Czech Republic: Project gets Non-Roma to visit Roma in their homes

Residents in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic are inviting their neighbors far and near into their homes for coffee. Thanks to a project called "Come to our place for coffee!" run by nonprofit organizations and the Regional Authority, families with different customs, origins and roots are visiting each other's homes, primarily Non-Romani and Romani neighbors.

"We applied because we want to give Non-Roma the opportunity to come to our home, to form their own opinion of us Roma and see how we live. We also like the project because it is meant to shake up all the myths and xenophobic expectations," host Iveta Kokyová told Czech Television.

"Each of us somehow knows inside that not all Romani people are the same and that it is not advisable to tar them all with the same brush – and the best way to see how they are living is basically to go take a look for yourself," her first guests, the Poskočil family, agreed. The project was created by Andrea Tibenská, a psychologist and psychotherapist at the Psychiatric Clinic of the Hradec Králové Teaching Hospital.

"I don't believe this will lead to the absolute disappearance of prejudice in the country, but at least it will aid some people with forming their own opinions on the basis of their own experience. They won't be directed according to what they hear on the radio, read in the newspapers or see on television. The project would work in such a way that a couple of Romani families would make it possible for members of the majority society to visit and chat," the psychologist said three years ago when the idea for the project first came up during an extensive interview conducted with her by news server Romea.cz.