Date: Fri 17-Sep-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Slovakia-Mary-Ondov

Full Text:

Sandy Hook Woman Finds Changes In Her Family's Native Slovakia

(with cuts)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

When Mary Ondov traveled to Slovakia in August, she saw first-hand that

freedom has come at a price to the republic which was once part of

Czechoslovakia.

"Slovakia is not doing well," Mrs Ondov said. "It is a sad situation over

there. The country is poor. Factory jobs are dwindling. My cousin sews in a

sewing factory which will be laying off 500 to 600 of its 1,200 jobs this

year."

A resident of Sandy Hook, Mary Ondov traveled to Slovakia with her

granddaughter, Amanda Nealy, 7, a second grade student at Middle Gate School,

to visit relatives who live in a small village called Podlipniky near Presov

in the eastern part of the country.

"I have lots of family there," Mrs Ondov explained. "My mother grew up there.

She was born in the United States, but her parents moved back [to Slovakia]

when she was two years old. She and her older brother, John, were US citizens,

however, so when they grew up, they moved back to the United States. Her

parents and the younger children, who were born in Slovakia, remained there."

"My mother was 18 or 19 when she came back to the United States and she never

went back to Slovakia again until 30 years ago, when she was in her 60s, and I

talked her into it," Mrs Ondov said. "I went with her and met the whole

family."

When Czechoslovakia came under Communist rule after World War II, it adopted

an economy and government modeled after that of the Soviet Union. The state

took control of the factories and many businesses, private property was

nationalized, and farmers were forced to join collective farms in which land

and equipment were jointly owned.

"My relatives had big farms," Mrs Ondov said. "But the government took all the

property and just left them small plots, just enough to grow food for

themselves. They also have a cow, and some pigs, and chickens."

"Under the Communists, the farmers were paid to grow crops. Now they have to

do it for themselves, and they keep most of what they grow to live on," she

said.

Mrs Ondov said she also noticed during her 1972 trip that all of the trees

were removed far back from the roadways to prevent attacks by revolutionaries

on the Soviet troops. The country had been invaded by the Soviet military in

1968 to eliminate reforms that were taking place. It wasn't until revolts

against Communist governments swept through Eastern Europe beginning in 1989

that the Communists were ousted from Czechoslovakia.

"I visited the country again five years ago with my husband, and discovered

that things had changed greatly," Mrs Ondov said. "They were even beginning to

teach English in the schools."

But the division of Czechoslovakia into two separate republics in 1993 brought

problems that had not been anticipated by the 5.4 million people who live in

Slovakia. The transition to a market economy resulted in greater unemployment

and economic hardship than that felt in the more economically advantaged Czech

republic.

"Slovakia is mainly an agricultural area," Mrs Ondov said. "It is beautiful

country. But it was not very industrialized. When the Prague government of the

Czech area broke off, it left Slovakia in the lurch. When I visited five years

ago, everyone was working. This time, only half the people were working. One

of my cousins works in Prague. He spends two weeks there, then comes home to

visit his family."

When Mrs Ondov and her granddaughter decided to visit Bratislava, the capital

city of Slovakia, they took the train, a five-hour trip. "The trip was so long

that I decided we should fly back to Presov," she said. "But you couldn't.

There are no flights between the two cities unless the flight is part of a

longer, connecting flight. I couldn't believe it."

One of the biggest problems the country is facing is the lack of opportunity

for its young people, Mrs Ondov said. "Young people began leaving the country,

moving to Italy, Hungary, Germany -- wherever they can find work."

A country of almost 19,000 square miles, Slovakia is bordered by the Czech

republic, Poland, the Ukraine, Hungary, and Austria. The economy in most of

the other countries is better than that of Slovakia, Mrs Ondov said.

"One of my nieces, named Maria, had come to the United States twice on

six-month visas, the second time to work as a nanny. But when she applied

again recently, she was refused a visa. The economy is so bad in Slovakia,

they are afraid she won't come back. So now the young people go where they

don't need a visa."

Many of the young people are becoming chefs, a skill in demand by hotels and

resorts in other countries, she said.

As the young people leave, many older people are moving into the country, she

said.

"A lot of people who retire go there to live," she said. "With the money an

American receives from Social Security, you could retire and live there very

well."