£1 of cover price goes to the vendor.Please buy from badged vendors only.WORKING NOT BEGGING · NO.870 · 4-10 APRIL 2011 · £2.00

Turner Prize-winningAnish Kapoor

AV referendum: what it all means

The future ofcommunity radio

Burning with ambitionRamona Constantin and the UK Roma

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Ramona Constantin has overcome her lackof formal education and prejudice fromwithin her community to become widelyrespected among Manchester’s Romapeople. Now she hopes she can inspireothers from this marginalised group tomake a success of life in the UK. Words and photos: Ciara Leeming

‘Now they have a good example.It’s opening people’s minds’

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134-10 APRIL 2011 · THE BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH

RAMONA CONSTANTIN

She never went to school, married at 19 and becamea housewife and a mother. But since moving to theUK from Romania, Ramona Constantin has becomesomething of a role model within the Romacommunity.

After seizing the opportunities on offer to her, TheBig Issue in the North vendor has started workingwith advisers at a Sure Start centre and has becomeregistered as an interpreter.

Her achievements make Constantin, 26, a pioneerin this traditional and socially marginalisedcommunity and will – she hopes – inspire youngpeople to aim high. Her presence is also helping thecentre win the trust of the Roma, by signalling thatthey are valued in Manchester.

“Before they had seen me working at Sure Start theRoma people would never have thought it could bepossible but now they have a good example. It’sopening people’s minds,” says Constantin, a fluentand engaging English speaker.

“They are saying: ‘Look at Ramona, see what she’sdoing.’ They are asking me for advice on benefits andwork and saying things like: ‘My nephew speaksEnglish – can he work here with you?’

“What people don’t realise is that when anorganisation like Sure Start takes on a Roma personthey are not employing one – they are employing 30or 40. Not in that second but in the future. They aregiving hope to the whole community.”

Constantin is one of up to 1,000 Roma who havesettled in the Longsight area of Manchester overrecent years, with most arriving since Romania joinedthe European Union in 2007. Some citediscrimination or anti-Gypsy prejudice in their owncountries as a reason for moving, while others simplycome in search of jobs.

But UK law restricts the work many easternEuropeans can do when they get here. Romanians andBulgarians, as A2 migrants, have been almostcompletely limited to self-employment, a situationthat has left many Roma dependent on selling The BigIssue in the North to survive. A generally poor graspof English and low education levels havecompounded their problems. A handful sell flowerson the streets, busk, collect scrap metal or work ascleaners.

Constantin arrived in the UK with her boyfriend in2009, determined to make something of her life. Likemany Roma adults they ended up as magazinevendors – he in Liverpool and she in centralManchester and later in Rochdale town centre.

She comes from a different town to many ofLongsight’s Roma and has no relatives in the UK – herfamily make a living trading horses in Romania. Thesecond of five children, she was kept out of school tolook after her younger siblings while her parentsworked.

When she split up with her husband, Constantindecided to move abroad. She left her one daughter,then aged two, with her parents and ended up inManchester, where her new partner had family. Theyspent two months living in a small spare room in afriend’s home before finding a more permanent home.

Selling the magazine is not an easy life but she saysthe experience made her who she is today. “For sixmonths I sold the magazine in front of the CentralLibrary at St Peter’s Square and I was so luckybecause I met only English people with big hearts. Ifthey saw I was sad, people would ask what had

happened and would make me laugh and forget myproblems. When it was cold a lady who worked at thelibrary would bring me hot chocolate and biscuits.Then there was a doctor who was always asking meto dance. I worked all day but always had a smile onmy face.

“When the library closed I was given a new pitch inRochdale, where people are also very kind to me. I’vealways wanted to do more though.”

As the Roma community has grown there havebeen tensions in Longsight, with anti-socialbehaviour widely – and often unfairly – blamed onthem. In response, a strategy group was established inthe city council, along with a multi-agency groupwith representation from all organisations workingwith the Roma. Through this work, it became clearthat the existing employment situation wasunsustainable in the long term and that somethingneeded to be done to create opportunities andaspirations among Roma youth – something thatwould also aid community cohesion.

“A lot of the Roma children have aspirations butwe found that they were talking about leaving schooland selling The Big Issue in the North, which isn’t asustainable income,” explains Julie Davies, who isboth an education development officer with thecouncil’s International New Arrivals (INA) team anddirector of healthy communities with the BlackHealth Agency, where she oversees the RoutesProject, an outreach service. “We thought they shouldexplore other avenues, so in consultation with themwe found areas we could help them develop.Employment is integration so we wanted to developsome young adults and give them skills.”

Improving cohesion, removing barriers to work andproviding positive role models for young Roma wereprioritised and a series of innovative initiatives beganto take shape. A huge amount has been achieved overthe past year. The Routes Project, commissioned bythe city council to deliver outreach to the community,has used Migrant Impact Fund (MIF) money toemploy a Romanian Roma social worker alongside itstwo other family workers. He works with thecommunity and schools and, as a Roma professional,is a positive example of what is possible.

Two young men have been recruited from theLongsight community by the INA team to work withnew Roma pupils in classrooms across Manchester.Only one of the two went to school as a child inRomania but both are having a significant impact onthe confidence of the Roma children with whom theyare working.

