Seeing something once is better than hearing it a hundred times... For the environment of segregated communities in eastern Slovakia, this certainly applies. The aim of the photo series is to bring readers of the magazine PROHUMAN closer to the lives of people in Roma settlements. A short glimpse into their everyday reality indirectly follows the photo report Mgr. Lenky Jalilah Hruškovej “Rómska osada Letanovce”. The photographs included in the photoreportage “Osada očami dilina gadža” were taken during field research in the summer months of 2012 and 2013. Several of them can also be found in the author’s monograph (Ne)vinní a dilino gadžo, which is also published on the pages of our magazine. The photographs meet the conditions of the author’s own original creative intellectual activity, and therefore he holds the copyrights to the work. Therefore, any copying of the photographs and further use without the author’s consent will be considered a violation of Copyright Act No. 618/2003. PhDr. Michal Kozubík, PhD. Photo: © Michal Kozubík Comments on the photographs: Photo 1 “So kames, gadžo?” “What do you want, gajo?” A frequent question — a difficult search for answers. Photo 2 **“Welcome!” A veranda in the segregated part of the settlement in Hranovnica. Modest, improvised, yet inventive — this is a frequently visible pattern in poor areas. Photo 3 “Settlement Optics” A view from a shack that has not yet been completed. The view through a small window stirred many questions in me. “What feelings will future residents feel in their dwelling after it is completed when looking from that view? What future awaits them?” — these were my “dilino gadžo optics.” Photo 4 **“Interior” Lay perceptions of poor people’s housing in “colonies” are often quite distorted. Anyone who has visited the settlements knows that despite very modest household furnishings, they are relatively clean and their residents try to make their homes cozy. Photo 5 “The streets of Rio” A staircase between slum houses caught my attention. This is roughly how I imagine slum society in the poor parts of the metropolises of South America. Photo 6 **“Sad Hut” Expressions of Slovak poverty in the 21st century. Photo 7 “Log House” It is often stereotypically said that Roma people are far from work. Without any education, they are able to build a wooden house with foundations. They are skilled and can build their homes on their own. How many of us would be able to do that and not give up? Photo 8 **“Baro drom” A long road. Where is the future of poverty headed? Let’s send it into history! Photo 9 “Variegation” A characteristic feature of poor homes is multicoloredness. What is colorful is beautiful. The more color in a hard life, the better. Photo 10 **“Traditional Culture – Myth or Reality?” At present, traditionality of Roma culture in settlements is disappearing. It is a joy to see at least some living fossils of it (Hranovnica, 2012). Photo 11 “Where We End, Others Begin” A tragic view that we are seeing more and more often in towns and municipalities in eastern Slovakia. A wooden fence separating “civilized” residents from the others. Even though the newly built houses, by their standard, surpass several houses of the majority. Photo 12 **“Waiting for God” Residents of the Roma part of Hranovnica are waiting for pilgrims headed to Levoča. Photo 13 “The Saint Beyond the Village” Children are the same everywhere — lovely and beautiful blank canvases. Photo 14 **“A Small Person in a Large World” The majority in settlements consists of children and young people. It is rare to see “phuri daj.” What is their future in our shared country? Photo 15 “Football or Gathering Blueberries?”** A boy in Hamšík’s jersey sitting next to the main road. Adult men and women sell wild fruits to earn extra income. Are Roma people lazy, then? Anyone who wants to hit can find a stick. That is why I keep meeting with any debate ending in the denigration of Roma. “Bears have nothing to eat, so they go to containers in the Tatras. After all, it is the “Cigáni” who collect everything.”