About Us
The Slovak Roma Housing Fund works to further the integration of segregated Roma (Gypsies) by helping them become responsible homeowners in mainstream communities from which they have so far been excluded. Set up in the spring of 2005, the Fund operates in the Prešov region of eastern Slovakia. Here we have initiated a program in the village of Svinia - an ethnically mixed community which exemplifies the marginality of Roma in much of contemporary Europe.
The Fund builds upon the legacy of the Svinia Project, a comprehensive community development endeavour funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Habitat for Humanity International, Heifer Project International, and several other organizations. The Project's main objective, which was to provide affordable and decent housing to a disenfranchised and impoverished Romani settlement, was derailed in 2003 by local political developments. The Fund was initiated by the coordinators of the Svinia Project, David Scheffel and Alexander Mušinka, in order to mitigate the negative effects of the Project's premature termination. With support from an international group of donors, we work to help qualified Romani families escape the destructive environment of the Svinia ghetto. Please use this website to learn more about the Fund's work and how you can help. For any additional information, we welcome inquiries at [email protected]. | David Scheffel
David Scheffel is the leading Canadian expert on Slovak Roma, having worked with them since the mid-1990s in both research and social development capacities. He is professor of anthropology at Thompson Rivers University, where he leads study tours to Eastern Europe. Scheffel was the main consultant for the National Film Board documentary The Gypsies of Svinia, and is the author of Svinia in Black and White, the first book describing a Slovak Romani settlement.
Alexander Musinka
Alexander Mušinka is a research associate in the Centre for Romani Studies at the University of Prešov and advisor to the Plenipotentiary for Romani Affairs of the Slovak government. An anthropologist by training, Mušinka is the author of numerous works on Slovak Roma.
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