(Work in progress)
I’ve first met nea’ Puiu when he was working as security at a hospital. His real name is Paul, but everybody calls him nea’ Puiu. His wife, Paraschiva, along with their five children, Andrea, Anica, Ionuț, Maria and Florin are the Stanciu family. They live in a two-room ramshackle house somewhere in a poor Roma village called Frumușani, 15 kilometers away from Bucharest.
In the summer children take a bath outside in a makeshift bathtub.
Nea’ Puiu is not ashamed to call himself a proud Gypsy rather than a Roma person as it’s fashionable nowadays. He works hard to sustain his family. His dream is to extend the family house. His wife Paraschiva or Chiva for short doesn’t work. She’s a housewife. She wanna get a job, no matter how badly paid, but nobody would hire her. So instead of working she takes good care of the house and children.
Andrea is the youngest. Her mother says that having lots of children is a great joy but also a burden. The good part is that older children can take care of the youngest, so Chiva might have a short brake from time to time.
Anica is the second youngest in the family. She really likes to pose in front of a camera. No matter if it’s a broken smartphone. Nea’ Puiu tries hard to keep up with the new tech, but kids always break things up.
Next is Ionuț. He says he likes going to school, but most of the time he stays home with the others, sometimes playing with the goats.
Maria is the oldest of the girls. Nea’ Puiu bought a laptop for the kids to learn working on the computer, although the family doesn’t have an Internet connection yet. Nea’ Puiu still has to pay to the bank for the laptop, but he says he has no regrets for buying it.
The firstborn is Florin. As usually teenagers do, he’s quite concerned about the way he looks. Being the oldest his father puts a great deal on him.
“We didn’t steal anything to build our house. We are proud of that. That’s how we educate our kids”, the couple says.
Sometimes nea’ Puiu turns on the grill and invites me in.
The traditional Romanian “mici” or “mititei” are pretty common on the family barbecue. Ionuț hands one to the goat. Reluctantly the goat eats it.
(To be continued)