...The women in my family were known for their dancing, as well as their palmistry, card reading, and tea leaf reading. Some worked with herbs, prayer, and ritual to support their community’s spiritual and physical health, or as we conceptualize it, our ‘purity.’ Later, my grandmother styled herself as a horse trainer after fleeing to the US from Germany, shortly after the devastation of her family, community, and culture in WWII. It allowed her to hide in and
adapt to her new life as an immigrant, as it was not safe to openly be Sinti or Romani anywhere. Outside of this, many Roma work different professions that have nothing to do with trade work. We are lawyers, medical professionals, educators, public servants, artists, and more. The more access Roma have to education and employment opportunities like everyone else, the more we do. ...
