Welcome, everyone

It's not even been a busy day at the Domari Society Center, more an averate day but it gave me a good impression of what is done there for the community.
Until now I only saw children running to the arabic- and englishlessons, disappearing in the schoolroom or doing some paintings. From time to time some women dropped by, having a chat with Amoun in Arabic, appearently searching for her advice.
Today it was only me and her in the Center. No other Volunteer, no teachers. When I arrived a 10 year old girl asked me immediatly to help with her homework. She seemed to understand the text and was able to answer the asked questions immediatly but her pronounciation was plain guessing at some words. Since she didn't seem shy at all I assume that she just isn't involved in the oral part of her englishlessons at school so much. Perhaps a sign for discrimination, but we don't want to start searching until we find something, lets go back to describing:
After a delicious lunch a man, Amouns Neighbour J., dropped by to improve his computerskills. He cleans fish two days a week and paints houses on the other 3 days. When asked, why he wants to work with a computer and if those skills are needed for cleaning fish and painting houses he told me that just everyone knows how to use a computer and that he thinks it might be good for business. It became obvious that in his opinion the computer was not a tool for working at an office or a research instrument, but a modern-day statussymbol and that those who don't use it or even don't know how to missed an important ability which seems to be as common as being able to walk and to talk. Computerskills are just expected, it's not a question of "if" but "how good".
After this 10 year old girl and the 34 year old man who used the centers offers in such different ways for their own education someone dropped by to have a friendly chat with Amoun, which showed once again that the Domari Society Center is a point of socializing, too.
At the morning - too early for me - some gypsy women came by to drop of their newest beautiful embroidery which Amoun is supposed to sell in order to support those women. For them the Center indicates hope, financial support and a place were their abilities are valued.
And I suppose there are a lot of other reasons to visit the center apart from the mentioned examples and - of course - research!

Women help Women - everywere

On one of my walks through the Old City I discovered another women empowerment organization today. I had a brief conversation with the woman at the shop which sells embroided traditional palestinian clothes, similar to those Gypsy-designs that are up for purchase in the Domari Society Center.
She told me, that this Melia Initiative was founded 20 years ago and she in one of four regular employees. A voluntary Helper was there as well, a young American who wanted to support palestinian women. The Shop works with up to 500 women, buys their handicraft, sells them and offers a monthly income. And there is a Restaurant, an internet cafe and a clinic attached to the Oranisation. If a woman can't stitch, there will be workshops. If a woman prefers to cook she can work at the restaurant. The cost for medical care at the clinic depend on the womens income.
It's jut like something Amoun would like to have done.

I wondered why this initiative is so much more save and successful than Amouns Domari: Society of Gypsy in Jerusalem. Why does Amoun have to struggle for every tiny bit of support while this other organization which seems to have really similar strategies is wealthy enough to run their own hospital?
The woman at the shop said: "It's because of the community. We are a lot of women and we help each other. Palestinian women support palestinian women. We trust each other. They know that they will get the money from us and we know that they will make their stiching for us. If you have no people like you to rely on how will you get another community to support you?"

When I told her about my study and the Domari Society Center she figured that she had heard about Amoun Sleem. And she went on: "But thats not like us. We are palestinian, not gypsy."

A journey throug time and space

Today I visited an old photographer in the St. Francis Street. He owns his photoshop since 1949 and his father had a shop even before. The small room is stuffed with beautiful prints of Jerusalem in the 1920s-1950s. I hoped to get some information about the Dom prior to the six-day-war. Like: Did they really live in tents in the Old City? How many were there? How were they treated? Do you still know any of them? Who moved to Jordan? Who stayed?
But, unfortunately, apart from there presece next to lions gate he didn't know anything about them. He showed me pictures of Gypsy dancing which I have ssen in the Center before, he told me about how until the 1950s it was common for the population of Jerusalem to transport their belongings on camels. I saw photographs of Damaskus gate that are just half a century old but look like from another world.
It gave me an impression of how quick the world must have changed for the Dom. In just two generations the neccessary abilities and education changed completely. There was no opportunity to learn from your parents and the parents couldn't possibly understand their children. Perhaps even with those changes and new developements it's much more neccessary to stick together, to keep the community that was once built without effort and to take family relationships as the most preccious good since there is no or only little "common culture" among the different generations anymore.

Photos will be shown as soon as I figure out how to put them from the camera on the card...

Support a gypsy!

