08/27/2017
Observations and Quotes:
--"Mummy, why are you talking to that girl?" Catalina asks me about the girl, about her age, tapping on the car window while we are stopped at the intersection. "She's asking for money, sweetie." "Why?" This is Catalina's first encounter with a Romany girl, or any Roma for that matter. Like so many young children in Central and Eastern Europe, she is begging for money at intersections. No adults are visible nearby belonging obviously to her. It may be that she is working on behalf of her family. It may also be that there is a handler hiding around the corner who will take whatever money she makes save a dollar or two. It is the most desperate who are easiest to exploit. I don't give her any money. Catalina wants to know why. I don't love having to tell my bleeding-heart of a 5 year-old why girls her age should be asking strangers for money in the street, and I love even less having to explain why I don't give her any. At some point I tell her that the girl is Roma and tell Catalina a little about the Roma people. "In fact, you know that Shakira song you really like, that goes 'I'm a Gypsy'? That's who she is talking about. A not-nice name for the Roma people is Gypsy." Catalina is quiet for a few minutes, then, "Is that why she says 'I'll steal your clothes and wear them if they fit me'? Because she doesn't have any money and her parents don't have any work?" ....ugh....
--"Cover your noses and try not to breathe the smoke. It probably contains f***l matter." Many people throw their toilet paper in the barrel in order to save inefficient piping from backing up. They then burn the soiled toilet paper in piles in the yard.
--"What are all those people selling? They all have the same thing." "It's the annual honey market. For two days a year people come from all over the country and sell different kinds of honey." There must have been two dozen tables, with every size and shape of jar and bottle containing honey in enough colors and viscosities to make Whole Foods' selection look like 7-Eleven's. The light coming through the jars at sunset makes them look like lanterns of glowing amber.
--Today, August 27th, is Independence Day here in Moldova. There are performances of traditional music and parades and dances with people in traditional dress representing the different regions of Moldova. Most are in white with red, yellow, and blue embroidered folk designs, for the colors of the Moldovan flag. The group from Taraclia, which is predominantly ethnic Bulgarian, stands out in bright, solid blue and yellow.
--Security presence is heavy everywhere, especially today . Men with machine guns mingle with children (including mine) with flowers in their hair. I'm glad my girls don't ask me about them.
--The Moldovan flag is flying every few meters down the main Boulevard Stefan Cel Mare (Stephen the Great) today. Next to every one of them is the EU flag. A garden with stones and flowers representing the EU flag has appeared overnight in the main square. Moldova is not a member of the EU. But, as my (Moldovan) husband says, "You've got to give the people hope."
--Stacy Jeanne Kosko
