YOU'VE probably heard the names "Gippo" and "Tink" being shouted across the playground. You might even have used them yourself. But what do you really understand about the culture of Gypsies and Travellers?

Probably very little. Brought face to face, would you think that their unique way of life and rich cultural heritage is one to be despised? What could you learn from them? Are they really that different from you?

Gypsies and Travellers are distinct groups of people who have been in Scotland for many centuries and, although some intermarriage with Gorjios (non-Gypsies) has taken place, they still retain their own culture and customs and regard the Travelling lifestyle as being part of their ethnic identity. However, they have always been discriminated against in Scotland, often feared and misunderstood.

Although Gypsies and Travellers have been part of our community for centuries, there is very little recorded information about their culture and history. The available information is usually from the perspective of adults in the settled community.

Faced with this challenge and wanting to be better understood, a group of young Scottish Gypsies and Travellers aged between 9 and 17 have been working with Save The Children to find out more about their traditions and create exciting ways to share their culture with others.

The upcoming Who Are We exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh is the result.

Here three of the young people involved share their stories with fresh on what it really means to be a Gypsy or Traveller in Scotland today.

Andria Horne, 14, is from Fife The worst thing about being a Traveller is not being able to use my hair straighteners! I normally live in a house, but we go away in the trailer in the summer to Oban and Fort William, and when we don't have electricity, my hair looks a mess!

We meet up with my aunties and uncles and travel together. I have three brothers and three sisters. My eldest sister has moved to Littlehampton in England and lives with her Countryman (a non-Traveller). My parents didn't mind that he is a Countryman, because he is a good man and that's all that matters.

I think I'll keep travelling. It's kind of hereditary. All my family do it, so I don't see why it should be any different for me. But I still want to get a good education and a get a job. I am in third year at high school. All my friends treat me like normal. Some of them don't believe I'm a Traveller.

They say: "You're a Gypsy?" with disbelief. I don't see how it's so hard to believe. It's because they realise that I'm not that different from them. All the teachers treat me the same also. If anyone asks me, I tell them proudly "I am a Traveller" because it's nothing to be ashamed of.

People have misconceptions about us and that's when the discrimination starts. We use different words from them, we stay in trailers sometimes ­ that's about the only difference.

I like the space of the house, but I love the freedom of the trailer. In the house, it's the same four walls and the same street day after day. Tthen you go away in the trailer. You meet new people; you get to see people you haven't seen for a very long time.

What we do is similar to people who go off backpacking all round the world, except we tend to travel round our own country. I'd like to travel round the world. I'd especially like to go to Africa, to experience the jungle and the animals.

If I get married, I'll get married to whoever I want. It wouldn't bother me if he was a Traveller or a Countryman, Catholic or Protestant, black or white. It's all the same to me.

Shantelle, 14, from Perthshire I live in a rented house with my two brothers and my mum and dad. In the summer, we are always in the caravan. At other times we live in a house because my younger brother has epilepsy and needs regular doctor and hospital appointments. When you are a Traveller and moving about, a lot of doctors won't put you on their records, you see.

In the summer we go to places like Newcastle, Edinburgh and Norwich. I love it as I get to see all my friends and family. We travel round different camps set up usually on disused land or by the roadside. We don't get to stay there for long because we get moved on a lot. Generally, we don't get treated well by the police, although sometimes you can get a nice one.

I hate the house. I feel like a prisoner.

There's nothing to do, no other Travellers to have a chat with. My favourite place to travel to is Edinburgh on a big camp in an industrial estate.

There's all different kinds of people: Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh. That's the best thing about being a Traveller, getting to meet different people all the time.

The worst thing is the lack of privacy. We have two trailers ­ one for the boys and one for Mum, Dad and me, but you don't have as much space as you would like. It's not squashed ­ I have a big bedroom at one end and my mum and dad have theirs at the other ­ but there's not that much personal space.

I hate school. People at school don't know that I'm a Traveller ­ I have had experience before of discrimination and people calling me names. At primary school they called me "Gippo" and things like that.

I don't want that to happen again, so I don't really reveal too much about myself.

