Imagine a people whose population numbers 12 million worldwide, 8 million who live throughout Europe alone. Their name brings to mind a vivid picture of performers, nomads and thieves. They are known as the Roma people, but we know them by the name “Gypsies.”
On my recent trip with Trans World Radio to Eastern Europe, I had the opportunity to meet Romas in Serbia, to see one of their villages, to learn of the desperate way they live, and to have my heart pierced by their huge needs.
Though Romania has Europe’s largest Roma population, the name “Roma” is not derived from Romania. Rather, Roma means “man” or “people.” Originally from India, the Roma are now not native to any specific country. They live throughout the world.
In Europe they have the highest birth rates, but the lowest life expectancy levels. They have the poorest education, with less than half of Roma children ever going to school. They have almost no health care and employment opportunities, with unemployment commonly running between 70 and 100 percent. In addition, they have the highest rates of imprisonment and welfare.
The Roma people are a very closed society, having their own version of tribal law and beliefs. Parents choose their children’s mates and have them married between the ages of 13 and 15. They are very superstitious. Because of their lack of education, for instance, they believe a person who has died must be buried within 24 hours, or by 2 p.m. the next day, or they will turn into vampires.
While in Serbia, our group was treated to a church service which Roma children attended. Because they have very little “earthly” hope, they have learned God is their help, as illustrated by the following song the children sang.
“The hard days came and many Roma are sick.
They go to a doctor, but there is no remedy.
So God, we ask You,
Let Your hand touch me tonight.
Heal me, O Lord, so I can live for You
And to witness of Your miracles, O Lord.”
How do you reach Roma people for Christ when they are such a closed society? Because they have separated themselves into distinct groups and tribes, shut off from the outside, it’s difficult to send missionaries. And because of high illiteracy, sending them literature to read and respond to is of little use. The most effective way is to reach them by radio! In fact, the primary means of communication within a Roma village is radio. On our group’s tour of a Roma village, we saw the following: someone who had electricity and a radio would attach loudspeakers to the radio and broadcast to a cluster of tiny homes so they could hear the radio as well.
There are ministries trying to reach the Roma people. We learned the Serbian Christian ministry known as IKONOS is working with Trans World Radio to minister to the Roma. Their two-fold project is to first produce a weekly 30-minute program to be aired on a local Roma radio station. Then IKONOS would like to set up a small recording studio for the Gypsies. The programs recorded would provide an evangelistic tool to reach Roma villages, but because many cannot read or write, could provide an effective teaching ministry for the newly converted Roma to learn and grow in their faith.
Second, IKONOS would like to distribute about 2,000 solar-powered, pre-tuned radios so the Roma can listen to the broadcasts. Because up to 40 percent of Roma homes have no electricity, the radios must be powered by something other than electrical current or batteries.
Can you help reach these thousands of unwanted and hated people for Christ? Your donation to Trans World Radio will help provide studio equipment and solar-powered radios that cost $26 per radio. These radios are great “evangelists” because whole families, including grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren, live together in a series of buildings that share a common area. So it is not unusual to have seven or more families living in one place that could listen to the radio at the same time. Your donation will make a difference among the Roma for eternity.
This article by Bill Blount first appeared in the July/August 2005 issue of The Voice of Inspiration. Reprinted and adapted with permission.