The hidden dangers of street cleaning

...at least when it's done by a Romani.

Pepi’s niece Tzetza shoveling snow with one glove | Picture by Pepi Mustafov

Here in Bulgaria, mainstream society looks down on the minimum-wage street cleaning employment not only because it is “low class.” Even more so because it is done almost exclusive by the Roma minority and, according to most onlookers, it’s an easy job. Sweeping some streets, loading some trash into trucks, what’s the big deal?

“This is usually a dangerous section,” Pepi’s sister Todorka was telling Martina once over coffee, pointing to a small street next to the busy boulevard. “It’s on the way to the high school nearby.”

What Todorka left unsaid here was that teenage boys often harrass the street cleaners. This is why the proximity of the high school was something to be wary of.

“One time,” Todorka burst into laughter. She was about to tell a funny story, “three boys attacked me. They started swearing at me first, I swore back, one of them slapped me, the others grabbed me by the jacket. But Tzetzi (her 20-yea…