Edita Rusnáková (1957)

I had a nice life in the settlement

Edita Rusnáková, was born in 1957 in Rožňava district; her parents living in Rochovce village sent her as a 3-year-old to her grandparents (mother´s parents) to Ochtiná (neighbouring village), and there she stayed up to her marriage. Unlike her parents and sisters, she lived with her grandparents in a Roma settlement. She describes relationship with her parents as a cold one, they saw each other rarely, and she never felt much concern from her parents. She fondly recalls her life in the settlement and considers it as good one, but at the same time she says, that it has influenced her choice of career. Unlike her sisters, who did not live in the settlement, she finished only elementary education and in her 16, she began to work in the paper mills in Slavošovce. As 19-year-old, she married a Roma from the same settlement and as 34-year-old she widowed. She and her husband bought and renovated an old country house, where she has lived up to now. She has two children.

Comparison of life in the settlement with special integration