
We visited an excluded Roma community in Dobšiná
In November we were in Dobšiná. There is an excluded Roma community on the outskirts of the town. People live segregated, in two newer apartment buildings in rented flats owned by the town. Some people have been evicted by the city in recent months from an older apartment building, allegedly due to structural damage, without being provided with alternative housing. Many people have therefore been forced to find commercial sublets in the city.
People have electricity and drinking water in the flats on rechargeable chips. People who lived in the old apartment building were taking water from the forest spring. There are heaps of waste from mining near the site and there was also a landfill.
There is high unemployment in the region, with people working in the forest and some in the local sawmill. Children go to the local primary school, some of them in special classes.
People talked to us quite openly about their problems, currently mainly related to their eviction and living conditions.