Women's Portraits

Hana Šenkýřová

A seventy-two-year old woman, daughter and granddaughter of the “railwaymen” who were engaged in the start of the rail connection from České Budějovice to Linz. A woman overcoming immeasurable life disappointments and happiness at the same time, optimistic, looking at the future with humility and expectation. She is not afraid of old age.

War childhood

I was born in České Budějovice. My childhood memories are not of the best. They are related to the war. Me and my mother and grandfather lived in České Budějovice, we walked through the Dobrovodská Street lined with black booths with svastikas in which German soldiers stood. My father was sent to forced labour to Germany, my younger brother stayed in a Red Cross institution at Košumberk. It was not a good time. I remember air strikes, smoke, fire, blows as well as the last terrifying experience from the end of the war. The sirens announced air strikes. Our building stood opposite the seat of the Gestapo and we ran to the fields to hide in their furrows. I remember burying myself into the ground when the American flight threw down bombs into the fields. Only after many years I read that they did it to celebrate the war end and that the bombs could not do any harm.

After the war my father came back from Germany and my brother from the Red Cross institution. A new member, my second brother came to our family. My mother cared well for us, she passed us life experience and a lot of valuable advice for life. She was intelligent and loved us. But the peace in our family did not last long. My parents divorced when I was 14. I went to Prague to study at the secondary school. My mother got married again and I was not compatible with my stepfather. My childhood ended, I did not return home. I kept going to České Budějovice only to see my grandmother and grandfather.

My new family

After finishing the secondary school I got a job, it was at job assignment at that time, in the Varnsdorf hospital. I met a man there who tried to substitute my lost family to me. I was happy for a while. I started studying medicine after a year. When I was in the second year, I got pregnant and married him. But my husband suffered an injury two months after our wedding and died.

I stayed alone. I cared for my child, for school and for the household. In order to sustain my incomplete family financially, I returned to the hospital and worked mainly at night shifts. I managed such an everyday hustle and bustle – bring my daughter to the nursery in the morning, run to the lectures, do the household chores in the afternoon, then seek selfless people to care for my daughter when I was at work – only mustering all my strengths. After a year I had to decide how I could and would live further. I left the university with a heavy heart and started working full-time. I had more time for my child and more money too. After other two years I married my classmate from the medical school.

Seeking family happiness

My husband adopted my daughter and helped me very much. After his graduation we moved to Domažlice and both of us started working at the hospital. I consider that period one of the best ones of my life and like to remember it. Our son was born in Domažlice. When working at the surgical ward I realized how fragile human life is and how important it is to esteem it and to fight “for the human body and soul”. I was happy to be engaged in the recovery of the patients and I was happy about each of their success.

The period of contentment ended when our marriage unravelled. I left the hospital to teach at the secondary nursing school and later, because of family problems, political pressure and psychical stress, I left Domažlice. I answered an advertisement seeking a dietary nurse at the hospital of Český Krumlov and accepted the job. My husband did not agree to my departure, mainly for social reasons, and stopped supporting us. The entire nurturance of my family was on my shoulders again.

My life in Český Krumlov    

After five years of life in Český Krumlov, an aircraft mechanic, an industrious man able to manage any work entered my life. He started helping us selflessly and was gradually becoming member of our family. We got married and our son was born a year later. As I was not too young any more, our son is still studying. He has a specific learning disorder, he is dysgraphic and dyslectic. When he was six, my husband suffered a heart attack and fell into clinical death during operation. I was afraid about his life and about our further existence. To be able to sustain our family, I passed a cosmetic course and additionally to the work at the hospital I worked and am still working as cosmetician at home. Although my husband was physically fit, he suffered the heart attack two times more. But he always returned to his work. However, three years ago he suffered brain attack that confined him to bed for three months. I cared for him and provided him with psychical support. At present he is self-sufficient again.

I brought up well my three children. My daughter works in health service, she graduated from the university. She has two successful children who give us joy. My older sun graduated from a forestry school and has three daughters. Only my younger son still needs my care and motivation for life.

Old age

My life has not changed essentially even when I retired. I only changed my priorities. I give lectures in the area of right nutrition; I have created a cycle of lectures with demonstrations of healthy living; I work in ICOS, the volunteer Centre for Seniors in Český Krumlov where I keep an advisory centre for broad public.

I enjoy my old age. I like to write in my leisure time. I published several short stories and I am writing several other ones. Modern technologies are not strange to me either. I try to keep up with new knowledge in my branch and I integrate it into my lectures. And I look with optimism into the future. I am not ill, I help people around me. Although my life was not easy, I keep a good mood. I am looking forward to have more time for my hobbies. My son is finishing the university and my husband’s health condition is getting better.

What to say in conclusion?

It is better to sleep on things; do not jump to conclusions but seek solution for every obstacle, even for those looking insurmountable.

Ing. Jarmila Hanáková