Date and place of birth:

03 July 1982, Ústí nad Labem.

Current place of residence:

Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic.

Education:

Secondary School of Business Administration.

Current job:

Municipal Policewoman, traffic education and criminality prevention department.

Achievements in life and work:

My occupation.

Are you living your life the way you have always wanted to?

Yes.

What are your plans for the future?

I would like to focus on criminality prevention.

Life motto, credo, dreams…

Let all people love each other, that all are friends!

Date and place of birth:

03 August 1979, Brno.

Current place of residence:

Brno, Czech Republic.

Education:

Secondary school of economics.

Current job:

Underwriter – client relationship manager, ČSOB Pojištovna a.s. (insurance company).

Achievements in life and work:

Completed secondary education with final leaving examination.
An excellent work in insurance company – 4 years.

Are you living your life the way you have always wanted to?

Yes, for the present.

What are your plans for the future?

To have an own family and then continue in the work I am doing.

Date and place of birth:

04 September 1979, Boskovice.

Current place of residence:

Brno, Czech Republic.

Education:

Graduated, Secondary School.

Current job:

Editor and graphic designer of Roma bi-weekly journal Romano Hangos.

Achievements in life and work:

I work for a Roma publication, and therefore have the opportunity to participate in solving problems concerning the Roma. Through my work I help to create a positive picture of the Roma nation within the society.

Are you living your life the way you have always wanted to?

I hope I will live that way, eventually.

What are your plans for the future?

Graduate from University, to do my work well and to be useful for the society.

Life motto, credo, dreams…

I do not have personally good experience with mottos and credos, therefore I do not have a favorite one. But I always believed that: Don’t do to others what you would not have them to do to you. Wish? I have many…

Date and place of birth:

06 March 1937, Brno.

Current place of residence:

Brno, Czech Republic.

Education:

Higher education, University of Machinery.

Current job:

Chairman of Roma civic initiative.

Achievements in life and work:

I did not hide my opinions during the communist regime; because of that, both my family and I had many problems.

On 28 October 2002, President Václav Havel awarded me with a state order.

Are you living your life the way you have always wanted to?

I do not know, but I live in a honest way.

What are your plans for the future?

Complete on time that which I started.

Life motto, credo, dreams …

“The greatest success of a man is not that he doesn’t fall down, but that he always gets to his feet again.” — Confucius.

Date and place of birth:

15 July 1960, Brno.

Current place of residence:

Brno, Czech Republic.

Education:

Secondary School.

Current job:

Roma advisor – Brno municipality.

Achievements in life and work:

Three healthy, successful and good daughters. Interesting work – ability to help other people. Original profession: accountant.

Are you living your life the way you have always wanted to?

YES, but there is always a goal which is worth living.

What are your plans for the future?

To spend time with grandchildren, not to live only for myself.

Life motto, credo, dreams…

To live only for oneself is the worst life philosophy. “If a man lives then he should try to be.” (meaning a good person).

Date and place of birth:

15 September 1979, Praha.

Current place of residence:

Praha, Czech Republic.

Education:

I am currently a student at the Anglo-American Institute of Liberal studies.

Current job:

Sociology and politics student, eRider (technology consultant) of Romany Information Center.

Achievements in life and work:

One success was that I completed my studies at the Secondary School of Advertising. I graduated with honors, and was the first from my family who achieved this level of education. The biggest success to date is my acceptance to University and gaining a scholarship. I am a member of Athinganoi civic association and I became an eRider – a technological consultant for non-profit Roma organizations.

Are you living your life the way you have always wanted to?

Yes, I think so. I would like to have more leisure time to spend with my family (parents, brothers and sisters).

What are your plans for the future?

I would like to continue work for the Romany community and mainly I want to complete my studies. I am also considering an option to study abroad.

Life motto, credo, dreams…

The most important is to think in a positive way and try to be unprejudiced.

Date and place of birth:

22 March 1981, Plzeň.

Current place of residence:

Stary Plzeňec, Czech Republic.

Education:

Thelological study.

Current job:

Ordained Priest of Orthodox Church.

