Women's Portraits

Marie Ludikarová

80-year old woman, mother of two daughters, grandmother of four grandchildren, three treat-grandchildren and now widow. She was born in the countryside of South Bohemia in an era not really convenient for small farmers. She is empathic, content with her life, youthful. She studies at the University of the Third Age.

Early childhood

She spent her childhood in a south Bohemian village in a farmer family. There were not many working opportunities in the countryside. Both of her parents worked in the woods from morning to evening and she often had to stay at home alone in pre-school age already. She remembers how she used to play with a pieces of wood wrapped in a cloth. „They were my dolls and a shoe-box with a piece of cord was my doll buggy. When I was four my mother used to bring me with her to feed the cattle. She carried me on a barrow to the stable and on the way back I had to run after her. Once, to catch up with her, I caught carelessly a scythe handle but I fell of and injured my leg.  Due to poor standards of health care at that time I have had a lifelong handicap, I cannot stand on my heel without support.

My family did not live beyond our means. In a time of commencing economic crisis my father rented our farm house and the grounds and started working for the „Zátka“ company. He distributed and sold lemonades in the region of Veselí nad Lužnicí. When I started to go to school we moved to Veselí. It was hard for me to get used to a new neighbourhood and to a large group of children at school.

Life in the protectorate

The war years in the protectorate were not easy for our family, like for a lot of others. Food and clothing were scarce, everything was rationed. All farmers had to record exactly and in detail lists of all animals and to provide regularly meat and milk depending on their possession. If they did not meet the demand they were often arrested and imprisoned.

The school classes were not interrupted during the war only for a short period when once a week we assembled in a Husit chapel or in an ale-house and the teacher gave us some homework. In comparison with my classmates I did not have time for entertainment and plays. My parents were rather strict and they wanted me only to learn or help with the household. Although it was not easy I always remember my childhood and my parents with gratitude and love. 

The right decision

After having finished the compulsory school attendance I started studying at the Higher School of Health and Social Studies at České Budějovice. It was a right decision because the school gave me the opportunity to help other people. I started my professional career in a „Clinic for mother and child“ where I could work in the clinic and also in the „field“, visiting families. I learned a lot about the way of life in the city and in the countryside including the upbringing of children. I experienced the health care reorganization and in the dark Fifties also the work in high-risk stations with high occurrence of tuberculosis.  I was always working devotedly and responsibly but never at the expense of my family.

Serious illness

I remember clearly the year 1942. I fell sick with diphtheria and had to be brought to the hospital. My life was saved only thanks to two blood transfusions from my father. An eight-year-old girl who stayed in the same room could not be saved by the doctors any more. My illness damaged my soft palate so that I could not speak properly and my eyesight was damaged too. The convalescence took a long time and was really complicated.

Study in the third age

After having retired I started going to school anew. For 20 years I have been visiting the Faculty of Health and Social Studies of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice within the University of the Third Age.  I have been acquiring new knowledge in the ambit of health care. I go to selective lectures, take part in discussion and project activities. Within the Grundtvig Project I dealt with the ways of life of other European nations and with the space they share.

The study provides me with life-giving power even in the third age.

Life credo

Extend your interests, get to know new things, search for wise friends in life and study.

Marie Řeháková