Tanya Katona
TATJANA ZALKA (Mrs. Emil Katona), nickname TÁNYA, 15-Dec-1944 Moscow, Russia - 3-Jun-2003 Budapest, Hungary
Tánya's mother was Vera Laskova a Russian and her father András Zalka (nicknamed Bandi1) a
Hungarian, who came to Moscow after the Spanish Civil War in 1939.
I asked Tanya to write some stories from her life and as it turned out, just prior to her death she wrote down
some of her memories and sent them to me. I asked her permission to make these stories available on the Internet
and having received this these are reproduced - with her permission, for the information of family and friends.
The notes are occasionally annotated with comments and clarifications added to assist the reader not familiar
with the family in understanding the content and also to bring the material historically up to date.
Tánya wrote:
"My father came to Moscow after the Spanish Civil War2. There he met my mother at the University and they got married during WW2. I was born when my father
was at the front. After the end of the war he came back for us and in 1945 (August?) we travelled to Budapest.
There, he went to find his relatives and was happy to learn that some of them were alive, among them, Irén Fischer
(Gergely). Bözsi
(Erzsébet Fischer) always used to say that she (Irén) took care of me in this first year, when I was a baby.
I can remember three of the flats we lived in when I was still a very small child. In 1949 we moved to the flat
on the Gellérthegy where Bandi lived, that is where we spent our childhood."2
In those years our father was still in the Army. I went to a kindergarten, then in 1950 I started primary school.
Until grade 5, I was in three primary schools - who knows why.
From my early childhood, I can remember that we spent some summers at Mityu's (Miklos Zalka) nice house at
the Rózsadomb. I can remember his first wife Márta well, Irén Fischer and some nice summer holidays, etc. I can
remember the nice Christmases we had always with beautiful tall trees, I can remember my birthday parties when all
the relatives' children were invited. I can remember all the relatives from those days.
While we always met your grandmother (Irén Fischer/Gergely), I do not really remember seeing much of you (Peter
Garas) and your mother, though
probably we did see each other once or twice. I remember going to the hospital when you were born. (I can
only remember going to the hospital, but not the baby!!) During the 1956 uprising I was in grade 6, and can
remember many things. At this time Bandi, my father, was working at the Technical University of Budapest, Faculty of
Military Engineering. After '56 when the new Government was formed (the so called "Kádár regime") he
was invited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was sent to Argentina as a Minister of the Legation, later
Ambassador. I clearly remember that I hated the idea of going, but we went in September 1957.
I remember that we left Budapest by train around midnight and Mityu, Földes Pista and some other relatives,
friends and colleagues of our parents saw us off at the station. We stopped in Vienna and Paris and flew off to
Argentina from
Zurich.
I was 13 years old, my sisters 10 and 3.
Argentina
Buenos Aires became our home from September 1957 until January 1961. It was very strange at first, we lived in
the Hotel Alvear for a month or two, then they found an apartment for us at Avenida Quintana. (then on Calle
Malavia, then on Avenida Santa Fe). I first went to a primary school, then I did the first two years of the
secondary school in Buenos Aires. It was difficult at first, since we all had to learn Spanish. At the same time we were
studying the Hungarian school books too, for the purpose of doing the exams in Budapest.
During our time in
Argentina, one year we made a big excursion to Chile, by car, from Buenos Aires, across the country through the
pampas and then the Andes. In Chile we spent some days in Santiago, then at the Pacific Ocean towns of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso.
Another
holiday we spent in Uruguay, in Montevideo and the Atlantic beach resort of Atlantida.
We also spent a few days at
Rio de Janeiro in Brazil on our way to Europe. We did two crossings of the Atlantic Ocean between Buenos Aires
and Naples and Genoa respectively.
On our journey home to Hungary on one trip, we visited Italy: Rome, Naples, Florence, Venice
On the next trip we visited Paris and Vienna.
I have nice memories of these visits.
In 1961 January we returned to Budapest for good. Or so we thought. My sisters and I were enrolled in Hungarian schools, but it was not easy at all.
In May that year our father was sent to Japan as Hungarian Ambassador so we had to pack our bags again.
I was 17, my sisters 14 and 7. (Our father Bandi was 48, and our mother Vera 40.)
Our Father, my older sister and I travelled to Tokyo first - via Moscow, New Delhi, Hong Kong - spending
a few days in each.
