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The Civic Association Jekhetane-Together
presents
the short documentary
Dagmar
On the 8th January, school will start again...
Well, I also need to do diplomas...
We can say what language is, and what speech is.
In my opinion, language is a grammar system that functions,
and it differs from language to language.
But speech means communication.
It is important that men can communicate, exchange ideas with others.
We understand it like this, we teach it like this, and it also works well this way.
First, we will repeat what I taught you yesterday.
What was the topic, and who can tell me what you have learnt?
Surrealism.
Surrealism in Slovak literature.
Well, we know what realism is.
What kind of literary movement realism is, what does it describe? What facts? How does it describe them?
Real, just like they really are.
Real, it means truthfully.
And when we say surrealism, what is it?
Do we get the real picture of our world, or is it somehow different?
It is reality that is complemented by the imagination of author.
Excellent.
I had such an idea that on the Day of the Roma, I would stick small paper on the board and I´ll write there:
Today, it is the International Romani Day, I accept your congratulations.
And when I did it here in the classroom, there were different reactions of pupils,
but I remember one very nice class of children who wanted to communicate with me about it,
so we talked who the Roma are, and why they live the way they live.
When they heard the word Roma, each of them imagined the non-integrated Roma;
and then they asked such questions as...
Why you as a Roma, can you live a different life, and why can’t they live like you?
These questions demand a longer answer, but I tried to explain them as simply as possible.
My pupils had always such negativistic questions, but that’s normal.
I was pleased that it’s possible to communicate, to discuss
and maybe if they did it this way in the public mass media or at other places,
the opinion of the Roma might change a little.
You observe, perceive something...
...so, sensualizm is when we perceive reality with our eyes, yes.
How would the surrealist draw the Sun?
...as a cube or...
It wouldn’t be round, it would be angular and maybe of different colour.
So, we deal with reality as with something special that is not real.
I’ve been teaching for 30 years. I have teaching in my blood so much;
when my children were small and they told me something I did not like,
I wanted to tell them something like behave yourself, I said:
Be quiet and sit down.
I myself laugh at it.
You know, every teacher has a “teacher syndrome“.
In my hands, I have essays written by my pupils about the problem of relations
between the inhabitants of the settlement “Angi mlyn” and the inhabitants of the housing estate “Východ”.
These essays were written for the contest, and the pupils write:
“Michalovce, the town that has built a controversial,
almost three metres high wall in the housing estate Východ.
This wall is almost 100 metres long, and it starts at the Kievska street, and ends at the Legionárska street.
The municipality had this wall built, and it is a noise-barrier officially.
But, is it true?
What is its real function?
Why the inhabitants of “Východ” like the wall, and the Roma from “Angi mlyn” do not agree“.
“In my opinion, the main function of the wall is to protect our environment.
We all can see that they are just the Roma who look for clothes and other things in street trashcans in Východ
and they leave a mess behind.
It’s not only typical of Východ, but it relates to every citizen who is messy,
and you can’t re-educate every individual citizen,
and that is why the citizens of this housing estate built this barrier,
they would like to live in clean environment such as in the housing estate “SNP” in Michalovce and in other streets.”
The people living there, cannot go shopping to the main street directly,
use the shortest road to Tesco, they had to take a longer way.
And that wall is still in our mind,
because the Roma have been living here for almost 600 years and relations have never been smooth.
They were always unfriendly, and specifically because majority population see the Roma as problematic,
they and only see the Roma who are maladjusted and not integrated.
The fact whether people understand one another is not only a question of language.
It’s the issue of human hearts, character, willingness and will.
That’s my Tibor.
Hi, will you drop in?
Are you working?
I’ll go next door.
You don’t have to. Stay here.
First, I’ll introduce Tibor, as I was talking about him in car, he’s our follower.
He has been working for us, since his graduation from secondary school,
and he finished university studies meantime,
and we are proud of him, of the fact that that he is here,
and we supported him.
And this is my husband.
Actually, we wrote the project in our living room together.
It was the project about the establishment of civic association, and we succeeded.
I provide counselling for schools.
My husband provides counselling for everything else.
He works hard.
Now I am full of praise for him; otherwise, he gets on my nerves at home.
But he works a lot, to tell the truth.
He contacts authorities, and he deals with social policy in villages, and here in the town...
...and the state...
Yes, he also works for the state.
Local problems become national problems, and they have to be solved by higher officials.
We have been implementing several projects; since 2002, it has been so many.
We’ve already forgotten some of them.
Well, we need the culture of minorities, because we need to become the integral part of structure...
Forms, applications...
...and show me, because I haven’t seen them yet.
We deal with two or three activities per year; with respect to culture.
We also have the “satellite civic associations” in villages, it’s only one activity.
But we deal with a broad spectrum of activities.
After we married, my husband studied at the university,
and it was me who encouraged him, and also our children,
because we used to say, poor daddy, he feels unwanted,
because he is the only one without university education in this family.
He started to work for civic association together with me, and university education in social work was required.
He was afraid of it because he was almost fifty years old, but he managed.
He was 55 when he graduated, and it happened that he graduated at the same time as my younger daughter,
so they finished at the same time and had their graduation ceremony together, it was so nice.
I have four grandchildren.
Each of my daughters has two children.
I can’t say which of them I love more if someone asks, because I love them both, equally.
They are so cute, and I feel it like it is written on the sticker on my fridge,
the heart for granny from Michalovce,
my grandchildren and me, we have a nice relationship, and I Iove them so much.
Similarly, grandpa.
Gosh, I must count them, how many they are....
It happens very often that I have to prove that I’m not that kind of Roma as many people prejudice.
As Lukáč mentions, “I’m not as bad as everyone believes”.
I’m a bit different, but I’m the same as people from majority.
I’m the same. I have the same qualities, but I come from a different cultural environment.
And everyone has the right to have his/her own culture.
...it’s always natešený, ypsilon in plural, they make such mistakes...
If I succeed to finish doctoral studies, I´ll have the PhD. degree in social work.
After I graduate, I could apply for a job at a university, to teach some lessons,
because I also have practical experience in social work.
Thus, I will broaden my horizons,
and this will give me more opportunities and I will be able to plan more in future.
Starring Dagmar Horváthová
Directed by Paula Ďurinová
Produced by The Civic Association Jekhetane-Together
The film was made in co-operation with the Living Documentary
The film was produced with the financial support of the Slovak Government within the framework of the grant program “Support and Protection of Human Rights”.
The Civic Association Jekhetane-Together in Prešov takes full responsibility for the contents of this film.
Translation Jana Šavelová