THE FATEFUL PROTEST IN BUDAPESTS BEM SQUAREON 23 OCTOBER 1956THE EDITORS DESK5oftheHeart news that the Soviet military would be withdrawn fromHungary next day DISTRACTEDBYWARHowever also on 29 October ID: 899096
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1 The 50th Anniversary of the HUNGARIANUpr
The 50th Anniversary of the HUNGARIANUprising THE FATEFUL PROTEST IN BUDAPESTS BEM SQUAREON 23 OCTOBER 1956. THE EDITORS DESK 5 oftheHeart news that the Soviet military would be withdrawn fromHungary next day. DISTRACTEDBYWAR However, also on 29 October, an enthralledoutside world was suddenly and dramatically distractedfrom what was going on in Hungary, when the newsbroke that the Israelis in accordance with a secretagreement with the British and French signed five daysearlier in Sèvres had invaded Sinai and were racingtowards the Suez Canal.The Cold War had now sprouted two hot spots in thespace of a week. The United States was concerned thewar could spread and refused to back Britain, Franceand Israel. Perhaps encouraged by the tangle theWestern powers were getting themselves into in theMiddle East, the Soviet leadership quickly and quietlyreversed its decision to withdraw from Hungary. THESOVIETSRETURN The Soviet tanks re-entered Budapeston4 November, 12 days after the demonstration that hadturned into a revolution. Hundreds of buildings were badly damaged or de-stroyed over the next week or so, as Hungarian fight-ers put up spirited but ultimately hopeless resistance. HOW THE CHANGED THE WORLD OF REFUGEES Far left : Two hugegeopolitical crises,plus a USpresidentialelection, competefor the worldsattention on 3November 1956. Thefollowing day, theSoviet army movedback into Budapest. 12 ndrew Grove was born András Gróf in Budapest in 1936, the only child of a Jewishcouple who ran a dairy business. In 1942, as World War II intensified all across Europe,Groves father was drafted into the army and sent tothe Russian front. The following year, he was reportedmissing. After Germany invaded Hungary in 1944, Groveand his mother Maria went into hiding in the country-
2 side, using false Serbian names to help
side, using false Serbian names to help them survive. After the war, and Hungarys liberation by the So-viet Union, life remained difficult. Jews still faced dis-crimination. In addition, his father, who returnedemaciated but alive from the labour camps at the endof the war, was suspected of being a little too bourgeoisby the communists. On 23 October 1956, Grove by then a 20-year-oldchemistry student joined his fellow students demon-strating in support of the Poles. In his autobiographySwimming Across, he describes his feelings: After allthe years of sullen, silent May Day marches, there wassomething magical about a large spontaneous demon-stration. I kept looking round, soaking it all in, feelingthat I was in a dream.Groves initial enthusiasm turned to apprehensionand then downright fear when the Soviet army re-tookBudapest by force in November. It was quite danger-ous to be a species on which there was open season inBudapest after the revolution, he told RefugeesHuge refugee crises especially ones that happened along time ago tend to be described with a broad brush:200,000 Hungarian refugees, 180,000 resettled to 37 countries.A dash of politics, some descriptive colour to liven it up a bit. But who were these people exactly, and where are theynow? The story doesnt stop once the resettled person stepsoff a ship and becomes a statistic.To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the HungarianRevolution, Rmagazine decided to find some of theHungarians who were resettled all over the world half acentury ago and ask them about their experiences at the timeand in many ways more importantly what has happened tothem since.Even though one of them insisted Hungarians dont like totravel, we found Hungarians all over the planet. Did they find the much-touted
3 durable solution? Theanswer (in these
durable solution? Theanswer (in these seven cases at least) was a resounding yes. Allseven in their very different ways have made a success oftheir lives: whether it has been by pioneering organic farmingin Canada, or mending cars in Colombia; writing novels inSwitzerland, or editing newspapers in Austria; working withcomputers in Wellington or making computers work inSilicon Valley.And perhaps the most striking thing about their experiencesfleeing Hungary in 1956 is how many of them are stilloccurring today: people paying smugglers to get them out,families being split, the loss of identity documents; childrenalternatively frightened and excited by new experiences(several interviewees mentioned how they had never seen abanana until they arrived in Austria); the physical hardships, thesense of loss and the enormous difficulties involved instarting a new life, in a new language, in a new country.AGED 70 CO-FOUNDER OF INTEL COMPUTER COMPANY, SAN FRANCISCO, USANDREWGROVE ANDREWGROVE San FranciscoNeuchâtelTokyoWellingtonBogota iftyYearsOnUNHCR / SATELLITE IMAGEMAP © 1996-2004 PLANETARY VISIONS rible things werehappening for 10years and the ideaof being taken awayin a truck was omi-nous. It became clearI needed to leave.As people every-where were roundedup, he and a friendheaded to the Aus-trian border by train,dodging policecheckpoints, andbuying directionsfrom a smuggler. Iwas petrified as Iwalked throughdark fields never toreturn, Grove says.He made it to theAustrian borderwith two layers of clothes to protect him from the cold,his school briefcase and the equivalent of about $20. From Austria, Grove was taken by train to Germanybefore setting out for the United States under thesponsorship of the International Rescue Committee,one of the big American NGOs
4 working on resettle-ment alongside UNHCR
working on resettle-ment alongside UNHCR, the Red Cross and the Inter-governmental Committee on European Migration. Itwas the place to go, the place of the future. In his autobiography, he recounts how the true enor-mity of what he had done hit him as the old troop-carrier on which he was travelling sailed past the fa-mous White Cliffs of Dover: The momentousness ofeverything suddenly hit me: leaving Hungary for thefirst time, seeing England. Each event by itself wouldhave been unthinkable just a couple of weeks ago. Nowthey were happening in quick succession. I was over-whelmed.After a rough journey through mid-winter Atlantic storms, Grove arrived in New York in Jan-uary 1957, and was initially placed in an old prisoner-of-war camp in New Jersey, before moving out to staywith some relatives.Despite the inevitable difficulties, with language oneof the largest obstacles, Grovetry from the start. I was not be-grudged because of my nation-ality which was refreshing. Even though he has neverbeen back to Hungary, Grovestill remembers the things hemissed most after he fled: theimmediate micro environment,the city, his college and operafriends, the street cafés, Hun-espressoBut worst of all, he had also left his parents behind.One of the driving forces during his first years in theUS was his desire to find the money and means tobring his parents to the US. In 1962, a year before he received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from theUniversity of California at Berkeley, he managed to get them out of Hungary. His father got a job as a clerk,and his mother as a cashier/wrapper in a Californian department store.After Berkeley, Grove joined Fairchild Semicon-ductor pioneers of the integrated circuit. Then, in 1968,Grove and two other ex-Fairchild em-ployees established the
