There are at least around 2000 Roma living the Netherlands (Van Meurs 2002), spread across different communities throughout the country. One community of 200 to 300 people is living in Nieuwegein, a small village of 60.000 inhabitants. Seven or eight families left Yugoslavia in the early 1970s, travelled through Italy, France and Belgium and ended up in the Netherlands. In the late 1970s they received residence certificates provided that they integrated in Dutch society.
This integration process has partly succeeded. Compared to the situation 30 years ago, when the families arrived in the Netherlands, many things have changed. Roma seize to live in caravans; instead, they live in social housing across the village. The way they dress and present themselves has been changed as well, and the lion’s share of the community understands and speaks Dutch. Another immense break with Roma tradition within the community in Nieuwegein is that there are no arranged marriages for young girls; these marriages are still the cause of many problems in Eastern Europe. Even though these examples show that some major steps have been taken in the integration process, there is still a lot to be changed. There are many problems that need to be solved to break the vicious circle of school drop-outs, unemployment, and debt and health problems. Only then the Roma community can fully integrate in Dutch society.
According to Kostana Jovanovic, chairwoman of ‘Future Roma Nieuwegein’, which was founded in 2005, the main problems of the Roma community in Nieuwegein and in the Netherlands in general, are the large numbers of school drop-outs, the high unemployment rate and mental health problems. Since education is not part of Roma culture, there is no tradition of learning; for hundreds of years children did not attend any kind of formal schooling and illiteracy rates were high. Taking this into account it is not surprising that there are educational problems. Parents did not visit school themselves, and are therefore insufficiently able to support their children in this.
Closely related to this educational problem is the high unemployment rate. As long as the number of school drop-outs remains large, it will be difficult to get jobs where diplomas are required. On top of this, as Kostana Jovanic explains, differences between traditional Roma culture and Dutch society add to this employment problem. Roma are originally merchants, and for centuries they made their living out of buying and selling goods. They are not used to be employed by someone else, and have difficulty in adapting to this situation.
A third problem Ms. Jovanovic mentions is the mental health problem, which is connected to the changed housing situation. Roma used to live in caravans, where they had complete freedom. Everything they owned they carried with them at all times and they were independent without owing anything to anyone. This situation changed drastically when they decided to stay in the Netherlands. They moved to social housing, with the result that rent needed to be paid, just as electricity and gas bills. Other fixed expenses that are normal in Dutch society, like clothing for the children, school supplies, and television and phone bills, can be added to this. After having been independent for centuries, this constant burden causes debt and mental problems.
Support and guidance as the solution
According to Ms. Jovanovic small things can be done to break the vicious circle in which the Roma community is trapped at the moment. While the Calvinist principle of the individual’s responsibility is prominent in Dutch society, it needs to be noted that another method is required to solve problems in the Roma community. Several initiatives failed in the past, because there was not enough counselling and guidance. Once the project has started, its success depends on the aftercare. I will give some examples of projects in which guidance is very important.
First of all, children need to be supervised at school. Because parents are often unable to support their children in their homework, facilities need to be arranged outside regular school hours. Since the founding of ‘Future Roma Nieuwegein’ in 2005 a lot of attention has been paid to school attendance, with the result that last year six young men started professional education after having finished secondary school successfully.
Secondly, in order to increase support at home, workshops should be organised for Roma women. When the mothers speak Dutch well, understand how to work with computers and how to run the household, including dealing with bills, this will have a positive effect on the family. In the long run women can encourage and help their children with their homework, do the administration of their husbands’ business, or find a job themselves.
The last need Ms. Jovanovic mentions, which would improve future possibilities for Roma in Nieuwegein, is the need for financial support to start an own company. Family can help in the business, and learn the job from their father/uncle. The younger generation will get used to being employed, and can eventually choose if they stay with the family company, or if they go and work for someone else. Condition for this to work, however, is that there is enough supervision until the business has stabilised.
The first steps have been made for successful integration of Roma in Dutch society. However, as shown above, there are still many problems, mainly caused by differences between Roma tradition and Dutch culture. Adequate measures need to be taken to overcome these problems and raise integration to the next level. Roma organisations, like Future Roma Nieuwegein, however, can not do this by themselves, and are asking local and national Dutch government for support.
Suzanne Jansen, Instituut voor Publiek en Politiek (Dutch Centre for Political Participation). This article has been written based on an interview with Kostana Jovanovic, chairwoman of the foundation ‘Future Roma Nieuwegein’.