Roma the world over are united by a life of poverty and discrimination.
Sarulesti village is home to this Roma community of nomadic Kaldarasi, settling in the winter but spending the summer on the road as their ancestors have always done. Lenuta, with her family’s horse, their prized possession.
A mixture of brick and wood buildings house this community, tents pitched behind their homes are used to cook in.
Strong family ties go some way to compensate for the grinding poverty of day to day life. Borca prepares herself for the birth of her 3rd child, her waters have just broken.
Some of the children attend school close by, but it’s a village that functions to its own rules. The men spend their days collecting scrap metal to be sold in the capital Bucharest, the women married at 15, wear traditional brightly coloured full skirts and headscarves, their heavy gold ‘dowries” are woven into their plaits.
The Roma are protective of their traditions, their way of life and each other. Independent and self reliant, they are detached from the outside world. 'You can not become Roma, you are born Roma'