Combating poverty in Roma settlement

Genoveva Lingurar, who is pregnant, holds her son Alexandru in the makeshift and temporary home she shares with her husband and seven children in the abjectly poor Roma settlement of Ponorata, in Ponorata, Romania, Sept. 10, 2013.

Between 400 and 500 Roma live in squalor at Ponorata, few have access to electricity and 95 percent are illiterate and unemployed.

A Romanian NGO called OvidiuRo is attempting to get young Roma children to regularly attend pre-school through a coupon incentive system for food at Ponorata and 23 other Roma communities across Romania.

Many Roma from Ponorata have spent time in France to earn money, mostly through begging and scrap metal collection.

Roma sisters Maria-Gianina and Mihaela-Rocsana Erdelyi head home after attending a preschool class in Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Young Roma children eat bread and ham during snack time at a preschool class in the Roma settlement of Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Young Roma children attend a preschool class in Ponorata, Sept. 11, 2013.

Livia Lungarare pose for a photo with her husband in the two-room home they share with other family members in Ponorata, Sept. 11, 2013.

Veronika Varga and other members of her family look out from the doorway of the one-room wood, mud and straw hut they share with other family members in Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Maria Gheorghiu, co-founder of the Romanian NGO OvidiuRo, offers Roma child Irina, 5, food during snack-time in the pre-school class in the Roma settlement of Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Local Roma residents ride a horse-drawn cart in the abjectly poor Roma settlement of Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Roma sisters Natalia Varga (L) and Camilia Istvan pose for a photo in Ponorata, Sept. 11, 2013.

Young Roma mother Claudia Varga holds her infant daughter Raluca on the only street in Ponorata, Sept. 11, 2013.

Local Roma residents collect water from the single community well in Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Local Roma residents pause while riding their horse-drawn cart, which for many locals is the main means of transportation, out of town in Ponorata, Sept. 11, 2013.

Local Roma residents Romeo Moldovan, his wife Smocina Boldis and their infant daughter Daria stand outside their one-room wood, straw and mud hut in Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Veronika Varga, her grandaughter Petruta and and an infant baby sit in the one-room wood, mud and straw hut they share with other family members in Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Local Roma resident Ion Varga leads a horse he hopes to sell in Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Local Roma children Claudia Erdelyi (L), Damian Augustin (C) and Eugen Erdelyi pause while crossing a field near Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

The potential buyers of two horses from the local Roma Varga family urge the animals to a run while pulling a cart in Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Leslie Hawke (L), co-founder of the Romanian NGO OvidiuRo and mother of American actor Ethan Hawke, and second OvidiuRo co-founder Maria Gheorghiu (red hair) lead Roma children home after a pre-school class in Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Local Roma resident Marinela Boldis holds up a photo showing her deceased husband and their two children outside her wood, straw and mud home in Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Marinela and her family spent eight months in France, begging and living off government child payments, until her husband became ill and died after they returned to Romania.

Members of the Varga family, who spent a year in France before taking money from the French government to leave, watch one of their youngest show off her dancing skills in Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

A horse stands in front of a relatively well-to-do home in the abjectly poor Roma settlement of Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Sisters Senorita (L) and Petronela Molodvan and their relative Flutor Boldis and his daughter Sedonia pose for a photo in relatively well-to-do two-room home they share with other family members in Ponorata, Sept. 11, 2013.

Irina, 5, and other Roma children eat bread and ham during snack-time at a preschool class in Ponorata, Sept. 10, 2013.

Romanian NGO OvidiuRo is attempting to get young Roma children to regularly attend pre-school through a coupon incentive system for food at Ponorata and 23 other Roma communities across Romania.