Last month in a work experience programme year10 pupils from Cedar Mount High School in Gorton,which has almost 100 Roma children, spent time withpolice, in schools and in other workplaces, while alsolearning about Romani history and culture.

If funding is secured, there could also be a shortemployment course aimed at helping Roma school-leavers improve basic skills such as literacy.

One recent discovery is that there is a way for someA2 migrants to work in ordinary jobs in the UK afterall. If one householder holds a yellow card,permitting them to be self-employed, in many casesother family members can apply for a blue card –which gives them access to the jobs market.

This information is now being shared with Roma inthe community at every opportunity – throughemployment events, support workers and schools.

UK law restrictsthe work manyeasternEuropeans cando when theyget here

“Now they canall see that I’mable to helpthem and sothey’vestoppedlaughing.”

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14 THE BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH · 4-10 APRIL 2011

Constantin’s Sure Start work is the result of anotherpartnership project, delivered by the Big Life group –which owns The Big Issue in the North – inconjunction with the council, BHA, ManchesterUniversity and Connexions. She was the only femaleamong a group of young Roma adults identified ashaving good English and invited to take part in a six-month paid training scheme aimed at giving thempractical employment skills.

As well as sessions on literacy, English and IT, shehas trained as a Citizens Advice Bureau adviser andshadowed Sure Start staff. The trainees are alsoregistered as Romani and Romanian interpreters withthe Routes Project and are also working withuniversity students who are researching the Romalanguage and helping to develop a course that couldbe used by schools and agencies. Constantin alsocontinues to sell the magazine one or two days aweek, and also has a cleaning job.

Her involvement on the training course was notuniversally welcomed by a community in which menare traditionally the decision-makers, but she hasmanaged to win the sceptics over.

“Some Roma people were judging me badly to startwith and thought I had different ideas in my head,”she explains. “They would say to my boyfriend,Amar, that I would stay at home if I really wantedhim and that I was going to go and marry an Englishman. That wasn’t easy for him and there was a lot oftension in my home and a lot of arguments.Thankfully though he gave me a chance and nowpeople can see that I’m not doing anything bad.

“Now of course they can all see that I’m able tohelp them and so they’ve stopped laughing. They askme for advice and now all the men want their wivesto do something like me. My boyfriend sees that theyrespect him for this and now encourages me.”

This is, of course, a gradual process but Constantinbelieves she can already detect differences as peoplegrow in confidence. On a basic level, attitudes doappear to be changing. Whereas a few years ago therewas ambivalence towards formal education, nowmany Roma parents expect their children to go toschool and stay on until 16.

“People are seeing that they can choose their lifehere,” says Constantin. “Sure Start held anemployment advice session about a month ago andlots of people attended who wanted to work. Itopened their minds – many didn’t know about the

InternationalRoma Day - 8 AprilInternational Roma Day aimsto celebrate Romani cultureand raise awareness of theissues facing Gyspy peopleworldwide. The event beganin 1990 in Poland, during thefourth World Romani Congressin honour of the first majorinternational meeting of Romarepresentatives in London in1971. Since then, littleprogress has been achieved inimproving the living conditionsof Roma, who remaindiscriminated against anddisadvantaged wherever theylive.

RAMONA CONSTANTIN

“I didn’t go toschool when Iwas a little girlbut I want thatfor mydaughter.”

opportunity to obtain a blue card. They assumed theywould need a lot of documents. Now though, everyday at the centre we are getting appointments fromRoma who want to apply for their blue card.”

This new outlook is, she believes, most pronouncedamong the young people. They are being invited toevents and listened to, and are starting to see olderpeople working, making positive choices and earningmoney and respect.

“The kids who are aged 10, 11, 15 are changingtheir minds because they see us. They see that we aregetting up and going out and earning our own money.They are seeing us as an example.

“It’s not one single thing – it’s me, it’s Marian, theRoma worker at the Routes Project, and it’s the otherRoma trainees. It’s younger people wanting to be liketheir brother or sister. If you grab one then the rest ofthe family will come too.”

It remains unclear how the impending cuts willimpact on this work. The Routes Project work fundedthrough Manchester City Council ended last weekwith no final decision over whether it will berecommissioned.

The MIF programme, which funds Routes’ threeoutreach workers, ends in December. At Sure Startwork is underway to secure long-term funding forConstantin’s training course, which is due to end overthe coming months.

Davies says: “These are uncertain times. From hereit’s about working together, building on currentpartnerships, being flexible and looking for ways todevelop the work as well as seeking funding fromnew sources. This is cutting edge work and we don’twant it to end, because Manchester’s come so far.”

Constantin is burning with ambition. She wants tofind work supporting her community and to bring herdaughter Latifa, four, to Manchester permanently soshe can benefit from a British education.

“I am going to stay in this country all my life, I hope,” she says. “I’ll go home to Romania to visitbut will come back here because I really love it. Ididn’t go to school when I was a little girl but I wantthat for my daughter.

“I have also applied for my blue card because I want to work. I want to do the same sort of thingthat I’m doing now through this training project –helping people and being useful. I want to do morethan be a translator. I don’t mean more financially – I mean more help to my people.”

Julie Davies (left) andRamona Constantin sellingThe Big Issue in the Northin Rochdale

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