1
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I'm considering going to university.

2
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Because if you don’t have a good education, you are nothing.

3
00:00:10.56 --> 00:00:14.44
Without education you cannot succeed in this difficult life.

4
00:00:17.12 --> 00:00:19.08
They don’t give me money to go to school.

5
00:00:19.88 --> 00:00:22.80
I just don’t want to continue studying.

6
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I will go and work with my father.

7
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When I get married my father will help me.

8
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I’m Lili. I’m Roma.

9
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I live in Kyustendil, Bulgaria.

10
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I’m in the 7th grade. I study at St. Paisiy Hylendarski school.

11
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I choose to study because it makes me more self-confident and knowledgeable.

12
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I want to become a doctor.

13
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My name is Botselin, I live in Kyustendil, in the Roma neighbourhood.

14
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I'm a second year student at the university, studying pedagogy.

15
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We know what people associate us with - young marriage, no desire to study,

16
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stealing and so on. I don’t want to continue with the list.

17
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It's clear how they see us.

18
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But not all Roma are the way they present us.

19
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For us Roma, education is the only path to integration.

20
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None of my grandparents knew how to read or write.

21
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My father finished 8th grade.

22
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I chose to continue studying after 8th grade.

23
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I was a good student. My mother and father both worked, so

24
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I had the opportunity to study. I had the desire and finished high school.

25
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I stopped my studies because I couldn’t afford it.

26
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We all know that in order to go to university, you need money.

27
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I finished in 1991, when there were riots in Bulgaria.

28
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And you couldn’t find a job anywhere.

29
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Through connections I got a job as a school janitor.

30
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Twenty or 21 years now- working as a janitor.

31
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First, I wanted to become a singer, but I realised my voice is not so good.

32
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Then a doctor and so many other things.

33
00:04:05.48 --> 00:04:09.92
You have to fight for what you want and achieve your goals one-by-one.

34
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Raina is a good student. She'll have an A or B this year.

35
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I think the family environment is important for her.

36
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Her mother was our student as well.

37
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Some of the student's parents don't have an education

38
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and I guess their children copy them and don't try hard at school.

39
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You cannot finish 8th grade and think that you are a complete person.

40
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When you are among other people, when there is integration,

41
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you watch how the others live, how others think

42
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and you see there is a better lifestyle. You see that there are better alternatives for you.

43
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That's the way – education, so we can get out of this ghetto where we live.

44
00:06:06.20 --> 00:06:08.32
Emil? Are you ready?

45
00:06:17.36 --> 00:06:19.80
I dream of becoming a great football player.

46
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I just don’t want to continue studying.

47
00:06:24.40 --> 00:06:26.88
They don't give me money to go to school.

48
00:06:36.80 --> 00:06:38.72
I don’t want to have a difficult life.

49
00:06:54.48 --> 00:06:56.36
He’s like an iceberg.

50
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You see a little and there is a lot underneath,

51
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but you don’t know what it is.

52
00:07:01.32 --> 00:07:03.76
Sometimes he leaves after the third class

53
00:07:03.80 --> 00:07:07.56
most likely because he is hungry, but he gives other reasons.

54
00:07:09.96 --> 00:07:16.28
In 5th grade he was reading really well and was able to answer questions.

55
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After that his attendence was irregular.

56
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Also, he can’t focus very well.

57
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What my eyes see is poverty…

58
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long-lasting poverty,

59
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that the family cannot climb out of.

60
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I wish that he’d continue but

61
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I don't see how he can unless somebody supports him.

62
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Real support.

63
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Financial support.

64
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Then he’d definitely walk the way.

65
00:08:23.32 --> 00:08:30.40
About the pigeons - I have a theory that in that ghetto,

66
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that small area where his time passes by,

67
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by releasing the pigeons,

68
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he sees that there is another space.

69
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I think that is why he looks after the pigeons.

70
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The football field is where he feels equal to the others.

