Friday-Sunday, September 11-13: A Family in Need – A Family With Life

Friday-Sunday, September 11-13: A Family in Need – A Family With Life

Friday afternoon Leszick drove us to Jaroslaw were we met his Aunt, Angela, Yalina's sister and another Pietrucha relative, where we had another round of food and convsation. Angela had worked in the post office during her career and her husband died in 2004 of cancer. She lived with her two single sons in their 30s. One son was working as a school caretaker and ther other, who was at home, avoided us. Just as we were leaving Angela's niece and husband, who are working in Ireland, arrived. After a quick greeting and exchange of contact information we were off again.

On arrival in Makowisko a small single street village 4km from Jaroslaw, we drove a few kms from the highway on a smaller paved road, lined with houses which fronted small farm like plots, to 67C Makowisko, at the far end of town. Many of the houses were new or remodeled or in the process. We encountered a modern looking 2 level home with unfinished basement, on a gravel road, about 100 meters off the paved road. We learned that the house was started in 2000, is about 900 sq ft., and still being built. It is a nice design outside and in, sort of alpine in structure but finished in stucco over the basic brick/block construction. The main floor has a 12’x18’ open living/dining room, parent’s bedroom, small entrance way, very small bathroom which includes a 30 inch shower with no door and 8 overused tooth brushes in a cup; a 9’x12’ kitchen with cupboards and sink on one wall, a breakfast nook table and bench, clothes washer, fridge, and window. The living room has a wall unit with TV and ghetto blaster, and a chesterfield worse for the wear.

It’s cute to see 4-5 children lined up on the chesterfield watching TV, and not fighting, perhaps on their best behavior for guests. The dining area had a nice table and chairs set. Floors are of tile and laminate, but the chimney has fallen in, and the stair well to updstairs is still in raw concrete covered with chunks of carpet. Upstairs are 5 sparsely furnished bedrooms, 4 nicely finished with laminate floors. The two youngest boys have small beds but the other children had fold-down couches.

This is a home of dreams for the parents and their 6 children. The parents are Marian and Beata Antonio. Marian’s mother was a Stanicki, a cousin of Rose and Mike’s. Marian has been working in Germany for 6 years as a construction worker specializing in ceramic tile and painting. Her earns 10 Euro per hour, 10 hours a day 6 days a week, and rents a room for 200 Euro/month. He was supposed to arrive home Friday when we arrived, after three months in Germany, but ne mah (it didn’t happen). He arrived at 4pm on Saturday, much to the excitement of his wife and family. He will be home for 2 weeks during which he will do more work on his own house.
These 6 children: Sylvia 17, Marcin 16, Ewa 15, David 13, Karl 11, and Sebastian 9, seem to be very happy, well educated, smart kids. Tom taught them double solitaire, which the younger ones took turns at and they all mastered in a few moments. Tom was impressed with their tolerance when receiving a pile of cards or losing a game. They taught us a few games too: Cuckoo and Dupa Biscoopa (Bishop’s Ass). They showed us a very well built swing set made from logs and a few bolts, which included a single seat and a double seat swing. The swing was made by the boys, and is a central part of the children’s outdoor activities, along with Faco, the small house dog, and Brutus a large dog chained up outside beside a shed, and a rabbit in a pen, Karl’s pet, named Gray. David loves to play with Faco and Brutus, each tugging at a rope or piece of plastic, jumping around Brutus’s chain area, yelling and barking, and bumping at each other. Sebastion likes to open the cage and pet the rabbit, while Faco dreams of sinking his teeth into the tasty looking rabbit. All the children are intensely curious about their surroundings and about what I write on the computer. Heartwarming is the only way to describe their support and respect for their parents. Their mother Beata is clearly a rock of the family and exhibits an extraordinary zest for life (demonstrated by her continuous smile and excited conversation), despite their lack of material stuff!

Marcin is studying either surveying or engineering at a technical school, we were not sure of our understanding of the explanation. We can tell that he will do well. Ewa, thin and tall for her age, exhibits a quite confidence and sparkle in her enthusiasm for life and her dream to become a teacher. Sylvia is quiet but seems most capable at English Polish translation, and clearly has a boyfriend whom we did not meet. She is studying to be an artist. Sebastian, the youngest, loves to show how he can rear up his little dirt bike complete with worn-to-the-metal peddles and handle bars. David and Karl, who is more timid and mentioned his fear of ghosts, don’t yet talk of careers. They all love the computer and TV. All of them spend a lot of time outdoors.