Our Mother and my younger sister stayed in Moscow for a few weeks with our grandfather. (Vasilij A Laskov)
In Tokyo my elder sister and I went to the American School in Japan (ASIJ) and my younger sister went to the
Russian School and then for one years to the Sacred Heart School. This was not easy either, because we knew very
little English at that time, but we had to learn it and we (two of us) matriculated/graduated from the secondary
school in Tokyo in 1964 and 1965 respectively. After this I attended the Sophia University in Tokyo for one
year. In the summer of 1965 I returned to Budapest for good.
Father and I boarded a Soviet passenger liner at Yokohama and sailed to Nakhodka / USSR, from there by train we
had to go to Khabarovsk and then fly to Moscow and Budapest. With this ended my eight years stay abroad.
Looking back... what can I say?
Now it is a nice memory, we have seen a lot of the world, learnt two languages, made a few friends... but at the
same time missed out a lot in other respects, I think.
My father was with me in Budapest for a month maybe and then returned to Tokyo. First I stayed for a month with
Bandi's cousin Laura (Fischer) and her daughter at Pasarét. Then I moved to our flat in Kelenhegyi ut where I stayed
alone for a few weeks.
Then uncle Mityu came home from a trip abroad and asked me to move in with him and his housekeeper
"Tánte" at Fillér utca, Rózsadomb. I did and we lived happily together for a year. This, was before
his marriage to E.
In September 1965 I enrolled at Budapest University (Eötvös Lóránd Tudományegyetem), I was accepted to the
second year for Spanish and English Language and Literature studies. I made good friends here and enjoyed my
studies.
I think it was in 1966 when the family returned home from Tokyo. I left Mityu and moved back with my
family.
I finished the fifth year of my University studies with an MA degree in 1969.
In 1969 I taught English at a secondary school for a few months. Then I was offered a job at WFDY (World
Federation of Democratic Youth), more precisely at its Bureau Internationale de Tourisme de la Jeunesse - in
Budapest.
I worked there from 1970 Jan till 1973 Oct.
In Jan 1973 I was sent to Berlin, GDR, to work at the Preparatory Committee of the 11th World Youth Festival,
which took place in Berlin in August 1973. My younger sister, father, mother and J. visited me in Berlin. I
spent nine pleasant months there.
After my return to Budapest, at the end of 1973 I changed jobs and went to work for the Hungarian National
Commission for the UNESCO at the Institute for Cultural Relations. I was now 29 years old.
At this job, I met Emil Katona who was also working at the Institute for Cultural Relations (KKI). We got married
in December 1974 when I was 30 years old and he was 34. He was a deputy head of department at KKI, but at the same
time he was a part time lecturer at the University of Economics.
One day he told me that one of his colleagues and
mentors, a well known professor was invited to a job in Zambia, but he was not interested to go and asked Emil if
he wanted to apply. We discussed it and said, why not, let's try it. He applied and got the job. It was a
lectureship at the University of Zambia in Lusaka. The head of department there was also from Hungary. We
travelled to Zambia in January 1976. We managed to get unpaid leave from our jobs at KKI - just in case. We had to
travel to Rome to get our
Zambian visas. Since these took a number of days to process we spent those same days admiring the Eternal City.
We arrived in Lusaka Zambia on 26-Jan-1976 where we were
met by Prof. B and his wife Magda. And thus started our long years of African adventures.
At first, for about two weeks, we lived in the Ridgeway Hotel. The University lent us a VW Beetle for the first
few days,
then we bought a second hand yellow Mazda 1300. In a few more days we were given a house at Chudley Plot No.3. (about 5
km from the University UNZA)
Set among corn fields there were 2-3 paved streets where there were about 6-8 University
houses and some others. We found we had received a nice big house (3 bedrooms,) that had just been built, so we were the
house's first tenants. There was a huge garden, but in an awful state, no grass, just dust and the rubbish left by the
builders after they moved out, and only 2 or 3 trees. We had nice neighbours, all from UNZA: for example, a
friendly Danish couple, and a couple from Czechoslovakia who became our friends. We hired a maid, Mary. At the
beginning Emil drove to work every day and I was at home. Soon there was political unrest at the University and it was closed for six months - so Emil
stayed at home too, improving his English by reading a lot and preparing notes for his Economics lectures.
