Nocrich: The European Community of the Roma in Romania

Midway between Sibiu, the capital of the county, and Agnita, the farthest town situated on the northeastern border, lies the most interesting and colorful community in Romania: Nocrich. It is a place where reality contradicts the public image created over the years; where the programs dedicated to Roma were obviously successful, yet the media continues to broadcast an extremely negative view of the area even today. Most of the population living here belongs to the ethnic community with the worst reputation nationwide, namely the Roma.

In Nocrich, the mayor is Roma, the welfare advisor is Roma, members of the local council are Roma, and the wealthiest citizens are also Roma. Moreover, the reality in Nocrich over the past few years contradicts allegations that most criminals in the country are of Roma origin and that the Roma are lazy and the main recipients of welfare programs.

For most Romanians, their image of the birthplace of the baron Samuel von Bruckenthal, the Transylvanian representative of the Enlightenment, is dominated today neither by the memorial house—now a pub—nor by the fortified church situated in the middle of town. Rather, Nocrich is famous in the minds of Romanians for its Roma mayor who recently won a second consecutive term.

Nocrich: A Curiosity?

Before 1990, Nocrich was known for the intensive agriculture practiced in its five administrative areas—Nocrich, Fofeldea, Ghijasa de Jos, Hosman, and Þichindeal—as well as for its strong and significant community of Transylvanian Saxons. Only a few years after 1990, most Transylvanian Saxons immigrated to Germany and Austria and their numbers dramatically decreased. In 2007, there were only two ethnic Saxons left in Nocrich, and they are both very old. Little by little, the Saxons were replaced by Romanians and then by the Roma community, which for years had been kept on the outskirts of town. Some of the Roma population still live in clay houses, but most of them have successfully risen above the minimal level of survival. Their households are the best proof that attitudes and habits can alter, and that finally, people can overcome negative clichés.

In Nocrich’s main community, the most beautiful houses now belong to Roma, who live by western standards. The houses, erected on new foundations, are built of accurately lined bare red brick, which give the pleasing impression of the colorful traditional clothes which the Roma still proudly wear, and add the final touch to this fairytale landscape.

Official statistics list Roma as the majority of the population in Nocrich—53 percent. But members of the community say that the real numbers are around 65 or 70 percent. The discrepancy is due to Roma who declare themselves Romanians during the census—a habit developed during the long years of communism, as well as in the years after 1989. Under these circumstances, it may seem natural that a representative of the Roma community should win the local elections, but Roma self-awareness revived only after 2000 when Emil Ilie Anghel, a Roma, was elected mayor of the community, under the auspices of the Roma and Social Democratic Parties.

Emil Anghel: A Mayor Who Is 100 Percent Roma

Before the revolution in 1989, Anghel worked as a tractor driver in Nocrich with the Company for Agricultural Machinery. Even today, he is extremely proud of his family. Not even his accomplishments as a mayor make him as proud. “This is our way, the Gypsies’ way, to take pride in our families. We are already four generations in our family and I hope to live to see my great-great-grandchildren,” the mayor says. Anghel’s role of family man suits him well as he holds his grandchildren in his arms.

After many conversations I had during the time I spent in Nocrich, I came to be convinced that Anghel has no problem calling himself a Gypsy, “or a Roma, as the authorities in Bucharest have recently named us,” he chuckles. “If they call us Roma instead of Gypsies, does it mean that they respect us more? Or that we deserve to be respected more? That is up to each and every person, it depends on how much they want to be respected. That’s a fact.”

Anghel’s life has remained mostly the same since he became a mayor. The one exception is that he handed over his business to his son as he now spends almost all his time on mayoral duties. Otherwise, Anghel is the same dedicated family man. “Maybe it’s just that I don’t spend enough time with my family anymore and that I’m sick and tired of all this going to Sibiu to get all kinds of approvals. But the people here are the same as people everywhere. The only difference is that the Roma here are hard-working and well-off. You can’t really tell here who is a Romanian and who is a Roma. There are Roma who live even better than the Romanians and they are not few.”

The balance between the Roma Party and Social Democrat Party (SDP)—the former government party—has secured Anghel the necessary peace in a period when, “governance is a very sly business in our country,” as the mayor says, while driving to Sibiu.

During my numerous visits to Nocrich, the mayor left me with his son, who, by chance or not, has the same name as his father. I called him Emil Anghel, the Junior Mayor, if only because he knows at least as much about the community as his father does. Officially, he is a local councilor representing SDP, but he is still his father’s son, and he helps me gain access to the community and Roma households.

Another reason for which Mayor Anghel is proud is the low number of people on the welfare rolls. “A few years ago, we ranked among the first in the county. For many months we occupied the top position, which left the people in the county administration speechless,” the mayor said. Currently there are 120 more files to be solved at Nocrich. “We’ll get rid of them shortly, because there are ongoing talks with some investors and we’ll have most of them employed. It’s rather difficult to get work without pay, you see!” he says resolutely.

