Some interviewees claimed that the aid food, clothing and medicine is regularly sold on the market. One woman told me, There is no law here, and if there is, it does not apply to us. I found no cases of differential treatment of Roma by local authorities or incidents of violence between the Roma and the rest of the population there. Everywhere, I was told, Sure, I can tell you about my life and how we live here, but I have nothing special to tell you. Our kids go to school and play together with the other kids.
Life is difficult, but it s difficult for everybody.
We haven t received any pensions or child allowances for four months, but no one in the village has. It s the same for the Moldovans and Russians. Non-Roma villagers said similar things. An exception to this pattern of peaceful cohabitation in ethnically mixed communities is the town of R cani in northern Moldova. Roma here, too, do not live in a separate part of the town.