5 ir own company,Intel, which has subseque
ir own company,Intel, which has subsequently becomeone of the most successful and influen-tial companies of the computer age.Beginning as its operations manager,Grove has since served as the micro-processor giants president, CEO, chair-man and most recently as SeniorAdvisor. He has also written a numberof books and become one of Americasleading theorists and teachers of busi-ness management.I didnt get smarter crossing the border, he says, but believes if he hadremained in Hungary, it would havebeen next to impossible to achieve thesuccess he has enjoyed in the UnitedStates. At best, he says, he might havebecome a productive chemist. I am fortunate I got outand have been able to live in a country that acceptedme and gave me the opportunity to achieve, and to build a first class technology company.Looking back 50 years after the Hungarian revolu-tion, Grove told Refugeeshe is disheartened by thegenerations and generations going through the samestruggles. He finds it deeply depressing to witness thesuccessive waves of refugees and displaced people in theworld as if they were the multitudes of Hungarians re-played and repeated. Nevertheless, the life-story of one of those Hungar-ians, András Gróf, can act as an inspiration to refugeesand immigrants everywhere. It is also a powerful anti-dote to the common view that refugees are a burden ontheir host society. Lilli Tnaib 13 Andrew Grovewith his parents in Hungary, in 1955, a year before therevolution.Below: Groverecently retiredfrom beingChairman of IntelCorporation. Grove finds it DEPRESSINGto see the plight of theHungarians REPLAYED ANDREPEATEDin subsequent waves of refugees elsewhere. Grove finds it DEPRESSINGto see the plight of theHungarians
6 REPLAYED ANDREPEATEDin subsequent wav
REPLAYED ANDREPEATEDin subsequent waves of refugees elsewhere. Grove finds it DEPRESSINGto see the plight of theHungarians REPLAYED ANDREPEATEDin subsequent waves of refugees elsewhere. COURTESY ANDREW GROVE K lára Schédawas 19 years old when she crossedinto Austria with her fiancé Paul Szentirmay onChristmas Eve, 1956. She is now 69 years old,lives with her second husband in Wellington, NewZealand, and speaks English with a strongShe still vividly remembers the day their shipfinally arrived in the harbour at Wellington. Itwas a Sunday. She was four months pregnant andthey had had a rough five-week voyage from Hol-land. The Suez Canal was still closed because ofthe crisis in the Middle East, so they had beenforced to take the much longer route via thePanama Canal.In New Zealand, nothing happened on a Sun-day. Absolutely nothing. Including disembark-ing refugees from boats. So we sat out in the harbour,and just looked at Wellington for one and a half days. Itwas a beautiful day. It looked like a pic-ture postcard. So just to be here waslike being in a story book.It was both the happy conclusion ofKláras first phase as a refugee, and thebeginning of a difficult new one as sheand Paul struggled to establish them-selves in a land that was about as farfrom Hungary as it is possible to be.They had met three years earlier inVác, a town around 35 kilometres northof Budapest. When the uprising started,Paul Szentirmay played an active partin organizing gatherings. We also hadlots of Stalin statues around Vác, whichwe pulled down and destroyed. And so,when they squashed the Revolutionon 4 November, Paul was put on theblack list.They set off for the border just before Christmas.By that time, they were closing down the borders again.So we were just dressed as if we were
7 going for a walk. Ihad my favourite han
going for a walk. Ihad my favourite handkerchief, my favourite poem anda handbag. And that was all. They hired a smuggler. Paul paid all the money wehad on us plus his camera and for that he guided usacross the border. Although we heard the dogs and theshooting, we actually managed to cross the line. In Austria, they were placed in a student hostel inGraz, where Klára was told that since they were not mar-ried they would have to live in separate hostels.Then I said Im engaged to Paul. They said Well, wedont recognize engagements. And so they were reallynice because they could see that I was not just bluffing.So they actually bought us the rings and I had a wed-ding in Graz. They even gave us a two-week honeymoonin a beautiful hotel.They wanted to go to America, where a distant rela-tive lived, but biology and US resettlement policy in-tervened. I was young and naïve, so I became pregnantwhile we were in Graz. And America didnt want any-body who was married and pregnant. So we stayedthere until about April, because nobody wanted us.And then there was South Africa, Australia and NewIn South Africa, they told us, Paul will have to su-pervise the black people with guns; butPaul will have the gun and the blackpeople will work and that didnt ap-peal to Paul all that much. Then Aus-tralia: they said it was full of snakes andthings. That didnt appeal to me!New Zealand, they said, was ev-erlasting spring and a beautiful coun-try, and we believed it and we came toNew Zealand. They lied about theweather? Absolutely! Absolutely!Some places may have everlastingspring, but not Wellington! It was terrible to be PREGNANTand have your first child in hospital, without having any knowledge of the LANGUAGE I was so SCARED. It was terrible to be PREGNANTand h
8 ave your first child in hospital, withou