There are three bus systems in Jerusalem: One is Egged, wihich is the biggest and offers transportation to other citys, too. Then there is the Bus for orthodox jews were women have to enter via the back door and men and women do not sit together. And there are the Arab busses, which have their routes in east-Jerusalem.
To get to the Dom Center in Shu'afat Street I always take the Egged to Yafo Street, walk down the Old City wall, cross the street at Damaskus Gate and walk on to the police Station were bus No. 81 leaves.

Usually I sit on a single seat next to the window, but today only the double seats were left.
The seat next to me stayd free til the end, then some mid-50s man had to sit next to me, the only one who wore Jeans and a Shirt (with arms) at nearly 30 degrees and didn't cover her hair. He was uncomfortable. As soon as another seat was available he changed, but only after giving me an disdainful look.

It gave me a slight impression of what Amoun must have gone through and still has to experience for opening the Domari Center. A studied unmarried woman is not only a curiosity to all the women among her culture but it's also a threat to every man. And figuring out that even after 10 years running the center there still is a immense lack of support and that all the big foundations only support peace initiatives or are not active in Israel at all, prefer human rights violation or relief programs or support Roma and Sinti but nit the Dom or ... or ... or... It must all sound like a sad excuse and as if the world was mocking her efforts.

But the people that come to the center depend on her. Even though I wonder she ever hears a "thank you" or "good work". I guess it's the problem with "doing good" - you always have to "do better".
I wouldn't want to walk in her shoes...

Dear Amoun, if you read this: Your doing great work! You can be so proud of youself! Love, Katha

Back to the center

I was really looking forward to go to the center yesterday! After some days in this confused mood the idea of doing something that isn't new to me sounded really inviting.
I arrived around noon and started to write proposals to german foundations, talking a little bit about Amouns work and asking if they could consider a cooperation - aka: give money.

At the moment the Dom centers Budget ist very low. They still give arabic classes for the children which are well visited and there is after school tutoring and homework help too, but thats just a drop in the ocean. Even though it is amazing to see how excited the kids are after a day at school when they come to the center and learn even more. Yesterday there were about 12, from 7 to 13 years old, all chearful and ambitionous. Most of them came just for the classes, one girl arrived early and joined us for lunch ("It's good for them to be in an english-speakinh enviorment" Amoun said once) and L., Amouns niece who brought me to the center on my first day, helped with the dishwashing and general cleaning before and after class. None of them was brought to the Center by their parents, all of them could have stayed outside playing or whatever but they wanted to be at the arabic-class. So it's a pity that there are no other offers the Dom Society Center can make to the children, their mothers and fathers because they barely know how to pay the rent.

So I asked for help in germany where I'm from and where I can approach different organisations in my and their mother tounge. While writing I discovered more and more how easily you arrange the facts depending on your issues. Which I considered an understandable behaviour before seems now like something you can't omit. This brought me to some considerations regarding my final report: Sure I want to give something back to the Dom, or to Amoun Sleem and the Domari Society Center if she remains my only close contact, and of cours I support her agenda and political strategies - but I'd like to do this somewhere else than in the report.

At the moment I feel very strongly how getting to know other people really changes you. Thi bright, charismatic, trong woman Amoun Sleem - she got me already. Even before I was sure that I would never publish anything that could harm the people I needed to get those information but now I'm not sure if I will be able to write something without being morally involved.

Perhaps that's one of the problems why I had this concern about all the gathered information and Amouns direct connection to them: Maybe everyone who came to the Dom Research Center before went through the same developement and I will ending up like them: promoting what Amoun wants me to promote, trying to help, wanting to affect the way other people see the Dom. And now that I'm wirting this with a bit of fear to get too involved a little voice in my head already asks "what would be so wrong if that happened?"

Well, I will still try to stick to the plain discription in the report and volunteer at the center for two days a week now. So even though you experience there all the time that whatever is done it's never enough I might at least lead my mind to the conclusion that I gave more than I took and that after this I may write a non-tendencious report without betraying someone with it.

If I were a Dom... updated

Ok, here we are after one week of impressions, brief interviews, more reading material and some contact to other people who researched the Dom of Jerusalem and/or volunteered at the center.

I am still 27, I am still married with kids but my father isn't a tourist guide anymore. He is unemployed because my grandparents didn't see the need of getting him a proper education since two of his older brothers were able to read and to write anyway. So the family decided that my father should support them with making pans and other metal work since he is really creative, has a good feeling for design and pans are needed everywhere. It felt like a good and save way to earn money. But the times have changed since his youth and pans are now cheap and good design and handmade quality is not valued anymore. There is no factory where he could work and he doesn't have the money to start his own business. In my childhoodyears he was still trying, but after having to do the worst day labour jobs he finally gave up looking for work.
Most of the time he is at home with some of his friends, they smoke and tell each other stories about the good old times and how much they want the society to change. He knows the most amazing tales of Dom origin and even after listening to them for hundreds of times they are still funny, moving, wise and exciting!

