New Neighbors

Note : This post is expressing my personal opinion on the subject. I'm not racist or have anything against these type of people.

 I have been meaning to write this post for awhile, since I started noticing more and more new neighbors. These neighbors do not live in our building, but we did actually have people who recently moved in across the hall and there are always people going in and out who knows what they're up too.


Every morning after I prayed fajr (the morning prayer for Muslims), I would look out the window to see how the weather would be. I kept noticing more and more Roms with shopping carts or with carts filled with stuff. At first, it was mostly wood and wood- like materials. I thought to myself that there must be a camp nearby. But I never expected a Roms camp to literally be just down the street, I was shocked the first time I past it on the way to the market. If you have ever travelled to Paris or France you have probably seen them begging on the street or have seen their camps on the roadside. 

Images found on the internet

 What does Roms (Romani people) mean ? It was a word chosen by the Romani Union in 1971 and adapted by the European Union soon after.  Roms living in France are mostly of Romanian and Bulgarian origin. There is no definitive number of how many live in the country but estimates have been at 30,000. It is a huge problem in France, but the government really can't do much but close their camps and force them to go somewhere else, because well, they are European Union citizens.

Other French words for Roms are gitans (which is like what we say in English, gypsies), gens du voyage etc.

Now, I am not against these people, because they are people. Everyone has the right to be who they are and grow up the way they would like too. I just don't approve of the living conditions. It's not very sanitary, the rat population has increased (I saw what looked like a party of rats the other day), and the smoke from their house smells like (excuse my description) mixed body materials and smoke. Meaning, I can't leave the windows open to air out the apartment for as long as I would like and I think the smoke also contributed to the high pollution and smog last week. 
Another part, that kind of ticks me off, is the number of them at the market begging for money. More than half on the trains, the streets mostly near tourist destinations or at the exits of highways and outside food establishements or in the market are Roms. Sometimes, it makes me sad not to give money, but I am trying to save money of my own for my children's private school education and retirement, etc. If I had the money I would try to help feed every starving child. But sometimes, I question will they spend the money I give on food or something else.

In the department, where I live (Seine-Saint-Denis, 93), there are over 10,000 people and children alone. The camp near my house was at 200 adults and children in early January, but I think the number has gone up due to the number of other camps being shut down in other areas. According to the Oxygène, Aulnay Sous Bois's monthly newsletter, there are 3 illegal camps with over 1,000 people living in them in Aulnay Sous Bois. The mayor has requested that the French government shut down these camps but the court is diddle-dallying (did I spell that right ?). First they were going to reach their decision January 15, then February 15, now March 28. So I guess in April we will see what the result will be. Especially because city and municipal elections start this week.
The mayor said that as soon as the court grants permission the city will clean up the camps and bring the land back to normal, but the thing is - who is going to pay for all of this ? The taxpayers in Aulnay Sous Bois, like me - we already pay their electricity, their water consumption and  now it willl be their clean-up.

What are your thoughts on the subject ?