Dana Vaňková

"It was a time when people told each other what was and wasn't allowed. I recall one such moment with Mr. Krumpholc. He said, 'There's going to be an election,' and we said, 'We're not coming.' - 'You have to go. You do the good thing, so you have to sacrifice and go vote in order not to stick out of the crowd.' That was a big ordeal. We eventually went so we wouldn't stick out. As a first-time voter, I got a rose and everybody shook my hand. It was a really unpleasant experience for me. The election was mandatory, yet they thanked me for coming although I had to go. What a foul experience. The rose went straight to the bin even though it wasn't its fault. We don't have to vote today, but I still feel it's a civic duty. I wouldn't skip the elections today because, to quote Karel Kryl, we have to work for democracy. We have to cultivate it. Because we have it today and it may not be here tomorrow. And that's why we need to go to the elections."

"We also had a community where we went to repair churches. We went there for a week on holidays. Or we would go to Kopeček to play volleyball and dodgeball. I was so inspired working with children and young people, as there were a lot of girls in the parish, that we decided to set up a children's schola. There was no one to lead it, so they approached me and the children's schola happened. We always met on Fridays for singing practice and then we would go on a trip or to cottages once a month. We went to the cottages because people of faith offered us to go. They asked us to come because we needed to keep faith in the people and in the youth. Since we were doing a worthy cause, there was no rent to pay. We took that opportunity and went to these pre-scout camps with the schola."