CARAGICA IONUT, PASTRY CHEF, 23 YEARS
HE LIVES IN REGGIO EMILIA (ITALY), MARRIED, HAS TWO CHILDREN
Ionut grew up in an abandoned house, living with the money raised by giving alms.
Since childhood he decided that his children would not have made that life. He has been busy, has been able to take advantage of the opportunities that have been given to him and has been working for 6 years in a pastry workshop in his city. In January 2017 he signed the contract for an indefinite period.
Ionut arrives in Reggio Emilia from Romania as a child.
Third of four children, he lives with the family in an abandoned house on the outskirts of the city. They all live in a single room without water or heating. No one works and all members of the family try to arrange themselves. Ionut has begun to beg to beg in front of supermarkets or churches.
Despite the extreme poverty conditions, Ionut’s parents never give up on the children’s school. They do not have a car and not even the money for buses, but Ionut does not even miss a day at school. He is passionate about his schooling and decides he will do everything to change life. He loves the traditions of his family and the culture to which he belongs, but decides that for his children he will never want a life of alms and abandoned houses.
He decides that school will be the way to achieve a job. After finishing the secondary school, none of his friends thought he would go to high school, instead enrolled in a vocational school, his parents supported his choice.
The school is tough for Ionut, it’s hard to study but it does work very hard, though it has little results.
Three years later he was offered a six-month internship in a pastry workshop.
The employer is astonished by the commitment and dedication of this guy. To go to work Ionut leaves early in the morning on a bicycle and runs many kilometers. He is never late, he never complains, he is good and he learns fast work.
The study, despite efforts, did not allow him to demonstrate his skills, but in a workplace he proved competent.
Upon completion of the internship Ionut is offered an apprenticeship contract for 5 years. He accepts enthusiastic and at the end of the apprenticeship path he signs the fixed-term contract.
Ionut has never experienced his belonging to Rom culture as an obstacle to the world of school and work. He loves her culture but thinks that not for all Rom families the approach to work is a thing transmitted in the family. He believes in the family education he has received from parents who have supported him and spurred on in finding a regular job.
He argues that the main reason he has been able to commit to achieving the job goal is that he no longer wanted to give alms, turning different cities into a fixed place, living precariously. He is married at a young age, like many of his Romani peers, and with his work offers his wife and two daughters the opportunity of a dignified life.
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