Coventry Roma children create climate change book to go out in schools

Coventry Roma children have helped create a book “honouring the voices” of their community and culture.

‘Roma, Recycle, Reimagine: Corcodusa Saves The Park’ is a book on recycling and climate justice in the Roma community.

It aims to bust misconceptions about the community and their attitudes to the environment.

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And, Coventry Roma children have been integral to the project, helping write and direct the story.

Maria Raluca, who worked on the book, told CoventryLive: “There is this misconception about Roma people being dirty or throwing things on the ground and not caring about the ground and this project shows that this is not true, and that they actually care, they are getting educated.”

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‘A counter narrative to what is normally thought about Roma families’

Ms Raluca is a Coventry-based digital content creator who worked with project director Rosa Cisneros.

It took months of workshops and building trust with the contributing Coventry Roma families to create the book, ‘Roma, Recycle, Reimagine: Corcodusa Saves The Park’.

Rosa Cisneros told CoventryLive: “A huge part of the [funding] was allocated to paying the families for their time and being part of the workshops, often times families are often asked to make something, but that’s also their time.”

The book follows a little Roma girl called Corcodusa, who, inspired by Greta Thuberg, wants to do her best to save the planet, and gets her community involved.

Roma children from Coventry and their families spent months over Zoom writing and creating the characters and story-line.

“[The book] is offering a counter narrative to what is normally thought about Roma families and people, Roma in Coventry, it’s like look, this is them, they do care about education, this is them and what they have to say” Ms Cisneros said.

The Roma community is diverse, originating from North India and travelling throughout the world to settle in different countries.

In Britain, the term GRT (Gypsy, Roma, Traveller) is used and and the communities are are ethnic minorities.

‘We can change the perspective of Roma people’

Coventry’s Roma Project says it is difficult to get a figure of Roma living in the city, as most don’t identify as Roma on official documentation for fear of discrimination.

The project has registered around 1300 families, but Coventry Roma Project staff think it could be more than double that.

Ms Cisneros said: “Every single Roma family in Coventry said they didn’t want the money but wanted it to go into the project but wanted it to go into buying materials for the Broad Street centre in Foleshill.”

Money from the book has funded a library corner in Broad Street community centre, reinvesting right into the heart of the community.

Ms Raluca added: “Coming from Romania to the UK I sometime faced racism, I felt like if, myself as a non-Roma felt that, I can only imagine what they feel, so their voices being heard means the world, and Roma children don’t really get this kind of situation.

“We can change the perspective of Roma people and it is in our power to do that.”

Ms Cisneros added: “The community loved seeing the book, from the mums to the kids, everyone who wanted to be named as a co-author is listed, as a young person seeing your name and feeling like you’ve coauthored something shows that you’re something much larger.”

The book was funded by ‘Seasons for Change – Julie’s bicycle’ and has gone out in Romanian, Rromanes (the official Romany gypsy language) and English.

And they plan for the book to go far: “The hope is that the book will go into schools, we hope that the schools can take it up, maybe for April 8 which is international Roma day or in June for GRT month to do with the book”” Ms Cisneros said.

For a copy of ‘Roma, Recycle, Reimagine: Corcodusa Saves The Park’ email Rosa Cisneros: ab4928@coventry.ac.uk

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