Nancy’s Kitchen

Monday, June 12, 2006 - Putting it together, Thinking it Through:

“The Barbarian Way” – Pgs 137-138, “But my favorite of all is the group designation for rhinos…” I read this book during this tour. It only reinforces my desire to be involved in missions.

Here is a general summation of what I have seen. Not every Gypsy has every situation described here, and those growing in the Faith seem to be better off… although I do not have any research to prove this.

Simplicity of Life ‡ Survival basis, demonstrated by
o Asking for our things
o Begging with learned, pitiful facial and body expressions that said, “please feel sorry for me & do what I want”
o Taking items
o Snatching & running

Hungry ‡ Every way – physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually

Clothing ‡ Mostly second-hand or discards
o Often old, torn, worn
o Some shoes, but mostly socks and/or slippers or barefoot sandals, flip-flops
o Weather seems to make little difference in what is worn
o It appeared that the people wore their best clothes for us in most of the places we visited. I’m not sure of this.

Amenities of Life ‡ Homes
o boxcars
o handmade huts from scrap materials found in dump
o small ancient ramshackle houses
o small rundown (slum) apartment houses
o often whole family sleeps in one room on beds and the floor

Sanitation services
o field, bush, tree
o outhouse-style squat-potty
o squat-potty with a pitcher of water or a hose or a tap nearby
o some measure of flush toilet

Water – none to limited availability
o central water trough with flowing pipes
o river
o limited or no indoor plumbing
o limited or no water service

Electricity – none to whatever is affordable
o many gypsy families keep only 1 lightbulb in a socket in the whole apartment. This keeps the electric bill down.

Exterior Environment – run down buildings and dirty streets in the city, dirt paths in the country
o Littering is common and without thought

HOWEVER,
o Satellite TV is their ONLY luxury
o Interior of home is kept VERY neat, & as clean as possible
o Laundry is hanging on clotheslines
o Bathing is evident in that the people don’t carry an odor

Transportation ‡ some cars, a few bicycles, walking, and horsecarts

Employment ‡ I only have observed these:
o Run own small neighborhood shops
o Shepherds
o Sidewalk vendors
o Migrant farm workers
Drugs & Prostitution are reported to be continuing problems

Education ‡ In Turkey, school is mandatory through the 8th grade.
o Kids are learning English & loved practicing on us
o Government schools are not as good as the private schools, but obviously the Gypsies go to the government schools
In Bulgaria, the kids can read our phoetically-spelled names, so they are getting some education.

Discipline ‡ is a firm smack on the head with a sharp word –
no warnings, just swift correction.

Responsiveness ‡ “Instant in season and out of season” –
smiles, hugs, hospitable, fighting, discipline, dancing, making music, and receiving God’s Wonderful Love and Grace in Jesus Christ!