ave your first child in hospital, without having any knowledge of the LANGUAGE I was so SCARED. KLARASCHÉDA KLARASCHÉDA AGED 69RETIRED COUNSELLOR, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND © K. SZENTIRMAYPRIVATE COLLECTION, K. SZENTIRMAY Indeed, shortly after their arrival, it started to rain. Itrained for nine weeks. Im not kidding. I was so depressed,I cried. I hated it.Initially Paul got a job in a beer factory. And Kláraworked in a button factory until shortly before givingbirth to her daughter (also called Klára) nine monthsand ten days after getting married in Graz.It was terrible to be pregnant and have your first childin hospital, without having any knowledge of the lan-guage or your mother to hold your hand. I was so scared.Although Klára is deeply grateful to New Zealand fortaking her in, the initial reception by the general popu-lation was not very promising: They didnt like for-eigners. The first English sentence I learned was Bloodyforeigner! Honest. And I didnt know what I was say-ing. I had to look it up in the dictionary. They absolutelyhated us.Kláras second daughter was born in 1959. Partly be-cause of her domestic situation, she lagged a long waybehind Paul on learning English. I was 21 years old, withtwo babies, not speaking the language. That was terri-ble it really was. The first years were hard, but grad-ually things began to improve as they moved out of theirhostel and into a large six-bedroom house, where theyrented out rooms with full board to fellow Hungarians.I washed and cooked for them, and ironed for them, andcleaned for them. I dont want any pity but I had no wash-ing machine, with two small children and nappies. Andwe had no hot water!She finally learnt English from a Russian woman,who spoke seven languages (but not Hungarian). Theyr
9 emain great friends to this day. Another
emain great friends to this day. Another stimulus wasthe fact that she loved reading and had exhausted thelocal stock of Hungarian books. Paul became a librarian. Klára worked for a marketresearch company for seven years, ending up as theirComputer Input Manager (in the days when few peoplehad ever seen a computer). She then spent nine yearswith IBM, until she was in her mid-forties when I de-cided Id had enough of figures and machines. After ashort break, she started a new career as a counsellor toalcoholics and drug addicts. She and Paul split up in the late 1970s, but remainedgood friends until he died. He became Hungarys firstpost-communist Consul, and was succeeded by theirdaughter Klára, who as the current Honorary Consul is very involved with the 50th anniversary of the Rev-olution that led to her being conceived in a student hos-tel in Graz. The younger Klára also runs a bilingual Hun-garian/English newspaper. I do the cooking column in it, says her mother. She lives in a house that she and Paul Szentirmay builtafter buying a plot of land (or section) with the help ofthe state. It is in the old part of Wellington, and we havea little creek at the bottom of the section, and oh, its adream! I have been living here since 1962, and Im sureIll only leave it in a box. I just love it here. I really do! Rupert Colville erencz Gáborwas 21 when he arrived in theColombian capital, Bogota, in December 1957 the last stop on a year-long odyssey that hadearlier taken him from his native Hungary to Italy viaAustria. He knew nothing then of the country that wouldbecome his home for the rest of his life. Before I arrived here, I had never heard of Colom-bia, he remembers today in his small house in the southof Bogota. When they asked me if I wanted to live inE
10 cuador, Venezuela, Brazil or Colombia, I
cuador, Venezuela, Brazil or Colombia, I liked the soundof the name Colombia and I thought it would be hot here.They also said I could go to Canada, but I didnt like theidea because of the cold. The winters in Hungary werevery, very cold.The youngest of three brothers, Ferencz Gábor hadlived with his family in the small town of Gyor, not farfrom the Austrian border. When the Hungarian Up-rising began in October 1956, Gábor who was a mem-ber of the local Youth Movement took part in theprotests against the Communist regime and demon-strated in front of the secret police headquarters in Gyor. By the beginning of November, the revolution hadspread all over Hungary. To this day, Gábor remem-bers the subsequent scenes of violence against theprotesters as the most terrible moments he has ever hadto live through. The soldiers opened fire. Then they came after uswith sticks, he says. There was blood everywhereand many wounded people including girls and preg-nant women. I helped those whom I could. After that, FERENCZGABOR FERENCZGABOR AGED 69GARAGE MECHANIC, BOGOTA, COLOMBIA ____________ Far left: Klára and Paul Szentirmayduring their voyageto New Zealand. A Dutch couple onthem swimmingcostumes.Far left, below:Klára feeds the birds in hergarden inWellington.UNHCR/G. VALDIVIESO/COL2006Ferencz Gábor,a demonstratoruprising, at his homein Bogota. they came after me. I hid with a friend and left town atthree in the morning because I knew they were look-ing for me.Initially, Gábor took refuge in a small village on theAustrian side of the border where he stayed with otherHungarians in a makeshift camp. A few weeks later, hemoved on to Vienna before heading south to Italy, wherehe spent a year in Rome. He has fond memories of histime in Italy, the proudest of which is of the
11 day whenhe and other Hungarian refugees
day whenhe and other Hungarian refugees were received by PopePius XII.He gave us his blessing and thanked us for ourcourage, he remembers. In all, ten mainland Latin American countries re-ceived Hungarian refugees ranging from more thana thousand in both Brazil and Argentina to the singleperson who went to Ecuador. Gábor remembers being offered a place in Australiaand Canada, but deciding instead to become one of the220 Hungarians who ended up in Colombia, where hearrived in December 1957. He can still remember hisfirst day in Bogota. We were ten families and two other single men fromHungary, he says. The bus left us at the corner of 8thand 9th Streets. I was surprised that Bogota was not ashot as I had imagined. However, it wasnt as cold as Hun-gary. The first thing I did was look for work. It was noteasy because I spoke no Spanish but I did speak Ital-ian, more or less. They understood what I was sayingbut I did not understand them.A trained mechanic, he found work in garages andfactories and even tried run-ning his own car-repair shopfor a while. Life in Colombiahas not always been easy, hesays, and there were manytimes when the moneystretched no further than onemeal a day. Two years ago,UNHCR which still assistsseveral elderly Hungariansin Colombia gave Gáborswife a sewing-machine withwhich she is now makingclothes for sale. But economic hardshiphas not been the worst aspectof his life in exile. Fifty yearslater, the emotional anguishof losing all ties with countryand family still reverber-ates. My mother almost diedof pain when I left, Gáborsays. I was her youngestchild. She died ten years after I arrived in Colombiaand my brothers blamed me for it they said I had broken her heart. But what could I have done? I couldnot have gone back. One of my
12 companions went backa few years after th
