Helena Karasova, my childhood
Communist Czechoslovakia
I was born in 1980, in Czechoslovakia, one of the former Eastern European countries. My country was ruled by a Communist regime from 1948 to 1989. It was a regime that did not allow people to say what they thought; it was a regime that did not allow most of the people to travel; it was regime that did not allow people to go to church. But most importantly, it was a regime that had a significant impact on what beliefs my grandparents and parents passed onto me.
As a little child, I spent most of the time with my beloved grandparents,
the parents of my father. I loved
listening to the funny stories from their childhood.
Unfortunately, not all of the stories were filled with happy content.
Some of them described their experience of human cruelty as practiced by
the Czechoslovak Communist government in former Czechoslovakia between
1948-1989.
One day in 1958, my grandparents and their older son, all of whom
expressed their disagreement with the Czechoslovak regime, were put in jail for
several long years. My father, their younger son, was 16 years old at that time.
When he returned home from school that day, he found an empty locked
house with a cop standing in front of the door.
The cop announced to him that he should not count on seeing his family
for a few years. Furthermore, my
father was not allowed to graduate from high school on time, as a punishment for
his family’s beliefs. All of the
members of the family were told that using such unimaginable human cruelty
served as special training to bolster their comprehension of
“the plethora of advantages” Communism offered to them.
Nevertheless, my grandparents never gave up their hopes for a better
future. They knew that such
oppression could not last forever.
My grandma shared this story with me in 1986, when I was six years old. I still recall her voice and facial expression. She did not sound angry or bitter at all. I felt that she wanted to convey an extremely important message to me. Unfortunately, my young age did not allow me to fully understand the meaning of my grandmother’s words. Notwithstanding, my brain recorded them verbatim, enabling me to keep them in my memory.
Later that year, on June 30 1986, I, a proud first grader, returned home with my grade report of straight A’s. I wanted the whole world to know about it, especially my “daddy.” When I showed him my grades, he smiled but his smile was permeated by a little bit of sadness as well. He took me aside, putting me on his lap and said, “Helena, I am very proud of your achievement but one day when you are not allowed to study at the university because of your family background, please don’t be ashamed of who we are.” Even though I did not understand my father’s words fully, I knew I would never give up my fervent dream of receiving my university education.
In November 1989, the Velvet Revolution, the tangible embodiment of the disagreement of the Czechoslovak people with the Communist Regime, took place. During the days of the occurrence of the Velvet Revolution, my grandfather on my father’s side was dying. When I sat on his bed at noon on one of the final days of the Revolution, both of us heard bells ringing. The bells’ sound symbolized the freedom brought to our country by the abdication of the Communist government. My grandfather seemed to be very calm and happy. He turned his head to me and with a strong voice said, “See Helena, we have always fought for the truth and we won. Please always remember this and never let go.” These were the last words of my grandfather before he died two days later.
Today, I am 24 years old and I have a much better understanding of what message my grandparents’ and father’s words conveyed. All of them were trying to teach me that I am must always stand up for what is right and I must never give up. All of them were trying to teach me about the significance of protecting people’s freedom and rights, which has become one of the most important goals of my life.
Helena comes to America
When I was 17 years old, one of my biggest dreams was to learn the English language. I realized that being fluent in English was going to open the whole world to me. Because I truly wanted to assuage my thirst for learning about this world, I was willing to do anything it took to achieve my goal.
I realized that in order to attain the fluency in English, I needed to
converse with native English speakers. That
is why I asked my English teacher, Mr. Josef Bocek, whether he knew any English
native speaker who lived in my hometown of Třebič [Tray beach] in the
Czech Republic. Mr. Bocek mentioned
that he heard some American was coming to our town to teach English conversation
for a few months.
Later that year, in February 1997, I met Mr. Duane Ausherman, a
Californian gentleman. Duane and I met often to converse in English.
I absolutely loved it. Duane
taught me a lot about the English language, but we also often talked about his
home country, the United States.
In May 1997, my parents invited Duane to live with us. Duane stayed with
us for about two months. During
that time, my family and Duane became very close.
At the end of his stay, Duane asked me what my biggest dream was.
I responded, “I want to live in the USA for one year.”
He said, “Why don’t you pursue it?”
Later
that day, I told my parents about my dream.
My mother, a woman who always took action, smiled at me and said,
“Well, we can sell our car, purchase the air ticket for you, and you can
go!” I could hardly believe my
mom’s words. Everything seemed
like a fairy tale. In August 1997,
I arrived at the Sacramento airport in California.
And it was not a fairy tale; it was real.
I lived in California with Linda and Duane Ausherman for one year. During that year, all of us became very close. Ever since, Linda and Duane have played a significant role in my life. Both of them became MY DEAR AMERICAN PARENTS!
Where the road leads after
graduate school
I truly believe that each of us has a certain road in front of us. For each of us, the road is different. The road that I want to walk, is the road to helping the most indigent people in developing countries. I know that God has given me many special talents that I feel obliged to share them with others. That is why I decided to attain a master's degree in Global/International Public Health at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. I will be starting this program in the fall of 2004.
It is a field that trains its students to go and help improve the health conditions of the people in Africa, South America, India and many other developing countries. Those are the places where thousands of people die from AIDS every day. Those are the places where a large number of children die before they are five years old. Those are the places that need our help the most.
Last edited 11 August, 2006
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