Western Expertise: A Safe Investment

Nicolae Ciurar, has been a member of the Nocrich community all his life. After years spent in Poland and France, he returned home. With the money he earned, Nicolae bought and renovated a house. Now, after a spring’s worth of work, it’s nearly done, including the shed which he extended. “There’s no place like home. Here you are among your kinsmen, even if it’s more difficult,” says Nicolae trying to explain why he returned.

Nicolae is 28 years old and has two children: a son and a daughter. As is the custom in Roma communities, the children are educated to be very cautious so it is almost impossible to communicate with them when their parents are not around. It takes a lot of convincing for their mother to allow a family photo to be taken—they finally agree only because Emil Anghel Jr. is in the photo too. The Ciurar family takes the most pride in their garden, which they bought from a neighbor and attend to with passionate care. “This is what we do in the evening, when we have finished our work. During the daytime we make mill races and all sorts of metal objects in Sibiu, and in the evening we do some farming to save some of the money we spend on food. Isn’t it lovely, our little garden?” Nicolae asks me smiling at the rows of onions, potatoes, and radishes. He brings his son by his side, sets his hat straight, and allows me to take a picture of the men in the Ciurar family.

Nicolae no longer harbors great dreams of working abroad, “The golden days are gone for us. Now the only people who leave are those who cannot make it here, in Romania or those who find a well-paid job. But now you can make as much money here as abroad.” I am rather impressed by the way in which he sees western life and experiences, given the fact that Nicolae does not really care about either the European Union or Bucharest, “Why should I care about the Union? Does it care about me? It doesn’t! So I mind my own family and life. If I work hard I’ll get myself everything I want!”

The Land: The Guarantee That People Will Not Leave Nocrich

After only a few minutes, we reach Nicolae Cãldãrar’s house. We find his children playing outside the gate. My guide leads me through the house and behind the barn. There I find two of the women in the Cãldãrar family; they are working the land, along with some Romanian women a short distance away. As they dig into the dry land with their spades, the woman exchange a few words in the Romani language and then leave their work and agree to come close to us. Obviously nervous, the women—mother and daughter—avoid conversation with us, but I’m lucky because a few minutes later, the master of the house comes through the gate, which the children open widely for him; his cart laden with freshly mowed grass. It is a real sight to see this man, who has lived in France and Italy, maneuver his cart.

“To tell you the truth, I came back home from abroad because I saw that they live just like we do. I think Nocrich is like Italy, only that we get along with each other here, and we help each other in need,” Cãldãrar says. With the money he earned in the three years he worked in different parts of Europe, Cãldãrar bought himself a house, a car, and some animals; set up a metal-processing business; and has bought some land. Nicole Cãldãrar is one of many Roma who helped cover roofs in Sibiu, in the summer of 2006, when houses in the central part of the future European capital were refurbished. He drives his car whenever he goes to Sibiu. He has a Dacia van so he can transport his materials and tools, but in Nocrich he drives only his cart. “What I take most pride in is our land. That’s what we need to become our own masters. We are hard-working people, who can tell us what to do? We are free people.”

Here too, the family photo brings together three generations, and each and every person—from grandparents to grandchildren—has their role. The small ones look after several household sheep. The other sons and their father conduct business while the women mind the household and work in the field.

Public Debate

Another visit to Nocrich gives me the opportunity to meet the whole staff of the town hall while they are gathered for a working session at the mayor’s bar. The bar lies strategically, more than 100 meters away from the town hall, and it is the central pub of the community. Mayor Anghel, his son, the former town hall secretary Olimpiu Achim, and a number of entrepreneurs, who administrate some of the investments in the community, participate in the discussion. The discussion seems rather intense, with documents and coffee on the table. I cannot pass unnoticed and they soon speak to me, “You see, this accession [to the European Union] is only an illusion for many people! For if the Romanians don’t work, they will still get nothing. What did they expect, that they should be offered things without work?”

Almost everybody in the community participates in discussions held at the mayor’s bar. The policeman drops by, then the doctor, and eventually the nurse. Mayor Anghel seems to be the quietest of them all. He listens carefully and from time-to-time he approves of an idea. He seems to be the wise man among them, although he isn’t the oldest. I cannot help asking the audience what it feels like to sit at the negotiation table with a mayor who is a Roma.

They smile at me and have surprised reactions. They obviously didn’t expect that question. “Dear sir, you should know that there was no Gypsy, no Roma issue before the revolution. The problems started only after that. But here the Gypsies and the Roma live the same life. Sometimes they fare better. It’s a matter of common sense that one should not judge a person by their clothes or by the color of their skin.” I’m not sure whether I’m being reprimanded or not. One thing is clear, Olimpiu Achim, who is now a retiree, has no time for jokes about this. His firm position makes me change my approach to the topic, “Still, the Roma are said to be lazy and thieves, unlike the rest of the decent folk. How are things here in Nocrich?”