companions went backa few years after the revolution, and they killed him. A few years later my father died, and then in 1982 myeldest brother died in a Communist jail. Ferencz Gábor has not been back to Hungary sincehe left half a century ago, and has never seen his family again. Married to a Colombian woman, Rosalba Silva, he has a daughter who lives in Cali and two grand-children who are now the centre ofhis life.I miss my country a lot, he says.But to go back? Maybe for a visit I would like that one day. But tolive there? No. I am an old man now,almost seventy. They welcomed mehere, thank God, and this is myhome. Gustavo Valdivieso & Marie-Hélène Verney 16 My mother died ten years after I arrived in COLOMBIAand my brothers BLAMEDme for it they said I hadBROKEN HER HEART. My mother died ten years after I arrived in COLOMBIAand my brothers BLAMEDme for it they said I hadBROKEN HER HEART. Resettled refugees in New Zealandlisten to a fellowHungarian playingWellington club inthe late 1950sPRIVATE COLLECTION, K. SZENTIRMAY While neither of An-drasis parents was a politi-cal activist, there were stillreasons to fear targeted re-tribution as well as the ca-sual depredations of the ad-vancing troops. My motherwas quite a rabble-rouser. Iheard that she threatened toslash her wrists if they madeher carry the red flag on MayDay. There was alwayssomebodys uncle or some-bodys cousin who bad-mouthed the regime as I wasgrowing up, and they weredisappeared. Andrasi has vivid mem-ories of the night theycrossed the border. I waswoken up in the middle ofthe night, and with a tractorthey drove our two big suit-cases and ourselves sittingon the wagon and left us inthe middle of nowhere. Myfather was quite white in theface. I was told to be quiet.The moon had come out and
13 the fields were covered withsnow. Subseq
the fields were covered withsnow. Subsequently I foundout that we had walkedthrough a minefield sepa-rating Hungary from Yu-goslavia. His father had been in the army detachment thathad laid down the minesthree years earlier. It wasdifficult for him to orienthimself with the snow, andwith trees that used to bethere that were no longerthere. I realized later thattaking his family into theminefield was a very, very stressful event for him.The family spent a year in Yu-goslavia, moved by the authorities fromplace to place in trains, sometimes evencrammed into cattle trucks. Theynever quite knew why they were mov-ing or where they would end up next. Sometimes the places where westayed in retrospect were beauti-ful, like fairyland hunting castles, herecalls. Of course with no plumbing,no heating. Sometimes we were housedin military-style barracks or in un-heated, flimsy buildings on the shoresof beautiful, beautiful, little lakes where you could skipa stone half a kilometre. As a little kid, I had a grandHis parents did not.The food was really, really difficult. I realize thatmy mother even though she was pregnant and myfather would share theirs with me because I was alwayshungry. They were having the hardest of times. Thespace between the floor and the door in these beauti-ful little cottages was enough sometimes to allow a catto come in, so the winds blowing off the hills caused usa great deal of distress. I remember guards shooting awolf that walked into thecorridors of one of thebuilding complexes.His mother suffered anervous breakdown aroundthe time his younger sis-ter was born in November1957. We were confidentshe was going to be born inAustralia, because that wasthe word that was on myparents lips: Australia,Australia. Instead, she wasborn somewher
14 e neitherhe, nor she, knows precisely
e neitherhe, nor she, knows precisely where on the banks ofthe Danube, the great trans-European river that alsoflowed close to Andrasis home in Baja. As far as Andrasi can remember all their dealingswere with the Yugoslav authorities, never with aid agen-cies. The biggest frustration was that we could neverspeak to the United Nations personnel who were ac-cepting refugees. By the time they were able to discussdestinations, Australia was booked solid. So Canadabecame our new destination. In December 1957, almost a year after they first ar-rived in Yugoslavia, they went by train to Italy wherewe waited for our papers to be completed before wegot on the steam ship. Despite the difficulties, nine-year-old Andrasi was having the time of his life. Things got even better once they boarded the cruiseVulcania: Wow! The food! The banquet hall Ihad never seen such luxury in my life. I could order icecream, or anything. I just loved it! My parents of coursewere seasick, throwing up all over the place. Ten days 19 The MOONhad come out and the fields were covered withSNOW. Subsequently I found out we had walked through aMINEFIELD. The MOONhad come out and the fields were covered withSNOW. Subsequently I found out we had walked through aMINEFIELD. Frank Andrasi,aged seven and ahalf, on the day ofhis First Communion.Below: With his wife 20 in the winter time in the North Atlantic Im sure thereare better times to take that voyage, but I was absolutelyenthralled.Most of the passengers on the Vulcaniawere emi-grating Italians. My wife, whom I met almost ten yearslater, actually came across on the same ship, except aboutsix months before. She was an Italian immigrant.After disembarking in Halifax, they briefly lodgedwith a family before moving to an isolated village by ab
15 ig steel mill. Later, they moved again,
ig steel mill. Later, they moved again, to Montreal inthe province of Quebec, as Franks father looked forwork. The family was only just getting by: One of mymemories is that my father walked to work for a monthso that he could buy me this red school bag that caughtmy fancy. He saved the money for the bus fare andwalked three miles both ways. I was very touched.When he was only 19, Andrasi married the 18-year-old Maria di Genova. I graduated in psychology,worked in Montreal as a social worker and then I wentnuts and bought a farm with my wife and some friends,and we became pioneers in growing organic food.When he first moved on to the farm in Acton Vale,100 km east of Montreal, the neighbours looked askanceat the young urban Hungarian refugee with his Ital-ian immigrant wife, practising funny organic farm-ing habits that in those days were still very much as-sociated with hippies and radical vegetarians. Thelocals were scratching their heads for a long time, un-til they started to see vans coming and loading up at thefarm. And then when I got a better car than they did,they started to think Oh, maybe organics are not sucha bad thing.Since then, organic farming has moved on a longway. Andrasi and the other pioneers including hisbusiness partner, a fellow Hungarian refugee calledJohn Herr were to some extent making up the rulesas they went along. The first organic certification sys-tem was born in my living room. We sat down, about adozen of us. We were all defining and laying down thestandards for the next generation.As well as spending many years working on organiccertification issues, Andrasi has branched out inother areas: he set up one of the first distributing com-panies for organic meats in Canada. Part of the farm isnow given over to the cultivation
