Most of us would have given up long ago but the Gypsy and non-Gypsy
evangelists from France kept going. They kept going for twenty years and they saw
no result. They toured the south and into Wales. They had a stall at Epsom for the
Derby. Other evangelists concentrated on Kent. There was still no result. With these
teams was Clement Le Cossec, a non-Gypsy. He wrote his story in My Adventures
Among the Gypsies.
In the meanwhile, two people, Les and Irene Lamb were witnessing to their
Gypsy friends.
And, more importantly God was quietly and unnoticed at work
preparing Gypsy hearts to receive Christ. This was in the North of England.
David Jones and His wife Nora liked and respected the Lambs. They did not
understand what they talked about but they knew it was something to do with God
and that they were good people. They called them, “the Holy People” because they
respected their sincerity and because they were special in their relationship with
God.
A Mysterious Nomadic People
Though the Roma have been with us since, probably the end of the
fourteenth century, little is known about them by the majority of the non-Gypsy
population. They are not over secretive but they keep to themselves and they are
nomads. Once was the time, up until the sixties, when they traveled all over the land.
Now it is too dangerous to take a horse drawn wagon on most roads and even a
modern trailer caravan is not quite the same. No longer do gypsy ladies go round the
doors hawking clothes pegs made from hazel or willow. Sometimes you may see a
Gypsy lady at a fair telling fortunes. More often than not they merge into the
population, their motto being “integration but not assimilation.”
Mostly they have lost their traveling lifestyle and they are either on a site or in
a house. It is hard for me, a gauja, to explain the loss felt by the true Romani
for not being able to travel. Gypsy friends have told me about this and I can see the
hurt in their eyes and hear it in their voices. They are a true nomadic people, have
been for centuries, and now things are changing. They are changing for us all but for
the Roma it is a hard and difficult change, but one they are coping with as they have
always coped.
In comparison with the numbers of their populations, in proportion, there were
more Gypsies killed in Auschwitz than there were Jews. Hitler was having them
rounded up as early as 1936. Nor was Germany the only country where they have
been mistrusted and persecuted. Yet they are a proud and honourable people with a
strong sense of humour, often against themselves. Most of all they are highly
intelligent and emotionally strong, they have had to be to survive.
In Ireland
But let us get back to David and Nora. David's family were Roman Catholic
though he was not an observant one. Nora told fortunes, "dukkering," in Romanes. At
the time when the French evangelists seemed to be failing in their mission David and
Nora decided to go to Ireland. They stayed there for three years. David bought a
Bible. It was a Good News Bible and he bought it from the Francis of Assissi
Bookshop in Dublin.
David did what lots of other people who own a Bible do not do. He read it. He
read it, during the three years they were in Ireland, from cover to cover. Nora saw
him change and thought he was becoming a fanatic. Being a Gypsy lady she
probably made it known what she thought. Looking back she insists that it was then,
as he read that Bible, that David became a Christian.
David does not think so, though he does speak with some wonder in his
voice, that there were things that, “leapt out of the page at me.” God was certainly at
work in the life of that family.
The French Come To England Again
Again events miraculously came together. In France there was a Christian
man called Tallis Sabas. He was sure that God wanted him to go to England. Other
French Gypsy evangelists were not keen. Anyway, they pointed out, Tallis could not
speak English, and the English certainly did not speak French. Tallis insisted and
went, along with John Le Cossec, Clement's son to translate.
In London they were directed to meet Les and Irene Lamb. At the same time
David and Nora were paying what was to be a short visit to England before returning
to Ireland. They all met up and the miracles began to occur. As soon as David
arrived they met up on the only day possible since the visit was a short one.
