PaedDr. Elena Cinová
* 1973
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"The people who had similar ideas, also gathered together. I attended some of the gatherings. Based on this, institutions were established that function to this day. There's the Faculty of romology in Nitra. In culture, the Romathan theatre. Periodicals were printed. In Humenne, in Vihorlat museum a department of Roma culture was founded. It was being said that we'll take part of elections."
Establishment of Roma institutions after November 1989
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"All of a sudden I came to university and I had subjects like Roma history and Roma language. Those were the things that really shaped me. I know now that if I would rather go to study medicine and would not came in contact with those subjects, I wouldn't be this proud Roma I am today. It's thanks to this I am agle to withstand verbal and other forms of attack. A lot of people from the slums have no idea how rich the Roma history is, that we have something to be proud of. Education and uderstanding of Roma history can provide the inner strength to conquer the fear of standing up for yourselves against hate speach. "
The richness of Roma history
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"My father in 90' organized summer camps for children from the Roma settlements. The camp lasted for 2, sometimes 3 weeks. The children, that came there were really neglected. Our goal was to show them proper dining maners and hygiene. I remember one camp with the children from Svidnik. I'm in contact with them until now. One boy stood out from all of them. He told me: "Don't do anything to others, that you don't want them doing to you." Then I thought that this boy form the slum, without education is wiser than I am. So I'm sticking to this."
Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you
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Full recordings
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Cinová Elena
(audio)
duration: 02:12:18
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Ateliér Holubník -Bratislava, 25.10.2020
(audio)
duration: 02:12:18
Full recordings are available only for logged users.
Many people from the settlements have no idea how rich history of Roma is
Elena Cinova, nee Gunarova was born in Humenne on 20th May 1973 into the Romani family of Agata Gunarova and Koloman Gunar, a well know post-november polititian. The fate od Mrs. Elena is an example of historical short term memory loss of Slovakia: her grand parents survived the holocaust and in no more than 50 years she’s the victim of neo-nazi agression. She graduated from Gymnasium of general Ludvik Svoboda in 1991 in her home town. She spent the next five years on Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, where she studied elementary education with specialisation for Roma culture. She worked at as a elementary school teacher for 10 years. Now she works in an educational center in Presov. She’s married and has two kids.
