Interview with Roksana Stojowska and Stella Pawłowska about the intercultural integration assistantship for Roma matters and Roma education assistantship.
Ada Szulc: You’re Roma activists and intercultural integration assistants, you live and work in Wrocław. What’s a Roma education assistantship and why is it important?
Roksana Stojowska: The assistantship is primarily about supporting and accompanying the Roma community in difficult situations, but it is also useful in promoting our culture or supporting various events that aim to break stereotypes about us. We as assistants want to meet the needs of our community. It’s very important to be well prepared. Stella, who today is an intercultural integration assistant, herself has the experience of a protégé and today draws on that experience in her work.
Stella Pawłowska: From the very beginning I actually had difficulties at school. The fact that Roksana came to my school and worked as an assistant helped me a lot. There were various interesting projects that I could participate in. The teachers also looked favourably on the fact that there was such a person who helps Roma children. My studies went better and I even got a red belt (certificate with distinction). I’m a person with a medical condition, which was an additional difficulty. Thanks to the fact that I had a Roma assistant who helped me in secondary school, we were able to find a school that suited my needs. A school that, with my illness, was more suitable for my level of learning. It would have been hard for me in a normal school, a ‘mass’ school. It has really given me a lot. I had scholarships, which motivated me more. I also got a laptop and went to half-term camps. That bears fruit. I grew to like studying very much. Now, as an adult, I’m still studying at the High School for Adults, at Cosinus.
Do Roma education assistants have to be Romani?
Roksana: This is most welcome. It is important that Roma education assistants are accepted in the Roma community. Roma children need to have a person from their community, to whom they can turn to. This creates more understanding, a sense of security and adequate support when it comes to culture. We assistants are the bridge between teacher and pupil, between the parent and the school. We are able to explain the cultural misunderstandings that exist on both sides and integrate these two worlds, which are in fact one world. This is also about emotional support, about Roma parents’ awareness of how important education is. The Roma community has a sense of security when there is a so-called ‘own man’ at school.
What is your role at Nomada as intercultural integration assistants? (“Nomada” Association for Multicultural Society Integration)
Roksana: At Nomada we’re in a team that is multicultural. We are part of the community that functions there. All the tasks are very similar to each other. We’re only beginners, because we have only been working in this team for two weeks, so we ourselves are really preparing for this job. We are focusing on the needs of our community. Our community, that is Roma, Belarusian, Ukrainian and, in fact, I could say from all over the world. We want collectively to be one voice for the needs of our communities. To support each other with experience, solve problems together. To be a supportive and active group for each other, visible primarily in Wrocław. Both me and Stella, as intercultural integration assistants for Roma affairs, want to focus on the Roma community from Ukraine. We don’t yet have a good understanding of the situation. We are getting ready to go to Warsaw to talk to other institutions about these experiences and organisations. We want to be prepared to support this Roma group as well. We’ll be integrating with Warsaw organisations and talking about support for the Roma from Ukraine. Warsaw has a lot of experience and we want to benefit from it.
Stella: Intercultural integration assistance is also about guarding the Roma against racism. The Romani people don’t know a lot of things, they don’t know their rights, and that’s one of he things we’ll be helping them with.
Do you need any special training to be an intercultural integration assistant?
Stella: Actually, I don’t think any special preparation is needed, although it is clear that you you need to learn a lot.
Roksana: It’s worth mentioning that Stella has undergone an internship at the Provincial Office in the passport department. Stella chose this course herself in order to develop in administrative work. This skill at Nomada is very useful, it helps, among other things, with the ‘paperwork’ that Roma families have to face. For example, how to fill in applications that cause difficulty… Stella has no problems in this area, due to the fact that she has undergone this internship. Nomada Association is also a place of development for us. It supports our development. We benefit from this on an equal footing with other participants. It’s a place where we will develop and expand our skills.
Stella: I don’t have the same wide-ranging experience as other Nomada activists, and yet I have been welcomed very warmly. I didn’t feel like I didn’t know how to do anything. The Nomada people help me to develop and gain experience.
Thank you for the interview, I wish you good luck, success in your work and in helping others.
