Albania (MNN)–The Roma people of Eastern Europe are often ostracized and forgotten. Researchers estimate the worldwide Romani population at 44 million.
About half the people group are nomadic and, even when they do settle down, generally shun cultural integration. Thus marginalized, they are the most unwanted people group in Europe.
As a result, there are very few things developed expressly for them. When Christian radio began sharing the love of Christ, the message gained momentum.
That’s especially true in Albania, says Words of Hope’s Lee DeYoung. “For the last two years, a station in southern Albania has been broadcasting these programs over FM, and even majority Albanian people living in that signal area of that station enjoy hearing the programs.”
Words of Hope’s Romani programs began airing from Trans World Radio’s 500,000 watt AM transmitter in Albania.
Their response makes it possible to expand even more. “We’re looking forward to producing some Balkan-Romani programs inside Albania in the future. Up till now, all of them have been produced in Bulgaria. We were able to go to a number of Romani neighborhoods and different towns, and we were able to play program samples for the people. The response was very encouraging.”
Romani people tend to be suspicious of outsiders, but this barrier was overcome by using native Romani speakers to host the programs.
