The Story of the Klega Family in Argentina

4 2006 Naši ve světě English
obálka čísla

Zdenek Klega and his wife Alice describe their experiences and living conditions in Buenos Aires. Their parents immigrated to Argentina in the 1920's because they hoped that making a living abroad would be easier. As it turned out, life at the beginning was very hard. Father worked as a house painter and paper hanger and eventually opened his own workshop and equipped it with all necessary machinery. The housing conditions were bad at first because they could only afford very inexpensive housing. The flats were dirty and full of various insects and his mother was very unhappy at first. In the early days mother took in laundry and ironing to supplement the family income. Eventually the parents could afford to rent nicer apartments. Zdenek remembers that they had to move very often. They all had to work very hard- often late into the night, most days of the week with almost no time for relaxation. He and his brother Otakar had it a little easier when they grew up. Even though Otakar started to study electrical engineering, he did not finish his studies because he got married very young. He worked hard, was a heavy smoker and died rather young of a heart attack.

The brothers founded a construction company together called MORAVA S.A.

After Otakar's death, Zdenek ran the business by himself. He met his wife Alice while they both attended the local Sokol meetings. They have a son and several grandchildren. Even though the business was doing well, they did not move into their first family home until 1961.

What did the family do for recreation? Father and Mother attended the Sokol meetings, and Mother liked to sing in a glee club and take part in lay drama productions.

Ota and Zdenek attended Sokol and also were interested in sailing and even built their own boat.

Zdenek and his wife Alice were very active in Sokol, and held several important positions in the organization. Later Alice became Secretary of the Federal Gymnastics Organization of Argentina. She also translated some of the Sokol writings into Spanish, including a book about it's history.

Hana Hribkova,
Translated by Marie Dolansky

Vydavatelem Českého dialogu je Mezinárodní český klub

Informace o webu 2012