KASKOSAN: Charitable Organisation
KaskoSan, founded by East European Roma living in the UK, works with the East European Roma community both digitally and offline since 2009. In collaboration with dedicated partners, we produce cultural content and consultancy. Our films, dramas, art performances and Romani language and cultural workshops aim to inspire critical thinking in terms of Roma inclusion and develop ways to maximize engagement.
Most Romani speakers and their descendants are subjects of anti-gypsy views and remain disengaged by Roma inclusion initiatives, while an overwhelming majority of Romani Gypsies carry on dealing with the multi-generational trauma of anti-gypsyism, isolation, mental ill-health, and intense poverty.
KaskoSan has been nurturing ‘Romanipe’, the emerging global Roma identity, since 2009 in central and Eastern Europe and since 2014 in the U.K. We have been growing a pro-active and self-assertive community that is proudly reclaiming its culture to erase centuries of misinformation about Romani speakers and their descendants.
At KaskoSan we are bringing a wind of change through the artists and organisations we engage and with the projects we deliver together. KaskoSan trustees recruited since 2014 are the compass points of our activities in the outsider world. With these approaches we aim to end the disengagement and lack of understanding of Romani Gypsies that remains present worldwide.
We have been running projects to build the capabilities and life chances of Roma communities and to achieve their well-being in the UK since 2014. Our volunteers provide support to Romani speakers in their native dialects and to maximise engagement also respect and follow the Romani customary law.
We run regular activities for Romani Gypsy families in Bradford, Bolton, Oldham, and Rochdale currently in collaboration with artists and art organisations, theatres, art galleries, museums, libraries, local councils, schools, NHS service providers, police and charities. These projects have been supported by funding from The National Lottery, Arts Council England, Bradford Council, Oldham Council, Rochdale Council, Action Together, CNET in Bradford and Greater Manchester Police.
We nurture Romani language and culture nationally through collaborations with Ando Glaso Roma charity in Glasgow. KaskoSan also runs an international collaboration with United Nations Geneva as part of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.
We are also an active member of the international European Roma Grassroots Organisations’ (ERGO) Network mobilizing and connecting local, national and international organisations and individuals to combat antigypsyism and Roma poverty.
Now we keep building on the interest and positive feedback received after the national tour of the Romani language workshops in the U.K.
What is ‘KaskoSan’?
First question two Roma ask each other the first time they meet
‘Kasko san?’ is the first question between two Roma Gypsy Traveller individuals the first time they engage with each other in Romani, the language of Roma Gypsy Traveller groups all over the world. The actual meaning of ‘Kasko san?’ is ‘Whose are you?’ meaning what family network you belong to.
With the answer you will literally get a full SWOT analysis of the extended family network. Names of family networks are equal to brand names and all of them have a long history of nurturing their own ‘brand identities’ thus by understanding the family network, you will learn about extraordinary stories of how family members helped their extended family network survive antigypsyism and how it stands out in the Roma community through practicing rules of ‘pachiv’, the unscripted code of thousands of Roma social rules, through music, dance, storytelling, jokes, entertainment or running away etc.
Once you get the ‘brand name’, you will also get a full picture of the family. In the Roma world the name of the individual you’re talking to is not a priority however cultivating values of ‘rromanipe’ (traditional values of Rroma culture) always is.
Global Roma Social Network and First Global Roma Brand
KaskoSan is the first global Roma brand online and the largest Roma social network. Members decided to form it into a company so it can better serve the inclusion of Roma residents in the U.K. in the offline world.
The major ongoing project of the organization has been KaskoSan.org since 2009. KaskoSan is the only social networking platform available in Romany Gypsy language and all other Eastern European languages too. The site has become the largest online social network for Roma from India to Europe and the Americas.
The web 2.0 platform of Kaskosan was developed by Howdygroup, a global software development company. Through a grant of 27,000 Euros from the Norwegian Civic Support Fund and the Carpathian Foundation, in 6 months time we produced a number of videos with the tone of infotainment on traditional occupations, language, dance, music, meals and tales mostly in Hungary but also in Slovakia and Romania. In cooperation with Romani Studies at the University of Manchester we have also compiled an interactive journey on the history of Romani people, language and cultural values with animations, narration in 12 languages, altogether 100 pages.
The Roma cultural videos we produced are popular with the Roma community and earned millions of views on YouTube. KaskoSan videos focus on Rromanipe, introduce people to the values of Romani culture, language, customs and traditions but at the same time build a common Romani identity across borders and tribal communities. The primary target group is the local Roma grassroots communities but we also welcome non-Roma people supporting the Roma cause or interested in Romani people and their culture.
We have organized national media coverage for the Kolpakov Trio performing with Madonna and KaskoSan in Bucharest and Sofia. Index.hu, a site with one of the most unique visitors in Hungary was the first media to provide a nationwide coverage on the site. A popular national TV station in the Czech Republic has also reported on the global online network for Roma prime time. Kaskosan has also managed to integrate Roma performers into the program of the Hungarian Song Day in Budapest on September 13 every year since 2009. Kaskosan has two hours dedicated to Roma performers on the rooftop of the biggest shopping mall in Budapest every year.