My mother, on the other hand, doesn't speak english anymore and in the last week she lost her small shop at the market, too. Now she is a hairdresser. Some women that know her since she or they were born come to our flat, get a new haircut and their hair staightened. She thought about opening a salon with some of the other haridresser-women in the neighbourhood but since noone encouraged her to do so she was a too afraid of failure and the risk was to high for the little income we have. "Thats something you can do one day" she once told me "My live is this way, and yours can be different. But I am old now. Why should I change at this late point?"

Some decoration in our house still shows the families past: There are flowers everywhere: fresh and dried, paintes and sewed. But apart from that and the area we live in there is no big difference to other Arab families. We are muslim, but not in a extreme way. Our religion helps us to cope with our situation but we have no intend to say it's better than another one for everybody. Me and my siblings learned hebrew in school and on the streets, so we have to help our partens with filling out forms, requests and documents.

I still want to be a nurse but I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish my education. I'm already two years older than the other girls in my class because I had to earn money after finishing High School. The support we get from the government just isn't eanough: Our rent is 1400 NIS per month, a three room flat for 7 persons with a small backyard were we tried to grow a little garden but couldn't water it enough. One shwarma costs up to 30 NIS, a skalf to cover your hair is available from 5 NIS on. But it looks even cheaper. Thats the worst thing: When you aren't rich you are forced to look poor. I wonder why they don't make nice clothes that are cheap. Perhaps they just want to stigmatize us. And the quality isn't that good either. All of us had to wear the bigger kids clothes but sooner or later they fall apart and we end up paying more for clothes than we would have to if we yould afford some high quality shirts once in a while. Same with the food: When you have to count every singe Agora you only buy small amounts of everything instead of getting the "5 for the price of 3 value pack". So, ironically, it's really expensive to be poor. And with 4000 NIS national insurance money and the little income of my mothers job we don't get far.

From my early ages on I remember that I envyed the other Arab kids. I felt if I wanted to succeed in live I had to change from being "a gypsy" and become a regular Arab. Apart from some moments were I heard something discriminating against my community and it made me feel literarly sick it worked ot quite well. On the street and at school noone knows that I am Dom. And I hardly tell people, even the ones I know very well.
On the other hand this makes it more complicated to explain to strangers why my family isn't as wealthy as I wanted it to be. Because once I consider myself as "Arab and nothing else" everyone assumes I had the same upbringing, the same education and the same value sytem as all the other "Arab an nothing else"s...

Oh, and when I am talking about "family" here, I don't mean me, my husband and my children. It's my parents whom I owe everything I ever achieved and will achieve in this live, my siblings on whom I can rely more than on anyone else, my children who are my reason to do what I have to do even though it might me hard and uncomfortable and my husband who tries to make my live as good as he can.

I hope to be able to tell you next week about my neighbours and further relatives, about the way we help each other in our difficult situation and if there still is - apart from all the assimilation to the major culture and society - an inner bond that holds the Dom together. But at the moment I just don't know!

No comment...

Me: ... and do you know perhaps when the Dom-Center opens today?

Him: when what opens?

Me: The Dom Center... The Gypsy Society Center?

Him: Oh, yes, there is one close by. I heard about it. Don't really know which building, but it's close. But it's not really gypsy, it's for poor people.

Me: No, it was founded by a Dom woman, she wants to support the gypsy community with it.

Him: Nooo, the gypsys? I know there are some gypsys in Jerusalem, but they don't need support. They are rich. They have their own houses. You know the children that are selling candy here all afternoon? They are Gypsy kids. Their father, he is a lazy ass, you know what I'm saying. Doesn't work, does nothing and sends his children begging after school. That's what the gypsys do. And they get money from the state. Without working. They have the best live. It's not right that they want more support, there are really poor people in Jerusalem.

Me: But even if there are poorer ones they can still try to make their own lives better, right?

Him: What you mean? They have a good live. They have houses, they have food, they have children begging for them. Nonono. And the people at the center, they are not gypsys after all. They are just poor Arabs that say they are gypsy, because it sounds interesting.

Me: The woman that founded it is a gypsy herself. She comes from a gypsy family.

Him: How you know?

Me: I read it... She told me...

Him: See, she told you! I think she was lying to you. Thats what gypsys do. You know what I am saying.

Me: ??? so you don't know when it opens today?

Him: No, but have a nice day!