2007: Ales Pokuta and Maria Pokutova
Racism is worse in Slovakia than in England, so it’s hard for Roma people to find work and provide for their children. I first came to Sheffield with my parents and family from the small village of Žehra in Slovakia in 2007. We couldn’t speak English when we first arrived and that made it hard to find jobs here. In 2010 I went back to Slovakia for six months but then I came again in 2011 and haven’t been back since. Maria came here in 2013; we met here.

Now I speak English and I want my children to adopt English culture. Although we rent our house from a landlord we have put a lot of work and money into doing up the house.

At home in Pitsmoor