The salary was not much, so I had to look for a job too, this was not easy to find. I managed to get a
temporary 6 months job at the International School of Lusaka, as an ESL teacher. After the end of that school year
they offered me a permanent job teaching grade 5 - a job I enjoyed.
In a year or so (and after hiring and firing 3-4 "garden
boys") our garden became beautiful. In the back garden we planted and produced all our own vegetables
and planted 16 banana trees which produced too many bananas for our own use each year.
Every second year, as part of the contract, we received air
tickets to travel home for a holiday. In the long holiday of 1977 we also made a one month trip driving to Tanzania. Our
goal was to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Everything was organized, so we arrived in the town of Moshi and stayed at
Kibo Hotel (which organized the climb). We started the next day, only the two of us, with a guide and five porters. The
hotel provided the food for all of us (we paid) and the five porters carried everything, food, our things and even
water and firewood on the last part of the climb. We only carried the camera nothing else.
The climb is three days
up and two days down, in total we walked 120 kms, from the altitude of 1500m to over 5000m. On the way up we slept
in three camps. (nice "A" shaped huts built by the Norwegians.) The porters cooked and served the meals. The climb is
not too difficult, but not easy either. Before arriving to the last huts when crossing the saddle of the mountain
(at about 4360m) - we got very tired, and could not even carry the camera. Emil had a terrible headache.
Finally we arrived at Kibo Hut around midday (4740m or 15000 feet). Here the guide told us to go to our room and
rest, and that we would start the last climb to the summit at midnight. In the evening here they only gave us
porridge, tea and some biscuits. Around midnight they came to wake us up and said, OK, let's go! So we dressed up
warmly and went with the guide and one porter also came along. They gave us sticks like those used for skiing. It
was pitch dark, they brought along lanterns. We started the climb up.
The soil was very lose and it was very steep. We walked
for hours and at the end I could go no further, after each step I had to stop and rest and it was terribly cold. I
reached the snow line when I told them "I am not going further" (because I simply couldn't!).
Emil and the guide went
on and the porter and I went down. This must have been near 6 a.m. because very soon after we started out we saw the orange line on the
sky indicating daybreak and sunrise. To arrive back to the Kibo Hut took us about 3-4 hours, and I went back to
bed. Emil and the guide reached the icy-snowy Gilmans Point (5685m) and arrived back to camp around 1 p.m. (The
summit is Uhuru peak at 5895m -200m more, but probably here he was finished, too, so they turned back. Kilimanjaro
has these two peaks.) We took a small Hungarian flag to leave it at the summit, but since it was in my pocket it never reached the
top.
After Emil's return they gave him an hour to rest and then we had to start our downward walk. This took two
days. Emil received a certificate that he had climbed Mt Kilimanjaro! (We have it framed in Budapest.) By the time we
reached our hotel, where we left the car, our legs and feet were in a terrible state, we could hardly walk.
We rested for a day then continued our journey. We drove to Dar es Salaam, stayed 2-3 days meeting some
Hungarian acquaintances and then started back to Lusaka and back to our jobs. After our return we found that the
maid had deserted the house, so Mick P the gardenboy became our houseboy and gardener in one. With this promotion
he was able to move into the
"servants quarter" and even get married with this promotion.
In Dec 1977 a terrible thing happened. Our car was stolen. I went to the airport to pick up a Hungarian journalist
who brought a small parcel from my parents leaving the car locked in the parking lot. When I went out, there was no car
there. This was a
terrible blow in a town without public transport. I used the car to go to school and Emil had a motorbike that he
used to go to the university. We had to consider what to do now, pack our bags and go home, or...?
We had just
finished paying back the loan the University gave us to buy a car, and we could not afford to buy another one.
We decided to stay. Emil took me to school on the motorbike (how I hated it and the helmet I had to put on!).
After the Dec holidays we got some insurance money for the stolen car and finally could buy another second hand
car. A blue Fiat 1600m this time, that needed some repairs.
We enjoyed some nice excursions in Zambia to see wildlife
at the Kafue National Park, at Luangwa Valley, to Mongu, and several times we visited Victoria Falls on the Zambezi
River. In 1978 my father and mother (Bandi and Vera) came to visit us.