Their parents seem to have an excellent relationship despite Marian being away so much. The children all help out at home and are well behaved. Rose was impressed to see Marcin, 16, sitting outside on the rough unfinished concrete front steps peeling the potatoes, while the girls were inside preparing very tasty dishes for the meal, under the supervision and participation of their mother. Parts of the house are finished very nicely and parts have not yet been finished, awaiting Marion to earn more money and have more time. The furniture shows the wear of a family of 6 bright active children. They have TV, water, sewer, 2 computers, one with keys that stick which is hooked up to the internet, and an HP printer without any ink.

Rose and I slept in Ewa’s room, while Mike and Lillian slept in Marcin and David’s room. The kids doubled up on their single beds while we are visiting. Having a shower was nearly impossible. I don’t know how the kids seemed to be so clean.

On Saturday, Marian’s parents Wladyk and Ann (Stanicki) Antonia and Ann’s sister Maria, who were our first visit on entering Poland, drove the 20 kms for a visit and for dinner. It was cute to see the slight tension between Aunt Maria and Beata. Beata told us that Aunt Maria felt conditions inadequate at their place and always brought cooked food when she visited. Beata is proud of her cooking and her family and resents this attitude. The visit turned into a great revelation of family and connections as Mike, Lillian, and Rose were in animated discussions with Wladyk, Ann, and Maria, with the rest of the family occasionally stopping to hear a story. The discussion became more animated as we brought out the photos of our 2003 visits in Ukraine and Germany, and my DVD movie of Rose’s first 65 years for her 65th birthday, which we played on my laptop.

FEELINGS: Rose and I have been impressed with the integrity and supportiveness of our relatives and friends. At times it has been a problem, in Ukraine and with older people everywhere, as people seemed desperate to pump us full of food seemingly as a way of showing their copious hospitality.

We have learned how to give money. We never mention that it is to help out or to defray costs. We always say that we do not have room in our luggage to carry gifts, which is true, so we give gifts of money.

Rose and I only spent one night at Marian and Beata’s. We felt that the family needed their rooms more than we needed to stay with them, and we were in relieved to have a decent shower in a local hotel which would match, to a degree, our 3 star hotels, with wireless internet.

You have to be inspired by the energy, committment, and persistence of the Polish people. After centuries of fedualism, destruction by the Germans, and exploitive domination by the Russians, these people are looking forward and doing whatever is necessary for getting ahead. It seems almost everyone is working somewhere else in Europe.

Relgion is the centre of life for both Ukrainians and Poles. In Ukraine anyone passing the numerous loving cared for shrines to 'Our Lady' and 'The Cross', whether in a car or on foot, cross themselves. In our hotel here in Poland on Sunday morning the attendant was watching morning mass on TV, a mass totally conducted by men. Our family was planning to go to church but after the excitement of arriving guests and the return of their father, everyone slept in.

HISTORY OF THE AREA, JAROSLAW POLAND (from Wikipedia):

The city was established by the Ruthenian prince Yaroslav the Wise in the 11th century. It was granted Magdeburg rights by Polish prince W?adys?aw Opolczyk in 1375.
The city quickly developed as important trade centre and a port on the San river, reaching the period of its greatest prosperity in 16th and 17th century, with trade routes linking Silesia with Ruthenia and Gda?sk with Hungary coming through it and merchants from such distant countries as Spain, England, Finland, Armenia and Persia arriving at the annual three week long fair on the feast of the Assumption. In 1574 a Jesuit college was established in Jaros?aw.
In the 1590s Tatars from the Ottoman Empire pillaged the surrounding countryside. (See Moldavian Magnate Wars, The Magnate Wars (1593-1617), Causes.) They were unable to overcome the city's fortifications, but their raids started to diminish the city's economic strength and importance. Outbreaks of bubonic plague in the 1620s and the Swedish The Deluge in 1655-60 further undermined its prominence. In the Great Northern War of 1700-21 the region was repeatedly pillaged by Russian, Saxon and Swedish armies, causing the city to decline further.
Jaros?aw was under Austrian rule from the First Partition of Poland in 1772 until Poland regained independence in 1918. After the 2nd World War the city remained part of Poland. Poland's communist government expelled most of Jaros?aw's Ukrainian population, at first to Soviet territories and later to territories transferred from Germany to Poland in 1944-45.