Calvin Synod Herald, 2008 (109. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)
2008-07-01 / 7-8. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 11 renovated the outside walls of the church building. During this year they want to renovate the inside walls of the church and the parsonage. They are collecting money from bigger congregations, and they are asking for the help of the TRAC foundation. The seminary students are already involved in the help - we will organize a presentation in one of the biggest congregation of Cluj/Kolozsvar about the TRAC work and ask that their Sunday’s offering go to the Komlód congregation. But they do need a huge amount of money considering that the outside work cost more than 4,000 dollars. Thank you for your support and prayers Sípos Dávid I’m Alone Interview with Rose Polgar, a Reformed woman from Komlod The beginning of this talk goes back in the past. I always knew Rose as a happy woman, against her hard life, a favourite person for all the villagers. First I’ve been at Rose in 2004. It was my first Diasporamission when I spent a whole week there, and maybe that’s why it was so unforgettable, and I was so sympathetic, especially with Rose. Rose is a thin, short woman, that’s why she’s called ‘Tiny Rose’. She was bom in Komlód, in the 1930s. She’s got three children, but they are gone for years. They moved away to Lupeni a Romanian city at the Zsil Valley. “I’m just by myself,” begins Rose, when I asked of her situation, and family. “My children moved away, my husband left me.” She looks ahead with such a sad face. It must be painful, all those memories. Anna Polgar ends the silence: “One day he got his luggage and went away.” Rose continues: “He left me for another woman. He didn’t say anything, just packed and left. He never came back. My children weren’t with me then. They moved to Lupeni to work there in the coal pit (colliery).” Lupeni is a relatively young town in the south part of Transylvania. It was built up in the time of Ceausescu, in the 1960s. Ninety-percent of the inhabitants were working in the coal pit, which nowadays is in a quite bad situation financially. There are lots of people without work, but the smarter ones got another occupation. Rose is not crying, her children survived and got another job. “I’ve got 11 grandchildren,” she says proudly, “and I’m going to see them in two weeks. My son is coming for me with the car and drives me to Lupeni. I will be there the whole winter and get back for Easter, in spring. One of my grandsons always says to me: ‘ Granny, I will go with you to Komlód.’ And he gets prepared thinking that Komlód is right next to Lupeni.” I’m listening to her story astonished. She quoted her grandson in the Romanian language, and asks me: “You understand, dear reverend, don’t you?” So the grandchildren can’t speak Hungarian. Rose says: “They can understand Hungarian but they don’t speak it.” Then I reflect a bit and am not surprised anymore. The majority from Komlód became more Romanian, and their children are baptised as Orthodox. I can’t be angry on Rose, her history played with her. “I’m just by myself,” came to my mind as her first sentence, but her face tells something else. She’s smiling; but she’s looking with such kindness behind her glasses, and always has a nice word to everybody. With a branch she brings back the chickens from the garden. From all her presence the peace shines. “Then come to Lupeni too, so we can meet there also,” she tells me as she says goodbye and goes home from the parsonage. I watch her and reflect on the things I heard. This is just one typical example of the Hungarian Reformed destiny in the Mezöség; families and surroundings becoming Romanian, orphans, women without husbands, families without identity. But she is still smiling... “For those who love God, everything is to their benefit.” David Sipos, 5th year CHANGE OF ADDRESS FORM • send it or e-mail it to: Wilburn A. 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