Bulgaria’s Roma have been discriminated against in their own country for decades. Instead of support, hatred is what they are getting. The Corona pandemic has made things even worse, says Krassimir Kanev.
Sofia, a city of 1.5 million inhabitants, was a popular destination for Western European tourists before Corona hit. Those visitors photographed the giant Nevski Cathedral from all angles. They looked at 4,000-year-old stones at the ‘Serdica’ metro station and walked up and down Vitosha Boulevard, where they also consumed beverages and inexpensive meals.
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Bulgaria does not show certain parts of its capital to tourists. Even most locals do not know Fakulteta or Orlandovtsi, the two main Roma slums. What British, German, French or other visitors would see in those parts of the city, if they went there, looks like it was part of some banana republic. But Fakulteta is actually the European Union. Bulgaria joined on January 1st, 2007.
In those parts of Sofia, which nobody in Bulgaria wants to see, hear or think about, children wearing dirty clothes play in the mud. Many families live in huts without heating or sanitation. Most residents of the worst parts of those slums are not educated well or at all. Only few have jobs. And they are being discriminated in all walks of life.
