Bulgaria: A hard life for girls

An article on the Rroma Mahala in Vidin, in North Western Bulgaria. The article, while dispelling some of the stereotypes of many children, still pushes some age old prejudices, stating that marriage occurs by abduction (ritually, yes, practically, unknown), that child brides are the norm etc. What most journalists tend to blend out is that in Rroma tradition, one is married if one sleeps with one’s boyfriend. So effectively, by this standard, most of girls in Western Europe are not that different … What is different tough is that there is little contraception, resulting in early pregnancies, dropping out of schools, etc. All things that are a social poverty issue and have de facto nothing to do with Rroma.