71
00:09:07.60 --> 00:09:10.52
Most children want to study, but what stops them is

72
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the financial situation, the unemployment, the poverty...

73
00:09:14.16 --> 00:09:16.20
Ahhh, I did it.

74
00:09:16.40 --> 00:09:20.24
A "B" in literature and a "C" in math.

75
00:09:21.00 --> 00:09:23.76
Ohh, I have them!

76
00:09:23.80 --> 00:09:26.60
Today I got the results of my exams

77
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which determine if I’ll be accepted into the school of my choice.

78
00:09:30.48 --> 00:09:34.36
The difference between Lili and me is that she's more ambitious.

79
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Maybe she's smarter.

80
00:09:37.28 --> 00:09:40.80
What I wasn’t able to achieve in my life, I want Lili to achieve in hers.

81
00:09:40.88 --> 00:09:45.44
To graduate high school and apply somewhere else after that.  Whatever she wants.

82
00:09:45.44 --> 00:09:49.04
To graduate and find a nice job.

83
00:10:18.36 --> 00:10:22.24
I finished 9th grade and dropped out.

84
00:10:22.68 --> 00:10:26.44
It was a big mistake, but it's done.

85
00:10:29.12 --> 00:10:31.76
I don't want her to be like me.

86
00:10:36.12 --> 00:10:40.28
Not to be a street cleaner like me, to have a job for seven, 14 days,

87
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for nine months and then be unemployed again.

88
00:10:48.72 --> 00:10:54.32
I want her to have a profession, to rely on herself.

89
00:10:54.44 --> 00:10:56.64
I go to an integrated school where there are Bulgarians and Roma.

90
00:10:56.68 --> 00:11:00.72
I get along well with everyone. There is no discrimination.

91
00:11:00.84 --> 00:11:06.24
I've never had a problem with my classmates. They’ve never called me a Gypsy or anything.

92
00:11:06.72 --> 00:11:11.08
To me, without education, you can't achieve anything.

93
00:11:12.64 --> 00:11:17.04
I hope that I will keep going and succeed.

94
00:11:17.88 --> 00:11:23.72
Not all Roma are the way we have been described.

95
00:11:24.36 --> 00:11:28.32
There are many ambitious children who want to continue their education.

96
00:11:30.08 --> 00:11:33.56
I really want my parents to say: "My child became a doctor."

97
00:11:46.76 --> 00:11:49.68
I can tell you that when we started with integration 10-12 years ago,

98
00:11:51.96 --> 00:11:56.44
when the first 10 children came from the “Iztok” neighbourhood,

99
00:11:56.48 --> 00:12:02.20
there were people who wanted to revolt.

100
00:12:05.68 --> 00:12:08.28
"Raina, you are a Gypsy, but you have to respect Stoyan.

101
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Even though he is half-Bulgarian, he is still a person.

102
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I will respect him. We love each other.

103
00:12:17.80 --> 00:12:23.64
You Roma are nice people. You taught me how to live each day to the fullest.

104
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Like every day is the last day. "

105
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After several years things got calmer.

106
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People realised that there was nothing to fear about integrated schools.

107
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Sometimes the kids with the best grades are Roma kids.

108
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This is great because these children need positive role models.

109
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And the best thing is, that when the kids are together starting in the first grade,

110
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they build long-lasting friendships.

111
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I am positive that by accepting their differences,

112
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they will become better and more tolerant. And that is our goal.

113
00:13:11.28 --> 00:13:16.04
The Roma kids from the neighbourhood who come here

114
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are usually children of parents who realise the power of education.

115
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The cycle can be broken

116
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If the government stops keeping Roma people uneducated and impoverished

117
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in order to have power and control over them.

118
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Until there is less discrimination in Bulgaria, there's no way.

119
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"To teach adults about care and love...

120
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Our dreams aren't different.

121
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The children want to be happy.

122
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And when we grow up one day...

123
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we are going to teach the adults how to care and love..."