Training for Mediators:

Slovakia (29th Sep - 1st Oct 2005)

Conclusions

The first training attended 28 participants from different regions of Slovakia, who do work in the following positions – managers of community centers, community social workers and their assistants. All of them are in direct contact with the Roma community, their work mainly with the Roma living in the settlements.

During the 2 and half day meeting we heard number of personal ideas, opinions and experiences with this minority, all of them very inspiring.

The training was led by two trainers - Jana Hazirova and Jana Hrivnakova. Five leaders of community centers, who attended similar training before, prepared presentations on the bellow mentioned topics with practical illustration, so they have shown us how they work with the Roma minority members.

Topics:

-          Child health (before and after birth) – discussion and presentation on damaging impact of environment, bad nutrition, impact of drugs addiction on child, the necessity of breast feeding, insufficient nutrition of mothers after giving a birth, the regular visits of pregnant women at doctors, child vaccination, number of pregnancies and its impact on a woman.

-          What influences children of up to 15 years old – pubescence, physical and psychical health of youth, support in the personal development and encouragement for further education (discussions in a small groups on needs of teenagers and if it is possible to fulfill them in the marginalized communities, what parents think about the needs of their children, what kind of habits the children take from their families to their new family), the impact of the family environment and education on the life of young person.

-          First relationships between young people – friendship, love, the beginning of intimate relationship, building of own family, the need of contraceptives, how the contraceptives are perceived among Roma, the forms of contraceptives and their practical usage, usually the community social workers work in separate groups (girls – boys, women - men) in the Roma communities, since it is very sensitive topic.

-          Relationship of children and adults with elder community members – loss of the authority of the eldest community members in comparison with past traditions, the elder people are not as involved in the activities as they were before, the age of old Roma begins at 50 (especially in the Roma settlements). 

-          Spiritual health of the family – the importance of work of priest in the community, the participation of Roma in spiritual life and church services, how the priest/ churchman can involve Roma children in different activities.

-          Hygiene – the basic hygienic habits, the prevention of different infections, different access to basic hygienic facilities (toilets, shower) at school and in the settlements, the usage of hygienic tools (practical illustrations for small children at school), the wells in the settlements and quality of the water, how to prevent damaging the wells and water contamination.

-          Housewifery – what is the income of the families in the most marginalized areas, how they operate with money, the role and importance of personal receiver for buying the food, the cooking courses and how they are appreciated among the Roma women.

-          Introduction to the dependence on drugs – alcoholism, roles in the alcoholic’s families.

Ms. Eva Masarova, who works for the Office of Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Government for Roma communities, presented the activities of the office in the health area and a project focused on disinfestations of the Roma settlements and further proceedings necessary to keep the settlements clean as much as possible. The program is realized in cooperation with the Regional Institutes of Public Health. 

The presenters had given the practical examples, illustration of possible techniques, methods of the work with the Roma community, so these are acceptable for them. They do not use theoretical presentations/ lessons, but mostly practical examples, the community workers have already good relationship and trust among the community members.

The second training continued with the same participants, we continued with the drugs dependence topic and worked mostly with the topic of sexuality, sexual life. 

Topics:

-          Sexuality – self respect and how it influences our view on own sexuality and sexual life, communication between partners and their children, how much time we spend during the week talking to each of the family members.

-          Sexual education at school - how to work with youth in this particular topic, gender sensitivity, working with teenagers.

-          Touches – activities in this topic, different kind of touches from parents, friends, teachers, different zones for each of them.

-          Stereotypes – the differences between men and women, how they are perceived by adolescents.

-          Partners, relationships.