Celebration in Shutka
The Roma began moving out of Northern India more than 2000 years ago, spreading throughout Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa. Now numbering around 15 million, they face discrimination and live on the outskirts of society in every land they call home. The Roma are a people without a country. There is, however, one place where the Roma flag flies; in Shutka, Macedonia.
With the largest concentrated Roma population in the world, Shutka is the only municipality in Europe with Romani as its official language. Five miles from the modern center of Skopje, Macedonia, yet a world apart in terms of culture and economy lies Suto Orizari, or “Shutka.” This rough mishmash of small homes and dilapidated shanties is home to an estimated 50,000 people. The streets are full of life, the air is thick with smoke from wood fires and burning trash, Turkish pop music blares from boom boxes strategically placed on street corners and from open car doors, men yell greetings across the potholed streets and from horse-drawn carts. Shutka was founded after the massive earthquake of 1963 that left most of Skopje’s Roma homeless and without any possession. To house the newly homeless the Red Cross built temporary metal huts on the outskirts of the city, many of which are still inhabited today. Relatives of people who were moved to the new town wanted to be closer to their families and began a population boom that made Shutka what it is today.
Photographer: Sabrina Budon
