Petra Balog (Ruza)

59 years old

“I helped my daughter-in-law deliver her baby under the light of a lantern and a candle. I cut the umbilical cord with a knife, and tied it with red yarn. I gave my grandson a bath and wrapped him up in a fur coat. At the hospital, they couldn’t believe how brilliantly I had done it.”

Many Roma settlements do not have adequate communal infrastructure. It was not until recently that electricity was introduced in the Roma settlement in Bistrinci in which Ruža lives, which had compelled her fellow settlers to use candles and petroleum lanterns.