In Dilga, Rural Roma Struggle For A Better Life

DILGA, ROMANIA - MARCH 11: A lunch of fried fish and mamaliga, a traditional Romanian dish made from cornmeal, awaits a visitor outside the home of Aneta and Constantin Enache, both ethnic Roma, on March 11, 2013 in Dilga, Romania. The couple's three children all live and work in Italy, send money home and only come to Dilga once a year to visit, while their grandaughter Madelina lives with them in Dilga. Dilga is a settlement of 2,500 people with dirt roads and no running water, and unemployment is at 70%. Most of the working-age men and women have at some point worked abroad, mostly in Italy or Great Britain, as many say they are unable to find adequate work in Romania. Romania's Roma belong to a myriad of different tribes defined by their craft, and Dilga's belong to a group called the Rudari, who until the 1930s specialised in woodcrafts. During the communist years most worked in nearby state-run factories and agricultural cooperatives, though the majority of these went bankrupt after 1989 and the local Roma lost their jobs. Since then they have struggled to make ends meet and find a better future for their children, though projects initiated by the European Union and NGOs are helping some to launch small-scale enterprises and improve their children's education. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)