On one of our biennial trips home, we visited Cairo and Luxor and saw all the beauties of ancient Egypt,
something we found fascinating. We
also stopped at Istanbul a place which we enjoyed tremendously, Like all good tourists we of course bought some leather coats at the great bazaar.
At the end of 1979 Emil was due his six months sabbatical leave. We locked up our house in Lusaka, or more
accurately,
left it and the dogs in care of Mick, and first flew to Budapest to spend two weeks with our parents. In
August we flew to the UK, where Emil was given a research fellowship at the University of Sussex near Brighton.
We rented a house in Brighton and stayed in England Sept-Dec 1979. Emil was working on his PhD. This nice stay
was blackened by a cable we received from Budapest, saying that my mother Vera had had a stroke.
We flew back to
Budapest, she was in hospital semi conscious, but still recognized us, She died in a few days. A very sudden and
unexpected blow. In the days when she was dying the doctor informed me that I was pregnant. Happy news among some very sad days.
We returned to Brighton. Emil's mother came to visit us and stayed with us for a few weeks. She was also quite sick
already at this time, but enjoyed her stay. My second cousin Jutka and her husband Laci also came to visit
us from Paris where they had been working at that time.
In London, Emil bought a tenor saxophone (Selmer Mark 7) and
two clarinets (A&B) - thus fulfilling one of his lifetime dreams. I think it was January 3rd 1980 when we flew to New York
where Gabi Z met us. We stayed in his flat on 5th Avenue for some days. Here we met Ann who later became his
second wife, we met his son Sean (aged 7 or 8 then) and also my aunt Mrs. S K her family. We
visited museums, Gabi took us to the Metropolitan, etc. I also met Naomi and Joann, two friends I had worked with in
Berlin. And even Masako, my Japanese friend flew to NY from Florida to meet us.
We then flew to Washington DC and stayed in the home of an American family we did not know (our friends arranged
it), and saw the landmarks of W. D.C. in 2 days. We then flew on to Boston, and saw the interesting high points of this city and
visited Harvard University as well. From here we flew to Buffalo to visit Prof Art B and his wife Kathy. He was Emil's
head of dept. at UNZA for a year after Prof B left. We stayed with Art and Kathy for 3-4 days after which he
drove us to Toronto, Canada. On the way we stopped at Niagara Falls to see the sights. In Toronto we stayed with
Ede and Alice, Ede being my uncle, my father's cousin. We also visited Klári and Andy K, Juci D
(all Bandi's cousins, my aunts and uncles), and Ági F - my second cousin. It was so nice meeting them all
after so many years. (They are all relatives from Bandi's paternal side.) From Toronto we flew back to NY to see
Gabi Z and after a few days back to Africa, Lusaka-Zambia. All this travelling (air tickets for both of us and Emil's
six months salary) was paid by the University of Zambia as granted within the contract he had as part of a 6 months sabbatical leave after
four years of service, provided that one went back for one more academic year.
In February 1980 LUSAKA, Zambia.
1980 was our last year in Zambia. We arrived back from the sabbatical leave in February. Emil went back
to work. I also went back to the school, but since there was no vacancy in grade 5, I was offered a job teaching History
and Geography in the secondary school, which I accepted. I was pregnant, too, expecting the child around June.
I practically worked until the last day since our daughter decided to arrive a few days earlier than expected.
Á was born on Friday, June 6th, 1980, around 10 a.m. at the UTH (University Teaching Hospital) in
Lusaka,
Zambia. UTH is a terrible place, according to "civilized" standards, to make matters worse the doctors were on a
"go slow" strike. There were no doctors near me during the delivery only a midwife
and some nurses. Another problem was that my blood group is "B Rh negative" (while Emil's was O+) In case
blood was needed B Rh negative - was not available, but this was no worse than for anyone else since the blood bank
was empty. They told us to find some people with this blood group; we did and they
were on "stand-by- in case they were needed. The doctors had advised that this is a rare blood group among
indigenous people and many Indians who then inhabited Lusaka). The hospital
didn't even have the gamma globulin injection that I had to get a few hours after the birth (due to this
problem blood group)! They told us to try to obtain it. It was unavailable in the pharmacies. One of our friends organized
it to be flown in from Johannesburg (time was too short to get it from Budapest). Thankfully, everything went smoothly, and the
baby was O+ as was her father. We went home the next day, on Saturday, and by Sunday I had very high fever.
