Sevilla Ghettos Part II

They don't put this neighborhood on the postcards, either. 

While Tres Mil Viviendas is stricken with poverty, despair, drugs, and crime, another neighborhood is worse off financially. Called “El Vacie,” this broken down neighborhood lines the cemetery and is home to many many gitanos (gypsies). This area, however, does not have the same drug problems as the public housing areas. As my tutoring girl phrased it, “they are too poor for drugs.” This didn’t really make sense to me, because in the US, where there is poverty, there is crime. 

These are just pictures from Google- I'll have my own soon! 

This area is made up of mainly gypsies who have recently come to Spain, many times from Romania, and are literally living to survive. They don’t have houses; they build houses out of what they find from “the bin,” which is British English for trash cans. At school they are given their food and even new clothes many times. I inquired about this neighborhood, and was told it’s not dangerous, but I still shouldn’t go. 

This is the true gypsy culture. There is an organization that will take people through that is safe though. HOWEVER, I was asking the faculty at the middle school about it, and one of the teachers volunteers there every Saturday at one of the schools. I have the opportunity to accompany him next Saturday (as of now, hopefully it happens!) and see the area, and the school, with the students that he works with. I am very excited about this potential experience, especially since this is beyond inner city schools. 

The gypsies speak a different dialect of Spanish, and it is very hard to understand them. However, regardless of everything they don't have, no one can compete with them when it comes to flamenco. They were where the dance originated.

They don't pay taxes, the government barely has a hold on how many people are living there. In actuality, they have no idea. "If you stay on your side, we'll stay on ours..."