海角大神

L谩szl贸 Bogd谩n doesn鈥檛 enjoy his fame much. 鈥淚 feel like a monkey in a zoo,鈥� he says with characteristic bluntness. 鈥淚鈥檓 like an exotic animal everyone wants to see.鈥�

Journalists, politicians, and even foreign diplomats have been flocking to see Mr. Bogd谩n in Cserdi, a village in southern Hungary where he鈥檚 the mayor. He鈥檚 been spearheading a dramatic do-it-yourself transformation among the village鈥檚 426 residents, most of whom belong to the ethnic Roma minority.

The 鈥淐serdi miracle,鈥� as it鈥檚 been dubbed, has made the mayor famous nationwide. He is a regular on television shows and gives speeches far and wide, which recently included remarks at the United Nations in New York.

These days Cserdi looks like other villages in Baranya County. Neat brick houses with flowering acacias out front are set among rolling fields of rapeseed and wheat. The village also boasts several sprawling greenhouses where villagers tend to bell peppers, potatoes, and more.

A decade ago, it was a different picture: tumbledown hovels and other signs of ruinous poverty. Many homes didn鈥檛 even have bathrooms.

But the worst was the crime. Cserdi was notorious for it, having one of Hungary鈥檚 highest crime rates. There were some 600 crimes a year: robberies, burglaries, drunken fistfights, cases of domestic abuse. Barely anyone worked.

鈥淣o one stopped here,鈥� says Gizella Bogd谩n, a jovial grandmother who works in the greenhouses. (Bogd谩n is a common surname among Hungary鈥檚 Roma.) 鈥淧eople just drove through, and the village kids threw stones at cars.鈥�

But when Mr. Bogd谩n began taking on the mantle of a traditional 鈥渧oivode鈥� (chief) of sorts more than a decade ago, he started setting a different tone. He鈥檚 worked to instill a sense of self-worth in the villagers while also countering common prejudices about the Roma. And he鈥檚 led by example, routinely getting down and dirty in the greenhouses to help with the duties.

Bogd谩n has his share of critics, owing to his coarse language and his tactics, which include sorting through people鈥檚 trash to see if they鈥檝e spent their incomes wisely. But productivity and quality of life have shot up in the village, while crime has plummeted.

Bogd谩n shares the credit for those successes. 鈥淎ll I do is create expectations [for a better life],鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople can do the rest themselves.鈥�

Hunger and scarce shoes

Bogd谩n himself grew up in grinding poverty in Cserdi. He didn鈥檛 get a pair of shoes he could call his own until he was 13. He went hungry for days, often feeling faint.

Locals scavenged in carcass disposal pits for meat and stole from neighboring villages. 鈥淲e might steal 300 chickens in one night. Why should I deny it?鈥� Bogd谩n says. 鈥淏ut we felt ashamed when we ate them. When you live like that, you鈥檙e full of fear and shame. People hated us.鈥�

But it wasn鈥檛 the sideways glances from ethnic Hungarians that troubled him. It was their refusal to accept him. 鈥淔or a while I didn鈥檛 even realize I wasn鈥檛 a 鈥榬eal鈥� Hungarian,鈥� he recounts. 鈥淧eople called us names, but I didn鈥檛 know what they meant.鈥�

In Hungary, where 鈥淕ypsy鈥� is used as a casual term of abuse, being one can be a social death sentence. The Roma make up as much as a tenth of the nation鈥檚 population, but they continue to be viewed by many Hungarians as permanent outsiders.

鈥淲hen G谩bor Vona says he loves this country, many people cheer,鈥� Bogd谩n observes, referring to the leader of a populist far-right party known for strident anti-Gypsy rhetoric. 鈥淲hen I say it, they jeer.鈥�

That, more than anything, has motivated him: He wants to show that people鈥檚 worth isn鈥檛 in their skin color. He also wants to show Roma everywhere that they can improve their lot on their own. 鈥淵es, you鈥檙e responsible for yourself鈥� declares a sign pinned to a doorway in his office.

