Ruža Kolaček

“There was a young volunteer camp in 1982. The goal was forest planting. We would get up early and take a bus to the place where a forest had to be planted. We got the seedlings and determined who would dig the holes, who would plant the seedlings, who would cover the soil and who would water them. We tried to do as much as we could. We even cheated a bit sometimes – putting two seedlings in one hole so it looked like we planted more trees. Had anyone counted the holes, this would show… Such are some of the ‘gems’ about working with young people. We were happy with volunteer badges and the cultural life in the afternoon. There were various leisure courses: driving lessons, photography courses, literary courses and writing for budding journalists. We would write an information bulletin, collecting impressions and there was entertainment in the evening. We would stay up late… and then, like drunk kittens, got up in the morning to face new victories at work. You would think that, with all the calluses, you don’t even want to hear about volunteering again – but that was only true until the next spring when questions started popping out: Where are we going? With whom? What will we do?”

“Czech was spoken at home – my father spoke Czech to my aunts and uncle. As children we took interest in Czech and started learning... I wanted to learn. But my uncle had to leave Petrovaradin due to illness; he sold his house and moved to Stari Bar (where he ended career later). I still wanted to learn Czech because, after all, family roots attract you. We did not learn Czech in an organised fashion, though – just at home with parents and, mostly, my uncle. My sister also started learning German with him in addition to learning in school. Since I was learning Russian in school, I started learning Czech with my uncle – speaking as well as writing. But we did not get past the initial steps.”