Guardian about repatriation and reverse racism

Guardian about repatriation and reverse racism
Guardian about repatriation and reverse racism
Anonim

If after a while you manage to overcome the typical questions related to gypsies, the following usually happens: and they wanted to beat you because you didn't let a child home from the hospital?

The picture is an illustration
The picture is an illustration

When I started working here in the village, I went to visit a pregnant woman about to give birth. One of the fixed questions for me (up to that moment) was always: how are you doing with your baby bump? However, now she looked at me with the ever-pregnant big eyes: no way! Because we keep the superstition. Well, my eyes widened at that.

Since then, I've been completely shocked that there really isn't a single diaper for the newborn here - in advance. They believe that the child will be in trouble if they go shopping ahead of time, and since everyone is afraid of that, they prefer not to risk it. I think the roots of this are to be found in the old large-scale infant mortality, it can be a kind of "don't drink to the skin of the bear" effect.

However, as soon as the mother gave birth, within a few days they collect everything they need… and let's be honest: the little one really doesn't need that many things that are really important. Diapers, baby clothes, a warm place and a mother who is breastfeeding. This sounds like a rather minimalist approach, but it's still true. Do you need a bottle if you are breastfed? No. Do you need a stroller? No, it's just more convenient. Does the baby really suffocate if it sleeps with its parents because there is no crib? Then our infant mortality rate would be 98%.

There is no specific protocol or methodology for sending the newborn home. There are no regulated conditions, "only" the guardian's responsibility. However, a man's daughter does not like to play with his "head", because if there is a problem, I am the first to be picked.

While I was working in a relatively rich city, the bathroom was evident there. We considered a poorer family to be one where the little one did not have a specially furnished room even before birth. Many times we had the little clothes, the baby scale, everything that was on the baby wish list, sometimes even the play mat.

Then I escaped to the other end of the country to this village, and suddenly the concept of poverty changed for me. The bathroom here indicates social rank. 70 percent of the houses do not have it. In about 30 percent of cases, the water is not introduced into the house, it is brought in from the garden faucet. It's not empty words here, when you have the parent sign the registration form: "enlightened about water consumption". Ergo, don't drink water from an untested dug well.

It is not defined how many square meters of living space should be per person. They also live in a one-room house without water and heated by a stove with 4 small children - without any problems. I have one rule: the newborn should not be in danger! And whether they bring it home wrapped in a swaddling cloth or a blanket is so secondary.

Of course, I also have my own fixed idea: I tease with the crumbling ceiling and the broken window glass (fortunately, this is not a common phenomenon), but I am also right about this, and future parents can always see this. If I don't like something, I note it already during the first pregnancy visit: it would be good to do this… and so far, without exception, everyone has fixed the part of their apartment/house that I objected to… and I haven't even been beaten.

shutterstock 114425344
shutterstock 114425344

In the case of low-weight newborns (less than 2,500 grams) or teenage parents, the hospital nurse always asks for an environmental study before sending them home. There is also the possibility that the regional nurse will indicate: the newborn will not be able to be sent home. Until now, I have always been unable to bring a baby home due to personal circumstances: either there was no suitable person in the family who could take care of a child responsibly, or the mother was so irresponsible that we thought it would be better if someone else took care of the little one.

If the parents are suitable for raising children, however, due to material conditions (for example, it is winter and there is not enough wood to heat them) a newborn could not be given home - stone me - but I would consider it a tragedy for society. Even with so many social and he alth care systems, if we couldn't find what it takes to bring a child home from the hospital, that would qualify us as well.

If there is a problem, it is not the nurse who decides. The nurse just indicates. During prenatal care and family visits, sooner or later it becomes clear who is the responsible parent, because we take the examinations seriously. It also shows if something is wrong with the house, the attitude towards the child, or in the family. In such cases, the nurse notifies the child welfare service, who set out on their investigative work and try to help. And if you have to: threaten. If, despite all their efforts, things do not change, they try to solve the issue of repatriation by welcoming them into a family. There is always an enterprising relative: aunt, grandparent, sibling.

Of course, this sounds nice: but one Christmas, when I had to decide whether to entrust a 2,000-gram premature baby girl to the care of my illiterate great-grandmother (!) who lives in a one-room house with a dirt floor, no internal water supply, so what? let me say… I was smoldering to say the least. Grandmother, on the other hand, promised the star from the sky (and she got it!), I also "hunted down" what help was available in the area: and thank you, the little girl is one and a half years old, beautiful, cheerful, smart, he althy.

The picture is an illustration
The picture is an illustration

Since then, one of the most important elements of my environmental studies preparing for home delivery is whether the parent is reliable and cooperative. If so, everything can be solved and the child will not be in danger. If not, however, you can certainly expect some heightened child welfare interest until you see better.

If a "thrown out" baby is shown on the news, or after the shocking incident in Agard, it will definitely be a topic in the village for a few days. There is also reverse racism, around here they comment on it like this: he must have been Hungarian, because a Gypsy wouldn't do that to his child! Of course, this is the same generalization as it usually is backwards, and it has no proven basis, it only reflects the attachment of the people in our village towards the children.

Although it comes up as an idea in most places "dealing" with the Roma, I don't think that the problem of Gypsies and poverty should be solved by not letting the children go home and sending them to institutions or foster parents. I don't have good experiences with children who grow up like this, an important part of their self-awareness is missing: family cohesion. They do not find their place as gypsy children, among Hungarians or as adults. They do not "shake themselves" into the life that has been given to them, and they do not have behind them the system of customs and family divisions in which they find themselves.

If we definitely want to change the fate of children, we should do so on the system itself: support contraception (because in poor places it is really a matter of money), create more adaptable educational institutions (where he likes to go, and not only a gypsy child will boxed in), to give some kind of purpose in life to the adults, who would thus be able to raise their own children in a completely different way and under different circumstances, and of course control, because without it the whole change would be largely ineffective.

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