Magyar News, 1999. szeptember-2000. augusztus (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-07-01 / 11-12. szám
ahvestőry THEY ADOPTED FIVE C a story by Erika Papp Faber In 1997 the Kuzlik family, Ron Sr., Linda and Jim, with the adapted new members of the family, Ron Jr.,Loni, Anna, Melinda and Christina. First mentioned in an official document dating back to 1247, Pétervására may have been part of the estate of a man named Petur who was impaled for killing the queen. Today it is a small agricultural town, northwest of Eger, where old men, with hoes on their shoulders, ride bicycles to the potato fields at the edge of town. Nothing much changes here, and people's lives and way of thinking are shaped by village life. So when an American couple showed up at the local orphanage in 1996, and decided to adopt five siblings, they met with suspicion and a total lack of understanding. After all, who in their right mind would want to take in five children, unless they had an ulterior motive? It all began when Ron and Linda Kuzlik of Stamford, CT approached an attorney handling adoptions from Hungary. She showed them a picture of two little girls, and Linda fell in love with them. But Ron wanted a boy, so he could play baseball with him. On their next visit, the attorney showed them a picture of a young boy. Both Linda and Ron remarked how handsome he was, and the attorney said: “Strangely enough, he's the brother of the two little girls you saw last week.” “Do you mean to say there are three of them?” they asked. “Well, uh, no — there are actually five of them!” “We'll take all five!” Linda blurted out. Ron, a financial analyst, just shook his head. “I thought he'd commit me!” explains Linda with a giggle. He tried to reason with her: “We can't afford it. Our mortgage is too high. And the house isn't big enough.” But Linda had made up her mind. For 14 years, before she had even met Ron, she had a recurring dream in which she came downstairs on Christmas morning, and found five children under her tree. And she just knew they were her children. So this was going to be her dream come true. In Hungary, anonymous letters to the newspapers accused the Kuzliks of wanting to sell the children's body parts. However, none of this deterred Ron and Linda. At Thanksgiving 1996, they went to Pétervására to meet Christina, 5; Melinda, 6; Anna, 8; Loni, 9; and Ron Jr., 10 in the orphanage there. The government had already split them up to improve their chances of being adopted, and they had been separated for a year. After a brief 4-hour meeting, the Kuzliks returned to Connecticut. They definitely wanted to adopt the children. They began a phone blitz to collect clothing to take back to the orphanage. Through the generosity of many, they collected half a ton of children's clothing. (The collection, shipping and delivery of this “gift” would make a separate story!) Linda and Ron returned to Pétervására several times, first to distribute the clothing personally to the 52 children in the orphanage (to make sure the children received it), and then to pursue the adoption procedure. They arrived in Connecticut, with their five children, on May 30th, 1997. Culture shock set in immediately: Melinda would not come out of the bathroom, as she kept flushing the toilet to admire the blue toilet bowl sanitizer, saying to Linda over and over, “Szép! Szép!” (“Pretty! Pretty!”) This is not surprising, as the rural orphanages where the children had spent two years only had an outhouse. At first, the children would not eat meat, only beans, potatoes, rice, soups - things they were used to. They became sick from milk, because they didn't have it before. Linda and Ron had to get them used to different foods slowly. Now they love pasta, and eat meat and vegetables too. It was a major adjustment for Linda and Ron also. “Getting adjusted to the The Kuzlik children in 2000. Seated in the middle is Ron Jr in his Sea Cadet uniform. The girls, left to right are Loni, Anna, Melinda and Christina No one else saw it that way, though. Linda's mother said, “Please don't do this. You don't have enough money, and I can't help you any more because I'm old.” So they sent out 200 letters to Hungarian, Polish and Italian organizations (Ron is of Polish origin, Linda is Italian), asking for help. Only five responded, and all were negative. There was, however, one phone call from a Hungarian group in New Jersey. They asked the Kuzliks to come for an interview, and when they drove out to see them, proceeded to call them frauds to their face. Who would be crazy enough to adopt five Hungarian children, especially since they were not of Hungarian origin themselves? They had to be crooks! Page 2
