Beyond the Truth November, 2006 - On the very first day of school, I was the only child with Romany background and the only one who could already read and write. That was the beginning of my journey beyond the truth—the truth that the majority of society believes. The truth that says that Roma kids don’t want to go to school and their parents don’t care about their education. The truth that says Roma people are lazy, and they always try to find the easiest way to live without paying attention to the law and the rules of the society they live in. That truth says that the only good thing that Roma do is play music and dance, they are not reliable and are burden to society. I graduated from the university as a philologist. My love for reading and writing lead me to choose this field, although I had been playing piano since I was in primary school. I love music and I still play. When I started working for a local private TV channel as an anchor and reporter, it wasn’t something that I was looking for, but very soon I fell in love with television. At that time I was 19 years old, and I needed someone to believe in me, even if I am Roma. I was lucky to meet my boss who treated me just like the others and gave me the chance to show what I was capable of. Two years later I was invited to work for Bulgarian National Television as reporter and anchor of the morning news program. I was and still am the first and only one with Roma background to do that. Through all these years I‘ve met many people who liked me and respected me for my success. I was proud and eager to succeed more and more. I was happy. Still, there was something that was missing. All these people who admired me believed that I was extraordinary, an exception of some kind. I felt ashamed whenever there was a talk about Roma people. I felt like I had to defend myself, my friends… I was asking myself what could help so many Roma children who are lucky enough to have their parents send them to school, to meet people who are ready to give them that chance? I’ve been trying to ignore that feeling for a long time, but was unsuccessful. Finally, I realized that instead of trying to pretend that nothing bothers me, I need to do something. I wanted to make people look beyond the truth that they believed in. I wanted to make people understand that there are a lot of well-educated and successful Roma people. The majority just don’t know about them because the Roma prefer to hide that in order to avoid being insulted or discriminated against. I realized that these Roma need help, but they also could help themselves. If the poor, uneducated Roma see how those who fight with knowledge and self-confidence for a better life succeed, they will try to do the same for their children. If this happens, the image of the Roma population will be changed, and those who are afraid or ashamed of revealing their origin will change their attitude about that. I started to talk about that whenever I was interviewed, whenever I had to do a report for the TV on Roma issues. It is undeniable that it is crucial what the politicians and the different national and international organizations do to tackle the problem of discrimination. Still, what if they do not communicate properly? What if both the Roma and non-Roma don’t know what the government and these organizations do and why they are doing it? What if Roma and non-Roma don’t understand that they have common interests, even if it doesn’t look like that? They just need to work together to achieve their common goal of a better and safer life for everyone. It was a great opportunity for me to join the World Bank’s team was working on the communication strategy for the international launch of the Decade of Roma Inclusion. While working on that strategy, I realized how crucial communication is for the fruitful results of the implementation of the Decade’s goals. That’s why I started seeking ways to learn more about communication, and I wanted to learn it from professionals who do know what is it about and have been working in that field for many years. I was lucky again to be approved to take part in the Art & Science of Communication strategy course in Washington DC, organized by the World Bank for its staff. May be for the people working in the WB this is part of their everyday skill-building, as I understood that different kinds of trainings are regularly offered to the Bank’s staff. For me it was a unique opportunity because what I have learned will help me not only be a professional, but also move up my career. I have new knowledge and skills to work on the communication strategy for the Decade and help with the implementation of its goals. If I want to communicate something now, I know from where and how to start, who and how to reach, what questions to ask, and what answers to look for. Still I need to learn a lot, but since communication is science and art it is impossible to learn it for two days. Science is a life-long study and art is life-long improvement, observation, listening, and reaching out beyond the truth.
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