Amoun Sleem
Posted on | October 28, 2008 | No Comments
Founder-Director of Domari Society of Gypsies
You don’t see gypsies fighting around the world. They look for the simple life and they look with beautiful eyes. Our flag means green for the land, blue for the sky, and wheels for traveling. People should learn from the gypsies: be open, make your hearts green for everybody.
People have images of gypsies—painted wagons, horses, always moving.
People make up stories: gypsies make magic, gypsies read palms, gypsies are dirty. I think the people who make jokes about gypsies are the stupid ones. We like to be happy in the moment God has given us. Because we are simple, we never feel like envying others. We love our families and our neighbors.
Gypsies are a people of freedom who love the land and animals, but these things are missing now. Gypsies concerns are forbidden in this holy land. So much existed 100 years ago with our tribes and traditions that doesn’t exist now because of the pressure.
Over the years, the gypsies had less contact with outsiders. They felt that they have been pushed aside for a very long time. They came to feel that there was not a lot of interest in this society, so they tried to live their own simple life all these years.
Freedom will be when gypsies are an accepted community with rights. Now, they want to mix with any society that will give them a chance and treat them as citizens in this land.
Who are the gypsies?
The Domari society, the gypsy people, came out of India 3,000 years ago. We’ve lived here for 500 years. I can say I am an international woman. I have Palestinian roots because we have lived in this holy land for hundreds of years, and we support the Jewish society as neighbors and friends. As the gypsies originally came from India, I also have a lot of emotion for that country. We are a special community in that we love all the nations. We open our hearts and homes to any people on earth who can be welcomed as the friend of gypsies.
Six to seven thousand gypsies live in the country—Palestine and Jerusalem—though it is hard to contact people in the West Bank. For gypsies who live in or around Jerusalem, it’s become increasingly hard to have contact with relatives in Gaza and the West Bank. I’ve not had contact with my tribe in Gaza for ten years.
How does the wall affect you?
As a gypsy woman, I like simple life and freedom. As a woman, I always like to get my open space where I have mobility. But, it is so hard to find this space. There is pressure on you. You see it daily. But, I feel like change is coming, somehow, and hopefully things will arrive at a better place.
Why do people fight?
I would say they are stupid. If people are fighting for something, what good is that? If you are fighting for money, well, money is something you can use, but it is not everything. The same with land. When you die, you do not take land with you. God created this earth for people to live on and to use. This land is for all the people and people can use it and live on it without fighting. Unfortunately, these days all the stupid people control the decision-making.
What were you like as a little girl?
I sold postcards, I ran after tourists. Those were my golden years. I learned a lot from the street, from tourists. I learned to be a businesswoman. I knew very few words of English: “Just one dollar, one dollar.” Now I have a diploma in business administration and hospitality management.
As a gypsy woman, getting an education was difficult because I was often discriminated against. I left school after two years because I didn’t like how a teacher treated me. But then I told myself, “Amoun, without education, you can’t reach your dream.” So, I went back, endured the teacher’s treatment and succeeded at my school.
God has given me a kind of brains that cause me to think differently. Good work takes time, no one can reach her dream in a short time. I thank God every day for what I have, even though I feel that I don’t have many of the things that other people do. Still, I am glad for what I have. I feel I am blessed because I am doing things to get to where I want to be.
In what ways are you helping your people?
I know what it means to be a gypsy and to be discriminated against. So, I am trying to do something for the future generation, so that they can have equality and rights and a chance to make a difference in their lives.
The Domari Society is running the first Center in the whole Middle East for gypsies. We sponsor activities for women and children. For instance, we market and sell the handicrafts of gypsy women. Also, we have an after-school program where children can find people to help them with different subjects like mathematics and English in order to encourage education and progress in gypsy children.
What is your family like?
I lost my mother when I was a little girl of eight years but my father never married so that he could take care of me and my brothers and sisters. With my father’s love, we became a strong family. The elders in our family are the most beautiful people. I remember the love that existed between us, and now we have the love to give back to my dad. Now, my brothers, sisters and I take care of him. These are things you can’t learn in a book or in school. I learned them from my family.
Can all women be as strong as you?
I believe that God created woman in the world with great strength inside her. Sometimes, she doesn’t know it. But, if she works at it every day, she might discover this. Nobody is weak. Women need encouragement to believe in themselves, to say, “I can be something and I can do what I can.” Women are smart and strong enough to catch their dreams. They have to move and shake their bodies to make their hopes happen.
What does peace mean to you?
It means different things to different people but for me, I don’t see peace as just a dream. It can happen. It is coming, but we need to be patient and we need to work for it. Everyone can take the step to make peace inside his heart by loving his neighbor like he loves himself. We will have peace sooner rather than later because the people will get sick from the life they are living now.
I believe it is not far away from us. If we want to make peace happen, it can happen. This is holy land. God created it for peace.
Sleem co-founded the Domari Society of Gypsies ten years ago and launched the Domari Center in East Jerusalem in 2004. The center, the first for gypsies in the Middle East, provides education for women and children and sells handicrafts. The Dom, of North Indian origin, came to the area 500 years ago. Sleem, raised selling postcards to tourists, holds diplomas in business administration and hospitality management.