16 of medicinal herbs,and recently there wa
of medicinal herbs,and recently there was a brief flirtation with Kosherorganic poultry. He believes that the dramatic mental shifts he andhis wife were forced to make as a result of changingcountries, cultures and languages have perhaps madeus more sophisticated we had to try harder than thelocals in order to blend in.Ironically, we regularly hire the latest wave of im-migrants mostly from Central and South Americaand when I tell them that Me too, Im an immigrant!they say Nooo! And I say Look at your children. Inten years, in 20 years, your children are going to havefarms like this and theyre going to hire immigrantsand they still dont believe me! Rupert Colville ____________ AGED 58 NEWSPAPER EDITOR, VIENNA, AUSTRIA A ctuallywe wanted to stay in Hungary, untilmy father somehow found out that my brotherwas quite likely to be arrested. So we decided toflee, together with a neighbour who knew the borderfairly well. We set off on 30 December 1956. We droveto a village near the frontier with Austria, and crossedthe border on foot after dark on New Years Eve. Unfortunately we got lost and walked around forhours in the snow and the cold. Then we could see spot-lights, and heard dogs barking all the adventures achild could wish for. I found it all very enjoyable myparents probably less so. I stepped on a trip-wire that set off an alarm in somedistant guard-house. Luckily we werent caught. Even-tually, as we were lost, we lay down next to a silo andfell asleep. As dawn was breaking, someone shone aflash light in our eyes, blinding us. Fortunately it wasa member of an Austrian border patrol: we had, ittranspired, already crossed over into Austria.At that time, being a refugee meant being wel-come in Austria. Without reservations. When someone first
17 arrived, he got somethingwarm to eat, w
arrived, he got somethingwarm to eat, was then taken to the authorities and tothe village school. He was fed, his personal details werePETERMARTOS PETERMARTOS COURTESY P. MARTOS registered and then he was transported to one of therefugee camps whichever had room. After a short while, once the official formalities hadbeen completed, you got this blue passport, the NansenPassport in accordance with the UN Refugee Con-vention and you were a recognized refugee. In somecases, it only took three or four days. For others, maybea few weeks.The four of us, plus the neighbour so, the five ofus had only two suitcases and a big backpack. Thatwas all we managed to bring. The grown-ups were able to do some sort of workduring the final period in the refugee camp. We receivedassistance, including an apartment through the jointefforts of a US relief organization and Caritas Austria.We also received some initial financial aid a smallamount and after that you just had to work.Shortly after the following Christmas at the be-ginning of January 1958 they said He should go toschool, that is where hell learn the fastest. I didnt get a report card at the end of thefirst semester. But at the end of the year, Igot a normal report card with the exceptionof German, which was blank. That was inthird grade. In fourth grade, I was just like anyother pupil by then I could already speakGerman quite well.During the early years, there was hardlyany contact with home. Gradually, during theearly Sixties, everything began to relax. In1963, an amnesty was passed for all peoplewhose only crime had been to flee, and who in theopinion of the Hungarian state hadnt committedany other wrongdoing.Emotionally, it was a very different matter. I hadthought Id go back there and lo
18 ok at everything witha certain amount of
ok at everything witha certain amount of anger. Instead, I became very nos-talgic and broke into tears three or four times. I wentto see the house we had lived in, and found everythinghad advanced at least three generations. In 1956, thiswas a Stalinist country, well developed in heavy in-dustry, but otherwise totally backward. Austria was aparadise by comparison. And now in 1971, Austria wasof course more developed. Nevertheless, the changesthat had taken place in Hungary greatly exceeded myexpectations.Most Austrians welcomed us in an open and friendlymanner. The more other nationalities started comingto Vienna, the more I got the impression that the Hun-garians received preferential treatment were greetedwith particular friendliness. As a native Hungarian, 21 Learning thelanguage like these youngis key to refugeesswift and successfulintegration in theirasylum country. At that time, being a REFUGEEmeant beingWELCOMEinAustria. Without RESERVATIONS. At that time, being a REFUGEEmeant beingWELCOMEinAustria. Without RESERVATIONS. UNHCR/2247/AUT1958 23 Hungary he had to have a letter from the Hungar-ian Embassy, which they refused to give him.While in Paris, some fellow mathematicianswho were impressed by his work offered to helphim stay on, but he feared that if he failed to returnto Hungary, his father would lose his job again.Three years later, with his father now retired,another opportunity arose when Frankl was allowedout of Hungary to attend a conference in Montreal.With the help of some friends from his Paris days,he travelled on to France where they had found hima position with the Centre National de la RechercheScientifique (CNRS).After arriving in France on a tourist visa in 1979,Frankl went to a police station and requested asylum.He was then direc
19 ted to the UNHCR office in Paris.After t
ted to the UNHCR office in Paris.After three months in limbo the three most diffi-cult months in my life he was granted refugee status. Even though he had a job with one of themost prestigious government research institutes, un-til he was recognized as a refugee he could not get awork permit or receive his salary.Once recognized, Frankls life changed dramati-cally for the better. The best thing was that I wasfree. You could go wherever you wanted. The only thingimportant for [the CNRS] was that you should do yourresearch and publish some papers.Frankl started to pick up invitations to travel touniversities and institutes all across the world. Eng-land, Germany, Canada, Stockholm where he was ableto practise his Swedish and the US. With his refugeepassport, travelling to Western Europe or North Amer-ica was relatively straightforward. But elsewhere, visaswere much more problematic. For India, I had to waitthree months. For Japan, each time I came I had tohave a special invitation letter. It wasnt until he acquired French citizenship seven years later that thevisa problem was finally solved.The languages were still stacking up. A three-monthstint at the University of Tokyo in 1982, was to sow theseeds of another momentous change in Frankls peri-patetic existence. He took to Japan. I liked this coun-try, because I decided this was the place where thepeople were friendliest to me. At the time there werevery few westerners living in Japan, so I was a kind ofcuriosity.He finally settled there in 1988. In 1992 by nowfluent in Japanese Frankl published the story of hislife so far. Notes of a Wandering Math-ematician sold around 50,000 copies. Inits wake, Frankl appeared on numer-ous TV programmes, and became some-thing of a celebrity.unusual persona that
