Julie Denesha | Photojournalistmobile | (913) 980-6256 |
"Outsiders""In Slovakia, nearly every white village has a satellite Gypsy slum and local Slovak politicians have done little to alleviate the situation. One called for all Gypsies to be deported to reservations and another claimed that the only way to deal with Gypsies was to use a long whip and a small courtyard.The first morning I spent in an isolated village, I met a Gypsy girl who was walking to school. In horror, she dropped her book-bag and gasped "Gadjo!" which is Roma for outsider. To me it seemed to her that a white face in their settlement at such an early hour could only mean bad things were coming. I soon discovered that my lesson would be a universal one: poor people have a very slim margin for error and even a small crisis like an illness in the family, unemployment or an addiction can spiral into a disaster that is not easily escaped." Julie Denesha Featured Guest Speaker Women in Photojournalism Conference August 28, 2004 |