Nevertheless at the
end everything turned out OK.
After A's birth I did not go back to work, but stayed at home with her for our last six months.
In
July my father Bandi and his second wife G came to visit us. Emil took them to Victoria Falls to admire that
natural wonder. We thought to extend the contract for another two years and Emil received permission from Budapest
to do so. At the same time he received a job offer from the University of Economics in Budapest, so
finally we decided to go home. Our five years in Zambia came to an end in December 1980. We left Lusaka a few
days before Christmas, via Nairobi /Addis Ababa / Khartoum / Amsterdam / Goslar / Budapest.
We wanted to see Nairobi and in those days it was very difficult to get a Kenyan visa with a "socialist"
passport. It took us more than a month (if not 3?) to get a visa. Finally we arrived in Nairobi with six month old A, nappies, baby
formula and a thermos for boiled water that we asked for in the hotels. We stayed there 2-3 days. Then we flew on to
Addis Ababa to visit Prof S and wife, he being Emil's colleague from Budapest, then teaching at the
University of AA. We spent Christmas 1980 with them.
New Years Eve we spent in the Khartoum Hilton courtesy of KLM.
We visited the Oundurman Market, saw the Nile in Khartoum.
We left on 1st Jan 1981 and I had terrible food
poisoning from the curry I ate at the hotel. Next day we arrived at Amsterdam where we stayed 2-3 days again, and
bought a car -a dark blue FIAT Ritmo - at Schiphol Airport Duty free. From here we drove to Germany to the lovely
town of Goslar, to visit our Czech friends the Vs, who settled down here after they returned from Zambia. Baby
Á was travelling in a big box in the back seat of the car, dressed warmly and tucked among blankets for the
European winter. After a few lovely days with our friends we drove on and arrived in Budapest around 10 Jan. 1981.
We spent a day or two with my father and G, then moved into our flat at P ut in Budapest.
Our crates were arriving... it
took time until we settled down to a comfortable life. Emil started work as a "docens" at the University
of Economics (Közgazdaságtudományi Egyetem) just by the Szabadság Bridge opposite the Gellért Hotel on the Pest
side. I still stayed at home with Á on maternity leave / child care leave (GYES) until she was 16 months old.
By 1981, Emil's mother (aged 71) was very sick and she died this spring. In October when Á was 16 months old,
I went back to work and I took her every morning to the crčche (bölcsöde) of the Ministry of Education, as
I was now working at the Technical University of Budapest (BME) at the International Department. This 42 hours/week
office job, was rather tiresome with a small child, so I applied for a teaching job.
In 1982 I started working
at the Language Institute of the same University, teaching English to Transport Engineering students. This was much
more enjoyable, and only 16 hours a week. At this university I met my friends Erzsi and Gyöngyi (who has been the most faithful letter writer since 1985), also a student István, who
has written to
me ever since.
In January 1982 our dear uncle Mityu died suddenly after a short illness. He was 72. I cannot
remember anything of importance from 1983, only that V's son P was born, the first grandson in the family,
a new nephew and cousin.
In 1984 January Emil, Á and I went to Poland, Zakopane for a winter holiday with our
Polish friends. In the summer of this year Á and I travelled by train to Moscow to visit my maternal aunt V and T and family (N Z, Máté Zalka's daughter). We flew back to Budapest. The
summer holidays during these years were spent at our family's summer house at Zebegény at the Danube bend, some 56
km north of Budapest, which my parents bought after their return from Japan. There were a few occasions when all
the family members gathered here for a day. Also we went to Balatonalmádi where Emil's parents had a summer
cottage (while they lived at nearby Veszprém, just about 30km away.)
In January 1985 the three of us were
supposed to go for a winter holiday to Oberwiesenthal in the GDR, but Emil had an important job commissioned by
the UN on Namibia, which had a deadline and had to be handed in so he could not come with us. Instead Erzsike came
with us and we travelled by car . It was a nice holiday. Then in 1985 Emil received a job offer and invitation from
Tanzania to lecture at the University of Dar es Salaam. We were not planning to go abroad again (at least not just
then), but we considered this offer and decided to accept it. This time he had been sponsored by TeSCo (Technical
and Scientific Cooperation) and paid by them, the Tanzanians just gave us free accommodation and an air ticket
every second year. Hungary paid an air ticket every second year, so this meant we could travel home every
year. So we decided to pack our bags and go. We again received unpaid leave from our jobs. Emil left for Tanzania
in May. In June it was Á's 5th birthday, and in the very last days of August 1985 Á and I also travelled to
Dar es Salaam, via Athens.