People think we're all big hoops and fortune tellers, but we're not ­ we're just normal people, but live in a caravan and have a different language.

We speak Cant at home ­ it is from Gaelic, but said to contain a bit of Sanskrit. I speak to my granny about our history. She lived in an old traditional painted wagon. She tells me how things have changed over the years ­ how the likes of hawkin' (calling at people's doors to sell goods) has died out and how she wasn't allowed to go out with a boy until she was 16.

It's the same for me in that respect. I have to wait until I am 16 until I have a boyfriend and he has to be from the Traveller community. I will continue these traditions in my family.

Family and community are important to me. I couldn't live any other way.

Justine Wilson, 15, is from Spean Bridge I live in a village about nine miles north of Fort William just now, but I am originally from Lochgilphead. I live in a caravan on the Travellers' site. There are about 10 pitches.

There's me and my parents, my brother and two sisters in one bay, my brother and his wife in another and my auntie and uncle in a third.

In the evening, I would have my dinner and probably watch TV ­ pretty regular stuff. The site we are on at the moment has facilities, but they are not very good.

Everyone gets their own chalet with a shower, a toilet and a sink for washing dishes, but they are usually pretty run down. I don't think the council cares too much about our lifestyle or our needs. But Travellers should look after them a bit better themselves ­ they can't just blame everyone else all the time.

My younger brother and I go to school one day a week, to a class by ourselves. I haven't really got to know anyone else at the school, but I enjoy the lessons because I want to further my education to become a sports journalist or a chef.

Although I did get called names like 'Gippo' at primary school, other people in the area don't treat us that badly. They are used to Travellers here, but there are always going to be people who think differently towards you. I think that's because some Travellers have given them bad experiences, but not all Travellers are the same.

I probably would bring my children up the same way.

Although many Traveller families want you to marry another Traveller, it's not really like that in mine. One of my sisters wants to join the police force. Some of the people in our Traveller community disagree with that, but all my family are happy. I don't think there are enough Travellers in the police force. I haven't found them a problem, but others have had bad experiences.

My grandparents used to live in tents. I think it's important to remember those times so we don't forget who we really are and where we came from. But things change; Traveller culture is changing with the times. People shouldn't just do everything they did a 100 years ago, just because it is tradition.

I would describe myself as a Traveller, not a Gypsy. For me they are two different cultures, and people get them mixed up. A Gypsy is someone who has directly come from the Roma. All my family has been born all the generations back, in Scotland. I am a Traveller from Scotland. But I am Scottish first, then I am a Traveller.

When I'm 18, I'd like to get a car and travel the whole of America, backpacking. We are not that different ­ we just live a different way. Family is important to us, but in settled communities I am sure there are families who are just as close. Everyone's the same underneath.

Who Are We? will run at the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh from May 6.

A HISTORY OF LIFE ON THE ROAD

THE subject of where Gypsies and Travellers came from is much debated in their communities. Gypsies are said to be direct descendants of the Roma who are thought to have migrated from India through the Middle East and Europe, eventually reaching Scotland in the 15th century. It is thought that Romany originates from Sanskrit, a classical language of India.

The roots of Scots travellers are less clear.

Their existence here has been documented since the 12th century and it has been suggested that they were descended from clansmen dispossessed of their lands. Their language Cant, is said to be derived from Gaelic.

A count of households on council sites and roadside encampments indicates that there are 583 Gypsy or Traveller households in Scotland ­ that's approximately 1960 people ­ but folk from those communities say the real figure is much higher. Some live on authorised council sites, while others live on private or roadside encampments. The number of official sites is thought to be too few and the facilities there are said to often be poor.

Access to health, education and social services can be difficult for Gypsies and Travellers. Less than 20-per cent attend secondary school regularly in Scotland and many of the young Travellers report being bullied out of going to school. Some say they have no choice but to live on roadside camps ­ with no water or electricity ­ from which they are constantly being moved on. A recent Mori poll found that a third of people admit to being prejudiced against Gypsies and Travellers.

Thanks to Save The Children for its help with this feature. For more information on its excellent work check out www.savethechildren.org.uk