The Romani don’t do small talk

"What we say is what we've lived through."

Picture taken by Pepi: Martina (left) and one of Pepi’s sisters, Nana (right), talking about life over a cup of coffee

We walked into a lawyer’s office. They were polite, invited us into their conference room, and offered us water. We were there with Atanaska, a woman from the Roma community whose husband was being denied life-saving medical treatment because - like most people in the Roma community - he did not have valid ID documents.

A small piece of background: This has been an ongoing campaign across our country. Mayors close down address registrations of Roma communities, preventing them from issuing and renewing ID cards. Without an ID card, you can’t sign an employment contract, a lease, collect benefits, open a bank account, sign up your children to school, or even get medical treatment.

Atanaska was in despair. On the way over, she was complaining about how without an ID card you are completely erased from the system, how you don’t even officially exist. We assured her the lawy…