1985 August:
If I remember correctly, it was Aug 31st that A and I arrived in DAR ES SALAAM. (by KLM from Athens) It was
after midnight. Emil was waiting for us at the airport with a University Landrover and a driver. A
carried her little red knapsack with her toys and a big doll (a present from Pablo). It took about 40 min drive
until we arrived at Hotel Africana - a beach hotel to the north of Dar es Salaam, where Emil had been staying since
May. We went straight to sleep after our long journey.
In the morning we saw that we are at the Indian Ocean beach.
The Hotel Africana had dozens of small African rondavel type round bungalows right on the beach, lots of coconut
palm trees, bougainvillea, a swimming pool, a restaurant, bar, tennis court,... there was a caged lion and some
other animals. The whole complex was very exotic and tropical. The University put up many families there till they
could be provided with university accommodation. They paid for our hotel and food, too (which for several months
was a real blessing and saving !). There was another Hungarian family too, Judit K (also an economist, and also
invited to teach, just like Emil) with her 8 yr old daughter Zs, and husband. We got a rondavel with two rooms and a
bathroom in between. They had to give us a two room rondavel because each room had only two beds. So here we lived
in the beach hotel from Sept 1985 until around Feb. 1986.
I do not remember the exact date when we left it, but I
remember that we spent Christmas at the hotel. Emil went to work to the university every day by the
University bus that picked up employees who had no cars. He did not like this, as there was a bus only twice a
day, maybe at 7 am and then after work around 4-5 pm. He did not like staying at work so long. I think it was around October
that our cars finally arrived. From Budapest we had ordered two Subarus from Japan: an 1800cc 4WD, moss green,
Station wagon for Emil and a small white 900cc car for me and A to go to school with. In most African countries
public transport (that you can take) was non-existent, so you really needed two cars.
In Budapest A had been attending her last year in the kindergarten, so we tried to find a place for her. We went to the International School
of Tanganyika, but since they operated according to the British system they told us that if she was already 5, then she
had to
start school! We were not happy, but what could we do. In September 1985 A started grade 1 ESL (she did
not speak any English!).
Our hotel was outside Dar, far from town, far from school. No transport - what to do? At
first we had to rely on an American family who also went to school from the hotel and we joined them. The hotel
restaurant had to be requested to open and prepare breakfast at 6 am for the school going children. Teaching
started at 7 am. The International School of Tanganyika -IST- it is a lovely, very "well-off" international school
following the British curriculum. It is supported by the UK and US, catering for the needs of the expatriate community,
diplomats, etc. A's teacher was a young English woman. We asked at school if they had any job for me - but there
wasn't one available. They said I could help out in the kindergarten - voluntary work, hence no pay. I accepted this, so every
morning I went with A, dropped her off and then went to the kindergarten which was at a different place in town.
A was crying, screaming and it was a bad feeling to leave her. After a few weeks, she got used to it.
Before the Christmas holiday they told me that a teacher was leaving and I could apply for the job. I did and it
resulted in my becoming A's teacher.... ESL grade 1!
I had never taught small children before, but I thought that for one
semester, we could manage. So we did. At the end of the school year they told me I could apply for another
class and so for the next four years I was teaching grade 6 at IST. This was very enjoyable and I made some good
friends like Rita, Karen, etc. - still write today. I think it was in Feb. 1986 that we finally moved to the
university campus residential area.
It did not seem important to the university that they were spending so much
money per family (hotel and food for months), but we got tired of living in a hotel, especially when our
belongings were in boxes stored here and there. Finally when a GDR lecturer was leaving he told Emil to try to
apply for his flat. He did and finally we got it and moved out of the hotel. Life at Hotel Africana was nice and
something new for us: we were practically on the Indian Ocean beach, the rondavels were built on the sand. We ate
breakfast, lunch, tea-snack, dinner at the restaurant, and twice a week -Wednesday and Sat evening there was a
barbecue dinner outdoors. We paid nothing for all this - all courtesy of the University. It was very nice, but you
can even get tired of paradise.
