not have money to feed the family. The fact that the schools do not intervene to return the children to schools makes us think that the Roma children are not welcome and they do not care whether they come to school or not.
C.W. Do your activities have any influence to this situation?
A.J. With the opening of the centers and the cooperation with the Ministry, as well as the cooperation with the primary school Hristijan Todorovski – Karposh, the situation is getting better. Drom, in cooperation with UNHCR, has helped the school in the partial renovation. 18 classrooms have been renovated. In the following period, in cooperation with MCIC, in the Program for applied education of young Roma, the school is going to be given visual aids. Certainly, in the beginning, it was not so easy to cooperate. There was a lack of trust by the school, but now, both sides have realized that through partnership the things can only be better. Thanks to the extra classes, the number of children who repeat the year has decreased and we our proud of this datum. Teachers react more energetically when some of the children do not come to school and parents also become to understand the power of education. The other schools should be comprised, too, and here I see a space for involving all non-governmental organizations in Kumanovo, there is work for everyone.
C.W. What is the situation like with the human rights?
A.J. The situation in Macedonia, compared with the other countries from Central and Eastern Europe, is much better. I disapprove of journalists’ reporting when they emphasize the people’s ethnicity. As if it was not an individual, but the most important is that he or she is Roma. Thus there is some generalization, if it is about a theft, there is an impression that all the Roma are thieves etc. We have reacted to this kind of reporting a few times.
We react on breaking the human rights in the other countries, too. Thanks to the information through the networks where it is involved, once Drom reacted in Poland and once in the Czech Republic. The reaction in Poland resulted from not electing one of the candidates for a Member of the Polish parliament, because he had some suspicious relations to the “skinheads”. My next visit to Poland, after this reaction, resulted in custody at the airport, without any explanation. Fortunately, the situation was solved within 4-5 hours.
C.W. DROM has been quite active in offering help in emergency situations, so how do you organize?
A.J. We have a closer presidency, which provides a quick reaction. We distribute the information quickly to the non-governmental organizations in Macedonia and abroad. We are part of several networks, which function outside Macedonia. One of them is RNC with 32 organizations from Eastern Europe. We receive and send information via it. We reacted quickly during the Kosovo refugee crisis and during our, Macedonian crisis. At the moment, unfortunately, again we have to react quickly, this time to help our co-citizens who suffered loss from the floods. The non-governmental organizations are more flexible and faster than the local self-government, which is sometimes slow due to the bureaucratic working. This goes even further that it is suggested to return the help packages. The main problems are in the lists of the flooded households, but also in the way of help distribution. For example, in the collective centers, there is a distribution of flour even though these people do not have a cooker, so they cannot use the help. We disapprove of the fact that in the municipality crisis headquarters there is not a single Roma. The conclusions which this crisis headquarters bring are excellent, but unfeasible, unrealistic. The effect will be much bigger if the NGO and the municipality work together. On one hand they put us aside, on the other hand they complain in the media that the non-governmental organizations do nothing to overcome the consequences from the flood, which is not true. The NGOs in Kumanovo have been involved in the help since the beginning, the first help arrived thanks to our contacts with the donators. We have provided donations from MCIC, IOOM, Macedonian caritas, Caritas autumn, El Hilal. Now we are applying to the municipality to build banks and to clean the river, because another series of floods is possible.
C.W. DROM has recently become part of a new network. Could you tell us something more about that?
A.J. In Macedonia we have initiated the creation of a network of Roma NGOs called Roma 2002. It covers 14 organizations, has its own strategy and it is open for other organizations, too. One of the tasks will be to help the new organizations to strengthen institutionally and organizationally.
C.W. Do you have any fears of losing the identity?
A.J. Well, I think there is. During the development of the idea for the network Roma 2002, inside the organizations there was some resistance. Some of the views were that we would make problems because some of the purviews would be transferred to the network. However, the attitude is that the organizations will work independently, the network will be involved in the issues of strategic interest for the Roma population.
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