Upon being elected mayor in 2006, Bogd谩n, who completed only three years of formal schooling but is a restless autodidact, set about helping villagers understand the power of that dictum. Once he settled in, he closed down the village pub. Then he took the bars off the windows of local government offices to show people he trusted them not to break in. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 had a single burglary since,鈥� he says.

When two local heavies confronted him over shutting down the pub, he handled them the 鈥淕ypsy way.鈥� 鈥淚 tied them to a tree,鈥� Bogd谩n says. 鈥淚鈥檓 not that strong, but I never back down.鈥�

Last year there were only six burglaries in Cserdi, and doors can now safely be left unlocked. 鈥淚f I learn a local Gypsy commits a crime, I鈥檒l take him to the police station myself,鈥� Bogd谩n insists. Once he turned in his own aunt for shoplifting.

To show teenage boys what lay in store if they pursued a life of crime, he took them on visits to prisons. 鈥淲e went in all tough,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e came out all meek.鈥�

The mayor also runs summer schools and camps to keep youngsters from loitering. He鈥檚 launched a campaign to warn local girls against teenage pregnancy and introduced initiatives to keep them from dropping out of school.

Making it to high school

鈥淢y children do better than I did,鈥� attests Hajnalka Bogd谩n, a mother of five who first gave birth at 16. She has little education, but all her children are doing well in school. Two of them are among the 17 local youths who are studying in high schools. There were once none.

Buoyed by such successes, Mr. Bogd谩n, who lives alone and sleeps only a few hours a night, remains relentless. Sometimes cajoling villagers like a friend, other times badgering them like a martinet, he gets them to find jobs, help renovate each other鈥檚 houses, and build bathrooms for those without one.

Cserdi is now thriving. The villagers, who used to pilfer wood from forests, have now planted a 42-acre forest, and they鈥檝e launched a small pickling business called Lasipe (鈥済oodness鈥� in the Romani language. They鈥檙e also selling Gypsy-style 鈥渞omburgers,鈥� made with a traditional vegetable ragout.

Bogd谩n encourages them to give to other poor people, which they do regularly in other communities by distributing vegetables from Cserdi鈥檚 greenhouses. 鈥淚t feels good to give,鈥� says Ms. Bogd谩n, the grandmother. The mayor adds: 鈥淥nce we stole from people. Now we want to give to them.鈥�

Politically, he鈥檚 remained fiercely independent and refuses to accept financial help. 鈥淚 won鈥檛 be anyone鈥檚 doll and shake my behind at them,鈥� he says.

His penchant for such earthy expressions has opened him up to charges of misogyny, anti-gay prejudice, and racism. He shrugs it off. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 mean to insult anyone,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut I have to speak bluntly so my people will understand.鈥�

Bogd谩n hasn鈥檛 endeared himself to many Roma leaders, either. He鈥檚 accused them of embezzling European Union development funds earmarked for impoverished Roma communities. He wants state-sponsored Roma organizations dismantled and grass-roots community empowerment projects like his replicated elsewhere. He receives death threats regularly.

But he also has his fans. 鈥淗e鈥檚 an exceptional character,鈥� says Andr谩s B铆r贸, a veteran Roma rights advocate in Budapest, the Hungarian capital. 鈥淲hat he鈥檚 achieved is remarkable, especially because there are no other [Gypsy leaders] like him.鈥� It鈥檚 commendable, he adds, that Bogd谩n not only speaks out against Roma stereotypes but also seeks to address the behaviors among the Roma that fuel those stereotypes.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 just blame others for our own failures,鈥� Bogd谩n notes. Yet he鈥檚 mindful of the evils of prejudice. Outside his office he鈥檚 created a memorial to the Roma victims of the Holocaust.

Bogd谩n is also mindful of what Cserdi鈥檚 villagers want and need. In his office, unspooled rolls of craft paper hang from the ceiling and are pasted on the walls. On each, villagers have penned their answers to questions he鈥檚 been asking them.

To the question 鈥淲hat makes you proud?,鈥� one villager has written: 鈥淢any Hungarians think we鈥檙e incapable of improvement. We鈥檝e proved them wrong.鈥�

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