Water was a problem in those days. The bath water was almost brown in colour. And you could not dream of drinking
tap water, only boiled, filtered and sterilized water. In the restaurant there was a filter and we went
there to fill up some bottles and thermos flasks to take to the rooms. I wonder if we had a small fridge in the
room? Maybe yes. Sometimes when we went to the kitchen for filtered water we noticed that the waiter rinsed
our bottle under the tap and then filled it with the filtered water. There were a lot of stomach upsets... and
worse.
Early in 1986 we moved to the university campus into a flat on Sinza Road no.1. These houses were of 3
stories and we got the apartment on the ground floor. This was very good because while we still had some water,
those living above us had none! I really do not know how they managed. There was a tap outside between two houses
(where the maids went to do the laundry!) so maybe they carried up water from there?
Luckily we had some water
and we bought a filter for the kitchen tap and then boiled that water for cooking and drinking. The flat was quite
Ok: big sitting-dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms, bathroom-toilet, corridor. Outside covered parking place.
In
Dar people usually had no washing machine, the maids did the washing by hand (outside) and then we hung the
washing in the bathroom and in the corridor where Emil had fixed some ropes.
We had two air conditioners, but only
one was used in our bedroom as they did not allow us to break the wall to install the second one in A's bedroom -
so she had a fan. In our bedroom it was "freezing" compared to the sitting room. If you checked the
thermometer it was 28C degrees in our bedroom. Imagine what was it in the sitting room and outside. The windows
had no glass, only a mosquito net and wooden louvers. Dar es Salaam is very hot all year round.
We settled in
this flat at Sinza road at the University campus and lived there until we left Tanzania. We had no phone, but did not
miss it. The University of Dar es Salaam is a bit outside of town on the north road between our beach hotel and the
town. It is built on a hill. We kept nice memories of those years and the people, friends we met there and often
reminisce with nostalgia. In those years there was a small Hungarian community (a Magyar kolónia) there, made up
of Embassy people and a few experts and their families. We often got together for parties at Easter, Mikulás for
the children, Szilveszeter, April 4, November 7, etc. We also keep good memories of these gatherings and people. On
Sundays we usually met fellow Hungarians on the beach at Bahari Beach Hotel and spent there some hours together. We
also had close friendship with the GDR - East German - lecturers.
We made some nice trips while in Tanzania: we travelled
several times to the Mikumi Game Park, then to Ushumbura Mountains, to Moshi/Arusha/Kilimanjaro area,
Bagamoyo, Zanzibar and Emil went with a family to Ruaha game reserve and he tried to climb the Kilimanjaro again,
but he got sick and had to descend from camp 2 at Horombo. He was sorry he did not succeed this time.
It was so wonderful that our friend Erzsike from Budapest visited us in Dar and stayed for a month. From
Tanzania we travelled home to Budapest every summer holiday, one year paid by Hungary and the next year paid by
Tanzania. Since the international school worked according to northern hemisphere schedule (Sept-June) - we
could travel in summer.
We organized these trips, so that on the way to Budapest we could visit another country too. If you have such a relatively expensive air ticket (and we were entitled to business class) then you can put a lot
of mileage into it. We changed the business class ticket to tourist class to stretch it even more and thus we visited
Spain one year, Israel another year. Both tours were wonderful covering a great part of those countries.
Unfortunately A says she does not remember much about these trips. What a pity! For me (and Emil) they were
wonderful and I often remember them and look at the photos we have taken.
I should also mention that the tropical
climate of Dar es Salaam was not the best for us. There is permanent Malaria risk. One has to take the medication
daily. If you take it, it is eventually bad for your liver and eyes...etc. And even if you take the pills, you
can get sick. Both Emil and A had a very bad case of Malaria. I did not get it - mosquitoes do not like me that
much! A also had Hepatitis A. Emil had an ulcer and a bad interior fungal infection. In addition, after he descended from
the Kilimanjaro, his heart was not very happy... he felt arrhythmia and had to take a few days' rest. I only had a
strange boil (infection?) on the palm of my left had which had to be opened and operated on twice.
