The Romani are the perfect guests

...that can teach us about privacy, autonomy, and togetherness

Pepi’s daughter, Nana, and her cousin, Nikita, having some dinner while at our place for a sleepover | Picture by Martina Petkova

The first time we had people from the Roma tribe over, Martina ran frantically to prepare snacks and drinks. For the first few sleepovers, she was equally anxious. She downloaded movies for the guests to watch, she went out to buy treats, she kept asking them if they needed anything.

This was in the early days when Martina was still a stranger to the beauty of life in a Roma tribe. Nothing is ever on the shoulders of a one single person. And, ironically, a culture that is so tight-knit and connected knows exactly how to create space and privacy for everyone.