Dreaming of a discrimination-free life in Moldova

Since early childhood Svetlana has lived a nomadic lifestyle that is steeped in centuries-old traditions, moving from place to place in Moldova and throughout Europe.

“Since my birth I have not stood still.” Svetlana reminisces. She has grown up and travelled across Moldova, Germany, Russia, the Netherlands, and then back to Moldova before moving to Ukraine, where she met the love of her life, Ivan, who is also a member of the Roma community. With a shared hope to build a family, above all, they yearned for stability and inclusion in society, free from discrimination and hostility which often plagued their daily lives.

Over the years, Svetlana has been deeply enriched by her nomadic experiences and is deeply proud of her Roma heritage — though in the process, the opportunity for formal education was left behind.

The life she leads with Ivan in Ukraine while modest, is still fraught with hardships. One of the biggest challenges they face is illiteracy, further compounding the barriers to integration. 

After ten years in Ukraine, Svetlana and her family made the tough decision to return to Moldova following in the footsteps of Ivan’s family who had also relocated there. 

One of the first priorities for the couple was to immediately enroll their younger children in school but soon after they faced discrimination from their peers leading to feelings of isolation and marginalisation.

Svetlana recounts that “My son was constantly bullied at school and there was nothing I could do about it.” Age-old resentments and hostility were incredibly difficult for her children to overcome, and there was no intervention by the school to combat the bullying.

Svetlana also experienced incessant judgment and hostility in the community, even when she simply entered a supermarket or sought medical assistance.

“Once, during an emergency visit to a hospital, the treating doctor began to ask me derogatory questions.  ‘Why do you have so many children if you cannot take care of them?’”

This Roma family’s desire to fully integrate into society was mired with disappointment as they faced discrimination at every turn. The hostile environment encountered by the family left them with little choice but to uproot again as they decided to leave Moldova behind them hoping to finally put down roots and strive for a brighter future for their children.

“We just wanted to find a place where we could feel more accepted and less targeted,” Svetlana sights.

Yet, despite their best efforts to settle into their new life in other countries, the family faced destitution and uncertainty about what to do next. At this stage and because of the constant struggle for survival, the family decided in the interest of their children to move back to Moldova once again after receiving information about the support that the family could receive from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to rebuild a life back home.

Svetlana was given the opportunity to receive financial assistance to meet the family’s basic needs, including the purchase of medicines and essentials to furnish their two-room apartment, lacking even a kitchen to prepare meals for their seven children. Thanks to a referral to IOM they were able to access essential social and administrative services, as well as guidance from dedicated IOM staff.

This support allowed the family to rebuild the foundations of their lives and establish stability, something that Svetlana had always yearned for. 

Since 2022, IOM Moldova has provided legal and social assistance to approximately 800 Roma individuals to ease integration into Moldovan society.

As an active member of the Roma Task Force in Moldova, IOM is committed to ensuring that communities have equal access to social services through comprehensive case management, referrals, integration assistance to facilitate Roma inclusion into local communities. 

Svetlana believes that fate keeps bringing her back to Moldova and, determined to succeed, she has enrolled the younger children in the local school. Despite the difficulties they face in integrating, she reminds them every day of the importance of education in future-proofing their lives. 

“When you finish school, you have the possibility of finding a job and earning an income, without the constant insecurity, or living in a house without running water and electricity,” she regularly tells them.

As a child, Svetlana dreamed of becoming a lawyer, but early marriage - common in the Roma community -cut her education short. She now looks back with regret.

Svetlana’s overriding hope is that her children will not face discrimination, be treated with dignity, and have equal opportunities just like everyone else. It is also essential that empowerment and support should come from local authorities and educational institutions.

She also has an ambition, to become a professional hairdresser. For Svetlana, her family and hundreds of other Roma in a similar situation, it is important that the community is empowered in order to reclaim their sense of belonging. Starting anew in a place they can finally call home and in a community they can call each other “Amare Amala”, which in the Romani language means “our friends.” 

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The support to the family was made possible thanks to the generous financial support of the European Union, through its Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.