When I was looking for work experience, three times I was turned down, even though the day before they had accepted two other lads from my class. I felt absolutely shit, they didn’t even ask me any questions, just said straight out that they had no opportunities for me. I started to hang out with white people, so that at least someone would take me on, but even so I got worse work than them and there was always someone checking to see if I was pulling my weight.

Everyone just lumps us together! They say that Roma don’t want to work and that they live on social benefits. But there’s plenty of Roma who would like to work, just that whites won’t give them any! And when you’ve tried five times and each time they reject you, then you just lose the motivation to carry on.