I was born in Hajdú-Bihar county, on the Romanian border, maybe three kilometers from the Romanian border. It is a very small village where three nationalities lived. They still live together but today in small number. Romanians, Romas and Hungarians lived in this village. When I was a kid in this small village, it was natural that a man would live his nationality as he was born. When I was fourteen i moved to Budapest,than i realized that to be a gypsy meant something strange, something that people do not understand, or when they meet one, they react with rejection. In my childhood, in my relationships, in the village, in the school, it was a natural thing to be a Gypsy. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why we had a large number of graduates from our family. I do not know yet another village in Hungary where such a large number of Roma would have been going to higher education.
We found out with Editor of the Roma Magazine, Judit Klein, we created the Roma Productions Foundation. The idea was to have Roma faces in the media from the children's programs to the elderly programs. It's been a few years since there has been no progress in this area, neither on the radio nor on television. We've realized that we are not present in the media which is one of the greatest powers where we must be present. Then we said that our purpose is specifically to teach Roma youths to the media job to find their place on the radio and television. We started a systematic work in which we trained five students annually. We signed a contract with the radio to finance a trainee for a year . We have received support from the Government and the American Embassy and have trained five young people every year. This was a very good start. Eighty percent of those who work today as a Roma in Hungarian Television are the result of our foundation's work.
We have done a program with the support of the Norwegian NGO Foundation. The starting point was that many Romas are being jailed or have to pay heavy penalties because they do not have a bicycle ring or a lamp, or something else missing,cost of a few hundred or a few thousand forints . Then families can not get out of debt. We tried to involve the police in the program. We first wrote to the National Police Headquarters, but they replied that they make no distinction between nationalities, so they all considered as the same citizens. Then we tried the local police. There were some who were partners in this. We said to come and organize a road safety day and explain theme how a regular bicycle look like. We also tried to involve local media. And we tried to teach the local Romas how they can be more self-conscious citizens. If they encounter certain situations, how to react. It is not enough to shout and swear and abuse the police, but what steps they have to take. They can start a petition and initiate social dialogue. We also taught negotiation techniques. This program was held in 15 settlements . And we also tried to pay attention to the fact that the Gypsies started to make economies and try to manage to reduce their expenses.
János Joka Daróczi, journalist, social worker. János Joka Daróczi was born in 1962 to gipsy parents. His parents were primary school graduates. In his childhood he lived and studied in Bedő, a Romanian border-country multi-ethnic village where Romanians, Roma and Hungarians lived together. In 1976 he continued his high school education in Budapest. After completing his studies, he was an instrumentist, then a driver and a warehouse. Since 1980 he has been involved in the organization and management of Roma camps. He was an officer between 1984 and 1992 in Budapest XIV. District government. Meanwhile, for a few years he has been a ceramic small enterprise.He studied as a social worker between 1993 and 1997 at the Wesley János Theological College. Later on he earned degrees in social policy (1999-2001) in Budapest. His journalist‘s work started in 1992 in Hungarian Television. He edited Roma programs and he made a record of events related to the Roma. In 2011 he was dismissed from the Hungarian Television. In 2005, he co-founded the Roma Production Bureau Foundation (RPIA) with the task of increasing the number of Roma journalists in the Hungarian media. He places great emphasis on making films that reduce prejudices between the majority society and the Gypsies, and helping to create a realistic picture of the Gypsies.He was a member of the Gypsy Radio in 2006.His examplary achievements have been acclaimed by a variety of awards.He has got three children.
