In November, we visited Dobšiná. On the outskirts of the town, there is an excluded Roma community. The people live in segregation, in two newer apartment buildings in rental apartments owned by the town. In recent months, the town has evicted some of the people from an older apartment building, allegedly due to structural damage, without providing them with alternative housing. Many people were therefore forced to find commercial rentals in the town. 

    People have electricity and drinking water in their apartments on rechargeable chips. People who lived in the old apartment building used to get water from a forest spring. There are mining waste dumps near the site, and there used to be a landfill there as well. 

    Unemployment is high in the region; people work in the forest and some at the local sawmill. Children attend the local elementary school, some of them in special classes. 

People spoke quite openly with us about their problems, currently related mainly to their eviction and living conditions.