20 he was carving outfor himself in Japan,
he was carving outfor himself in Japan, was a skill he hadpicked up when he was still a youth inHungary the ability to juggle. He started to juggle in the street, andalso campaigned on behalf of other Japanese street en-tertainers. He even made juggling part of his univer-sity lecture routine. If I see the people are a littletired, I just take out some objects and juggle for aboutfive minutes.His mathematical, linguistic and juggling skillscemented their relationship in the form of an educa-tional TV programme, called Mathematica, thatFrankl presented between 1998 and 2004. It was for school children, so there was some juggling and some funny things incorporated in theprogramme. Maths is not very visual, but somehow wemade it quite popular.Since the programme ended, he has not been idle:I give lectures all around the country, about all sortsof subjects: how to study maths, how to study languages,about human rights.Frankl has added Spanish, Chinese and Korean tohis collection. Eleven languages in all. And he is the au-thor of 25 books.Peter Frankl, Hungarian refugee and French eco-nomic migrant in Japan, remains a little restless: Imstill travelling a lot recently I went to Gabon, Myan-mar, Cambodia, Laos... Rupert ColvilleFar left: Peter Franklwith his mother,two years beforeRevolution.Above:Frankl, laterin life, performingon the streets ofPeter Frankl, HUNGARIANrefugee and French ECONOMICMIGRANTin Japan, remainsa little RESTLESS. Peter Frankl, HUNGARIANrefugee and French ECONOMICMIGRANTin Japan, remainsa little RESTLESS. COURTESY P. FRANKL 24 BY nly half a century ago a blink of the eye in humanhistory there were at least40 million refugees anddisplaced people in Europe:the product of Hitlers Germany, FrancosSpain, Musso
21 linis Italy, and, later of thecolonels
linis Italy, and, later of thecolonels regime in Greece, and the Sovietsubjugation of Central Europe, includingHungary. These countries are all now memberstates of the European Union, and it is al-most inconceivable they would producerefugees today. So inconceivable, that theircitizens have the luxury of forgetting whatit was like to be governed by a tyrannicalregime, or to be tortured for your politicalbeliefs. In America, Martin Luther King had tobe assassinated before racial equality be-came anything like a reality. Earlier this year, Refugees(No. 142) carried a photograph that seemsto me in many ways to sum up this amne-sia about a thousand years of warfare,tyranny and repression. It shows a couple,in bikini and swimming trunks, sitting contentedly on their towels under an um-brella on the beach. There is only one otherperson visible on the beach. He is black andhe is dead an immigrant or a refugee,sprawled across the sand at the high-watermark. Well never know who he was or whyhe ended up there, and the couple on thebeach apparently couldnt care less. It is a pretty sad picture. Sad for theanonymous man whose corpse washed up,like so many others, on a Mediterraneancoast a few years ago. Sad for the couple, sit-ting under the umbrella with their picnicbox and suntan oil, that they cant see thestark reality lying a few yards further upthe beach. Someones son, someonesbrother, or someones loved one. In fact you,or me, if we had been born at anothertime, or in another place. THEMEANSTOACT The UN refugee agency,for which I act as a goodwill ambassador,has an annual budget of around US$ 1.2 bil-lion. That sounds like a lot of money, butthere are dozens of companies that makeprofits many times that amount each year.UNHCR has a constant struggle to get itsUS$1.2 bi
22 llion, which it uses to help and protect
llion, which it uses to help and protect some 20 million people. As the year progresses, UNHCR in-variably has to cut more and more projectsaffecting the worlds most disadvantagedpeople. It tries to avoid cutting the projectsfor the most vulnerable the refugeewomen projects, the education projects, andthe HIV/AIDS projects in refugee camps.But sometimes even these are affected di-rectly and they are almost always affectedindirectly: not enough staff, not enough sec-ondary education and even not enough foodSolving the Global Angelina Jolietravelling with agroup of newlyarrived Congoleserefugees in Tanzania. 25 in some refugee camps, especially in Africa.It is a scandal, really, in such a rich world,that we are not even finding a way to helpfeed these families properly.We are then scandalized when theyshow the audacity to try to enter our ter-ritory to travel in search of a future. In theprocess, they mingle with economic mi-grants who are also on the move. Theyfall into the hands of smugglers, whopush them into overcrowded boats or hidethem in the backs of containers, or tell themto walk across minefields or scale barbed-wire fences in the middle of the night. Lotsof them die and are buried anonymously,like that man on the beach in the Mediter-ranean. There have been more than 7,000 catalogued deaths of people trying to getinto Europe over the past decade or soand that is probably far short of the real to-tal. Many have also died trying to get to theUS and Australia. But we dont notice. Weare simply affronted by their audacity. Howdare they try to eat at our table? How darethey come to build our roads, clean our hos-pitals and office blocks, wash the dishesin our restaurants and make the beds in Refugee CrisisThe UN High Commissioner forRefugees António Guterr
23 es put it very suc-cinctly recently. He
