Recently boys were talking about someone who acted inappropriately and one of them said: „He acted like a gipsy“. I told him that it is wrong to ascribe a particular behaviour to a nationality. Here, I am a gipsy too. He was embarrassed and his facial expression changed completely.

I was born in Kobuleti and I lived with my family in Azerbaijani for a few years before we returned to Georgia. It was never difficult for me to communicate; we grew up in an Italian yard, where families of different nationalities leaved happily together. When playing with children in the yard I learned Georgian and later I improved it at school. I speak five other languages – Romani, Russian, Azerbaijani, Turkish and English – at the basic level.

When I was a child, everyone was free from stereotypes. At the age of 16-17, I faced negative attitudes toward my community – that they are different and I wasn’t like them. When I became adult, I faced more of such attitudes, dividing people according to colour of their skin. I always try to meet people with such attitudes, talk to them openly and help them change their opinion and attitude. I share my example; I tell them that I’m a gypsy and I am nothing like what they imagine gypsies to be. I am a citizen of Georgia, I work and study, I have my profession and however small, I make a contribution to building of this country. I represented Georgia at the international conference of gypsies, where I talked about Georgian reality and our challenges.

Years ago, I was visiting a relative in Kobuleti. I accidentally attended the process of staging a play. I was always interested in acting, theatre, creativity. I met the school director there and coordinator of the subprogram for promotion of inclusion, Lela Tskitishvili. They offered me to switch to external tuition to finish the 9th grade and participate in the play. I agreed, I got a school-leaving certificate and I was enrolled in a college to learn networks and systems administration. In 2016, I joined the subprogram for promotion of social inclusion. With the support of the program, I graduated from the vocational training college and finished the 12th grade through external tuition. I enrolled in a vocational training college again, to learn electricity. With the support of the subprogram, I started working as a leader in summer camps, where I worked with gypsies and Georgians.

I am going to learn a lot of things to find a place for myself. I often discuss these things with other gypsies and want to help them with self-realization. They need more examples to follow, more involvement and support to handle wrong attitudes toward gypsies and reach their goals. My parents also thought that education would be useless for me but when they saw how eager I was, they supported me.

The fact that we are different and diverse people makes our daily life and history even more interesting. We shouldn’t hide this fact; we should celebrate our diversity. Georgia is a free country where free people should live.