What else? A did grades 1-4 of the primary school at the International School of Tanganyika. She also learnt
the recorder and started the piano. She had spent some happy years of her childhood in Dar. In general I can say
that we were happy in Dar es Salaam, but the tropical heat and the terribly bad, pot-holed roads got on your
nerves. During the first years of our stay, basic supplies were bad, but we could manage that. Our GDR friends,
when they ordered food from the GDR, they also ordered for us. With the help of our Embassy, Emil ordered his first
computer from Hong Kong in 1988 (?). Emil and A also had bicycles and they went down to the university
athletics field which was near our house and several times a week did many rounds there.
On Saturday or Sunday
mornings often we drove to our school (about 30 min drive from home) where there was a beautiful swimming pool and
we enjoyed few hours of the morning there. Emil of course enjoyed playing his music...mostly jazz now ... on the 3
saxophones and 2 clarinets that he had, and he also taught himself to play the flute. Twice the GDR community invited him
to play for them in their club, then the Finnish Ambassador, and then finally our Hungarian Ambassador too, asked
him to play maybe once or twice when he invited dinner guests.
An American also befriended him, Joel, who as a
hobby played the sax in a band. He enjoyed coming to talk with Emil about jazz and about "the horns".
There was no TV in Dar in those days so we watched video film and just 1-2 times went to the cinema. This was our
life in Dar, which by 1990 was nearing to its end. Emil's contract (twice renewed) ended in April, but he got
permission from Budapest to stay on until we finished the school in June.
At this time new winds were blowing in Eastern
Europe. We were still on unpaid leave from our jobs in Budapest! He looked around to see if he could find employment
somewhere abroad. He sent letters to many universities in Africa and the only positive reply and job offer came
from Lesotho. We decided to accept it. So we sold or packed our belonging into a container, sold my car, but could
not sell Emil's so that one went into the container too. The container was locked and left in Dar for later
shipment. The Hungarian Ambassador offered us an opportunity to stay in his residence (Bagamoyo Rd 40) for the last
days of our stay in Dar es Salaam since they were on holiday in Budapest.
Thank you and good bye Dar es Salaam! ASANTE
SANA and KWAHERI DAR ES SALAAM !!!!!! we left Dar in July 1990 for good ... for a short holiday in Budapest."
Following this information from Tanya we exchanged numerous letters and other communications and then I received
this note!
Dear Peter,
I am Tanya's daughter, A. You don't know me, but may have heard of me from the numerous emails you and my mom
exchanged over the years. It is with a heavy heart that I write this email to notify you of my mother's passing.
She died on 3 June at 2 am. She had suffered a stroke and brain haemorrhage. It was extremely sudden, and though she
had extreme pain the day before, she fell into a coma, and died peacefully. Her face was angelic in her passing, as
though the problems she had dealt with all her life, left her in peace, after the long time of being with her.
I am currently staying with my aunt V and her family, until I have the strength to cope on my own at our flat. My
aunt I arrived this morning from Sweden, to be with us in this time of difficulty. My cousin V is also
coming from Sweden possibly next week. We are all numbed from the experience. My grandpa, is not dealing with it
well either. After all, he turned 90 this year, and losing a child at that age, is devastating too.
I asked for an autopsy, because there are questions that seem not to have answers. It may make it easier for me to
understand what went wrong physiologically with her these last few weeks. She had had a gall bladder operation a
week before her death to remove the gall stones, but she went home without any complications. The only evidence we
have is that she had an extremely high blood pressure of 200-100 blood pressure, the day before, and this may have
been the cause of the flooding of her right brain, and the subsequent paralysis of her left side.
I will be organising the funeral, with the little strength that I have. I will let you know of the details, in case
you want to or can come to it. If you can't I will let you know any way, so you know. She spoke of you often, with
love.
This is my email address. The one that was my mother's will be also in use for a while still, I think, so If you
wish you can write to this one, or that one in the near future.
Please think of me and my family, in this time of difficulty, and especially my mother Tanya. After all, you are
family too.
With warmest regards,
A Katona
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1 Bandi was a term of affection used by all the family for Dr András Zalka - Pilot,
Air Force General, Spanish Civil War veteran, WW2 Veteran, Professor of Engineering, Diplomat, and all round nice
guy.
2 Dr. Zalka has written about his life story and a copy is available to family
members only upon request.
3 Bandi
passed away in 2004