es put it very suc-cinctly recently. He said that the specialstatus of refugees people fleeing perse-cution or war is being jeopardized bythe battle over whether or not we want eco-nomic migrants. HOWWEAREFAILING Those of us who are still well-disposedtowards refugees, and are shockedto see them turned into hate figures in order to win elections or sell newspapers,are failing. We dont want uncontrolledmovements of people across our borders,but we are not prepared to invest finan-cially or politically or even emotionally in finding solutions in the regions theycome from. We will put band aids over themost gaping wounds, because they look a bit ugly. But we wont pay for a fullcure, and we wont invest much effort inprevention either. Of course, solutions are not easy. It is a scandal,in such a world, that weare not even finding a way tofeed refugee familiesproperly. UNHCR/N. BEHRING-CHISHOLM/TZA2003 26 This article first appeared in Global AgendaHowever, the transformation of Europefrom being the fulcrum of the two most de-structive wars the planet has ever seen intoa 25-member club whose members cannoteven conceive of going to war with eachother should give us some clues as to whatwould alleviate the worlds refugee and mi-gration problems. MOREMARSHALLPLANSPLEASE Refugees are the visible symptom of our failure to pro-duce more Marshall Plans butthey are relatively easy to deal with.Whats needed are: more resourcesinvested in the regions the refugeesfirst move to, so they dont feel theyhave to move on unless they reallywant to; and more resources forcountries where peace has been es-tablished. The first years are in-credibly fragile, and returningrefugees need help to get them-selves back on their feet. They dont needmuch, just enough to allow them to hel
24 pthemselves. Agencies like UNHCR should
pthemselves. Agencies like UNHCR should really nothave to struggle to scrape a few tens ofmillions of dollars together to help re-build shattered nations like Angola, SierraLeone, Liberia and South Sudan. A quickand efficient rebuilding of a war-torn na-tion helps anchor the peace in firmer soiland brings amazing dividends in terms ofregional stability and economic prosperitythat are to everyones advantage.Ignoring simmering conflicts is equallydamaging and hugely expensive. ThinkBosnia, think Rwanda, think Afghanistan,where more investment and more thought-ful international politics in the 1980s and UNHCR/T. MAKEEVA/RUS2003 collectivelywe do in fact have thepower and means to make a difference This autumn, Angelina Jolie is launching UNHCRs new Emergency Response Teaminitiative. She has also become the firstsigned-up supporter of the ERTeam as it isknown for short and urged others to joinup as well.I have had the privilege to meet andwork alongside UNHCR staff in some of themost remote and inhospitable areas of theworld, said Ms. Jolie, who has visited morethan 20 countries, from Sri Lanka to SierraLeone, in support of her role as UNHCRsGoodwill Ambassador. The dedication andcommitment of these colleagues day in and day out to helprefugees is an inspiration.When people have fled their homes, and are destitute, hungryand vulnerable, they need help rapidly. UNHCRs EmergencyResponse Teams are on stand-by round the clock to respond toany major refugee crisis, anywhere in the world. Within hours,planes are loaded with vital supplies, and highly trained membersof the ERTeam jump aboard, armed with expertise that can savecountless lives. They are often one of the first on the scene forexample during the tsunami and the Pakistanearthquake, as well as in huge re
25 fugee crisessuch as Rwanda and Afghanist
fugee crisessuch as Rwanda and Afghanistan. ITS VITAL TO BE PREPARED Emergency Response Team members have tohit the ground running, often in extremelystressful and chaotic situations. That is why,when they volunteer to go on standby for theERTeam, these already experienced staff haveto undergo nine days of intensive training inpractical skills such as camp design andmanagement, telecommunications, off-roaddriving and first aid. They are also trained how to handle a widerange of security issues, including dealing with armed militias, andhow to react if you are held up at gunpoint or even kidnapped ortaken hostage. The course, which takes around 40 people from across theworld, is held three times a year. By the time they have com-pleted it they are physically and mentally prepared to face someof the toughest and most challenging situations in the world. Over the past two years alone, teams have been deployed inAnd invites you to join too. Angelina Jolie joins UNHCRs 27 magazine of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.the early 1990s might havechanged the course of history forall of us. Osama Bin Ladenthrived on our neglect ofAfghanistan. Things are lookingbetter in all these countriesnow, but at what a cost, and howmany millions of refugees toshow us where we went wrong?Not to mention more than twomillion dead in those three coun-tries alone.Ihave been to some of thesecountries, or to their neighbours,where most of the refugees re-main. It is a truly humbling ex-perience, a shocking eye-opener.It has made me realize that we are all myself included behaving like the couplesitting under their umbrella on thebeach, gazing studiously out to sea.Yet individually or collectively we do infact have the power and the means to makea difference. I believe we are all looking
26 for the same thing a stable world, a s
for the same thing a stable world, a sta-ble economy and the ability to progress aspeople and as nations. We want a better fu-ture. We do not want to continue to repeatthe mistakes of the past. Angelina Jolie is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning actress and has been a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador since August 2001. UNHCR/J. REDDEN/PAK2005 Pakistan, 2005. more than 20 situations, including Darfur and Chad, SriLanka, Pakistan, East Timor, the Democratic Republic ofthe Congo, and Indonesias Aceh province after it had beendevastated by the tsunami. Most recently, UNHCRERTeams have been deployed to help hundreds ofthousands of displaced Lebanese, both inside their homecountry and across the border in Syria.Would you like to stand alongside UNHCRs staff, tomake sure they have the training, equipment and suppliesthey need?Angelina Jolie has been quick to lend her support tothis important Emergency Response Team operation as itsfirst supporting member behind the frontline. You too cansign up online at www.erteam.unhcr.org , thereby helpingto bring swift and vital aid to refugees whose communitieshave been devastated by war, persecution and disaster. Emergency Response Team Join me today in standingalongside the EmergencyResponse Team Angelina Jolie Chad, 2004. UNHCR/E. PARSONS/TCD2004 BY hen, in 2002,armed rebels fromthe Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy(LURD) group swept down from northernLofa County like a hurricane, leaving intheir wake a trail of death, violence andmassive destruction, the citizens of Boiwen decided enough was enough. Initially the men in this village in south-western Bomi County had elected to hidein the bush until the rampaging torrentof drugged, savage youth had passedthrough the village, burning, looting and raping every
27 female in their path in their usual way.