Achievements in life and work:

God is author of my successes, and I am author of all my failures.

Are you living your life the way you have always wanted to?

Yes.

What are your plans for the future?

To serve the church and the Roma nation.

Life motto, credo, dreams…

We are not born as people, we become people.

Date and place of birth:

06 January 1958, Moravska Ostrava

Current place of residence:

Orlová, Czech Republic.

Education:

Secondary school of clothing industry, branch of study couturier.
Public conservatory – piano, pedagogy.

Current job:

Disabled pensioner.

Achievements in life and work:

In the puppet theatre in Ostrava and in the chamber theater 6Arena I had opportunity to work with people who were true artists, fabulous people, who knew how to appreciate well done work. I conducted a theatre ensemble in Karvina and most of the children I worked with became big theatre enthusiasts, founding their own theatre ensembles.

Are you living your life the way you have always wanted to?

I was fully happy from this point of view before I got sick. Now, I work in another field from my original profession, I miss my work very much and I feel sorry about how fast all my former colleagues have forgotten me. At the moment, I conduct a drama club in the local children’s leisure activity centre. The biggest problem is that some of my pupils cannot afford to attend the lessons, due to elevated school fees.

What are your plans for the future?

I would like to return back to my dream job, which is costume design and production. I would like to have a well-paid job and enable my children to study.

Life motto, credo, dreams…

Health, health, health for everybody. I wish that there were no wars, even the small ones nowhere in the world. I wish there was no hunger, that all people were equal and the young could study and live.

Jana Horváthová

Date and place of birth:

22 March 1967, Brno.

Current place of residence:

Brno, Czech Republic.

Education:

University – Masarýk University, Brno, subject history; later special study of museology.

Current job:

Manager of Specialists, Museum of Romany Culture.

Achievements in life and work:

In 1991 I founded (together with Ing. Karel Holomek, historian Bartolomej Daniel and PhDr. Eva Davidova) Museum of Romany culture in Brno.

In 1997 I initiated a project of a touring exhibition “E luma romane jakhenca” – The world through Romany eyes (all showpieces were part of a museum art collection). This exhibition was the first in the Czech Republic that introduced to the public an unknown phenomenon – Romany art.

In 1997 – cooperation with Nathan Beyrak and Film and sociology foundation – for the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington I helped to record interviews with Romany holocaust eyewitnesses. A teaching videos have been created out of these interviews.

Currently I manage in the museum all works concerning preparation of a permanent exhibition about Romany history and culture.

But the biggest success and happiness of my life are my two children

Are you living your life the way you have always wanted to?

My present life only partly coincides with my girl’s dreams. But I feel very often that I am happy and in fact I do not have any reason to complain. Well, I mean as for my private life.

What are your plans for the future?

Plans? Yes, I have some, but I do not know whether I will put them into effect. I in fact flow on waves of life.

Life motto, credo, dreams…

I have more credos, but want to mention at least two of them: The more a man thinks of death, the more he improves the quality of his life. There is more truth in people than in words.

Vladimir Horváth

Date and place of birth:

07 September 1970, Brno

Current place of residence:

Brno, Czech Republic

Education:

Higher. Medical Faculty of Masaryk University in Brno

Current job:

Surgeon

Achievements in life and work:

Beautiful marriage, happy family.

Date and place of birth:

15 October 1930, Žihárec, Galanta district, Slovakia.

Current place of residence:

Praha, Czech Republic.

Education:

Elementary, but “the university of life”.

Current job:

Disabled pensioner. I worked in ČKD for 14 years as crane attendant, 5 years in Hloubětín incinerator as dredging operator, ZES – 12 years as crane attendant. From 1979 to 1992 diplomatic corps service administration.

Achievements in life and work:

Roma Literacy Award in 2002. Worked for one year as a guest performer at the National Theatre in Prague, as actor and singer in Tolstoi’s “The Walking Corpse”.

Are you living your life the way you have always wanted to?

I sit alone in my room and think of the minutes that have passed away; at the same time outside, sand rotates, I can’t stop the hourglass: My life changes not at all.

What are your plans for the future?

I would like to bring some joy into life of those who need it.