It is in the shelter of each other that the people live
This is an Irish saying but very relevant for everyone and especially Amare Chel, and not only in the COVID-19 pandemic, but beyond.
The shelter of each other is what precisely? It is caring for one another, including protecting others from what we may carry, by way of infection, as in the pandemic, but also and especially extending solidarity to everyone. This is also very akin to the African way of Ubuntu but also to the way we, Amare Chel, used to look out for one another and especially Amare Chave.
Somewhere along the way, however, the more “modern” we have become the more we have lost of this caring for each other and considering one another part of the family.
It was always that if you are Rom you were Brother or Sister, Uncle or Aunt, Son or Daughter, of everyone. We considered each other as one large family and, even though we might disagree or not get on with one or the other, like in a family they were still family. No child was ever left alone. They was no abandonment and there were no orphans. There was always someone who took the child or children in. This is how we lived in the shelter of each other.
Today this, however, has been, by the “modern” Rom, like much of our Culture, Customs and Traditions, consigned to the dung heap of history and is being seen, just like the rest of our Ways, as outmoded and even stereotyping. The latter especially so when it comes to our traditional Ways. We are becoming all the poorer for this and many of the poorest of Amare suffer as a result, and especially Amare Chave.
2020 © Michael Smith