Of course they are! Judging by the leaders they have at the national level, of course they are. Who fights for their rights? But, since you’re here, why not go and talk to the people yourself and see how things are here in Nocrich. We are different. People are equal here, there are no differences. And you should know that Anghel is a mayor not because he is a Gypsy, but because he is a hard-working mayor who does his duty well.

Olimpiu Achim’s response is tense and the mayor comes to my rescue, and is willing to admit that any question deserves an answer. The others keep smiling and smirking at me, and refusing to comment on a topic which I feel creates a certain embarrassment among them. The mayor breaks the silence at the table around which there are nine adults. He whispers, laughing sympathetically:

Mihai Viteazul was small, too... like our small and still helpless minority. For we are different. We are human beings, like every one else, but we think differently... we love differently and this makes us happy with less, when we don’t have more. That’s how I see things. Otherwise, if I am to judge people by the color of their skin... I am whiter than many Romanians. Does this make me any different? Nonsense!

Health Care in a State of Normality

One might expect to find an alarming medical and social situation in a community where 65–70 percent of the population is Roma. But you’re in for a big surprise. Suzeta Achim, the nurse, contradicts us firmly, “I have been in Nocrich for more than 30 years and all this time I have worked as a nurse. I know what it used to be like, and now we have only a family doctor. He comes twice a week, and I take care of everything when he is not here. But we are not faced with difficult situations. Most of the problems appear in the poorer border communities; we are confronted with colds and lack of vitamins.”

The poorest Roma community is Hosman, or “at the bricks” as the local people call it. Only a small number of Roma families live there, not more than a few dozen. There is work to be done there, so the medical visits are frequent; almost daily. “There aren’t any major problems, but the people [in Hosman] cannot even buy medicines or vaccines. We buy vaccines sometimes with my own money but mostly with the money from the town hall, and we solve the situations which appear. They have no jobs and that’s why they are poor,” says nurse Achim.

The success of the Roma community in Nocrich has become a topic even for the county authorities. Over the last few weeks, the first health and sanitary mediator for the Roma community concluded training courses organized by the County Office for the Roma (COR) within the Prefect’s Office in Sibiu. Iulian Preda, the director of the office and a member of the Roma Party in Sibiu, was one of those who signed the graduation diplomas of the newest generation of mediators. “The problem of the Roma must be approached from the grassroots level. This is the reason why we initiated a new course for sanitary mediators. Obviously, it is up to each and every one of us to get involved in supporting and singling out the problems which appear in communities. The next step is to employ them on the basis of a labor contract in order to ensure the minimal necessary conditions for their work,” Preda said.

More than 20 Roma representatives were trained during the courses organized this spring by COR in Sibiu in cooperation with Romani CRISS and the Ministry for Public Health (MPH). The trainees will help the seven mediators who are currently operating under the coordination of Maria Secu, welfare assistant within the county hospital in Sibiu:

The presence of the Roma sanitary mediators has helped us over the last few years to have direct and quick access into the closed Roma communities. The advantage of mediators that are representatives of those very communities is undeniable. Of course, the seven mediators we currently have are not enough. If, following the recently concluded courses, where more than 20 candidates have participated, we manage to employ at least half of them, I believe that many problems will be identified sooner and solved in due time.

According to Secu, the consent of MPH is necessary in order to employ the community mediators. MPH will send a mediator to the Department of Public Health in Sibiu. After that, the mediator will coordinate with the county hospital in Sibiu where they will report the medical problems they identify within communities.

Law Enforcement on Hold

I saw a lot of Marcel Ivan, head of the police unit, either driving his car or walking down the street, but eventually I only managed to talk to him on the phone. He was on his way to Agnita to see about a case of juvenile death. It had happened in a Roma community, but not as a result of violence. A baby was left unattended and suffocated. “Ten years ago there were major problems because of extreme poverty, you know. It’s obvious, that most of (the Roma) are good people, who try to observe the law. But we have problems with the Romanians, too, you know... But the criminal rate has decreased much over the last 2-3 years. We still deal with squabbles, minor problems, but nothing serious. It all depends on the living standard, you know... Once they have had money, bought land, and minded their daily activities, people don’t have time for nonsense,” said Ivan.

Ivan, the favorite man of Emil Anghel Jr., seems to have the situation under control in the community and I regret I didn’t get to have a face-to-face conversation with him. Ivan went on to say, “In order to understand things well, you need to know that we have good relationships with the town hall and with the leaders of the Roma communities. They help us solve the problems as they come, do you see what I mean?”

I see that, aside from small problems, life in Nocrich has settled into normalcy.