female in their path in their usual way. However, the villagers soon changedtheir minds, realizing they had no effec-tive way of staving off the pending socialcataclysm that was approaching their com-munity. Instead, they decided to send the old people, women and children on ahead to 28 Liberians hope the dreadfulmemories of the recentconflict, anarchy andatrocities will be if notforgotten at leastconsigned firmly to the past. The Liberian Wilson Corner camp. Most of the menfollowed soon afterwards, leaving behindonly a handful of very brave people totake care of their huts and fields in andaround Boiwen. Tens of thousands of other equally andjustifiably scared Liberians fled towardsMonrovia between 1999 and 2003, to seekrefuge in one of the 35 camps and sponta-neous settlements for internally displacedpeople (IDPs) that had sprung up in andaround the capital. Those living near a border often choseto save their lives by heading through thejungle to Sierra Leone, Guinea or CôtedIvoire countries which, one after theother, experienced their own domestic up-heavals related, at least in part, to the com-plex regional dynamics caused by the col-lapse of civilization in Liberia. Others many of them fed up with theconstant toing and froing they experiencedduring a decade of civil wars grabbed theirbelongings and headed further afield tomore stable countries like Ghana or BLESSEDSOILTORRIDHISTORY A journey through Liberia todayconfronts the visitor with conflicting images and raises more questions than itprovides answers. Deep green forests, a soilknown for its riches diamonds, gold, timber, rubber in abundance. A nature sogenerous that all you have to do is drop aseed and watch it grow. This country is so blessed, says a UNpeacekeeper from Pakistan. They
28 have 29 Returnees rebuilding their hous
have 29 Returnees rebuilding their house inLofa County one of the most destroyedareas in Liberia. Above:Maimu IDP campnear Monrovia. The last of the camps wasclosed down in March 2006. Dream GUINEA LIBERIA CÔTE DIVOIRE SIERRA LEONE Lofa CountyCountyBoiwen MONROVIA UNHCR / SATELLITE IMAGEMAP © 1996-2004 PLANETARY VISIONS UNHCR/E. COMPTE VERDAGUER/LBR2005 30 Almost every building that was looted, mosques had been burnt to ashes,schools swallowedup by the rains and fertile soils. They never need tobe hungry. Nature is so generous here, incomparison to the dry region in Pakistanwhere I come from. Our farmers have towork so hard to survive. Yes, say Liberians without muchconviction. Our country is blessed. Andyet They list tribal differences, and citethe envy and insatiable greed for powerand wealth which have blighted their coun-try for much of the 150 years since it wasfounded by returning American slaves in1822. The countrys deep-seated problemsculminated in 14 terrible years of evolvingcivil wars between 1989-2003 three in all,dubbed World Wars One, Two and Threeby the local population.Lofa County, in the far north, on the bor-der with Guinea and Sierra Leone, was oncethe bread-basket of Liberia. But in early2005, despite two years of peace, it stilllooked like an open wound. Every villagewas destroyed. Almost every building thatwas still standing had been looted, mosqueshad been burnt to ashes, schools swallowedup by the jungle. Further south, a similar picture in Gbar-polu, Bong, Bomi and Grand Cape Mountcounties: abandoned wells, gutted markethalls, and a third of Liberias mainly ruralpopulation packed into IDP camps, occu-pying empty public buildings in downtownMonrovia, or living rough along thebeaches and in the outskirts of the capital,waiting for b
29 etter times. GRADUALRECOVERY Now, three
etter times. GRADUALRECOVERY Now, three years after the August2003 Peace Agreement wassigned in Accra, and half a year after Ellen JohnsonSirleaf took office as the first ever demo-cratically elected female President inAfrica, Liberia is showing signs of gradualrecovery. Over the last year, Lofa County receivednearly 45,000 returning refugees and over120,000 former IDPs. In all, 74,000 re-turnees decided to come back to Liberiawith UNHCRs help between the start ofthe repatriation operation in October 2004and July 2006. A further 200,000 or morespontaneous returnees have gone backhome on their own since 2003.The return of Liberias population isconsidered by the new government, as wellas by donors and the UN and other agen-cies, as a clear sign of confidence in the fu-ture despite all the gaps and immensehurdles that must now be confronted. Anew chapter seems finally to have opened.What we need now, is jobs, jobs, jobs, Pres-ident Ellen Johnson Sirleaf keeps on re-minding the international community.But the task is truly daunting. And thesocial scars will not heal fully until someof Liberias remaining demons have been discussprotection issues witha Liberian judge at arural courthouse. The countrys justicesystem was shatteredby 14 years of civil war. UNHCR/E. COMPTE VERDAGUER/LBR2005 31 Today, there seems to be a new sense of confidencein the air despite the many immensechallenges still facing this war-ravagedsociety. confronted head on that, at least, is onepoint everyone agrees upon. Reconstruction efforts will need tostretch far beyond rehabilitating damagedroads and public buildings. Society itself hasto be reconstructed from its foundations up-wards. People who have experienced somuch mayhem and suffering, and witnessedso many atrocities, have to find a way
30 toreconcile and forgive and begin to fo
toreconcile and forgive and begin to forge anew common national identity. DAUNTINGTASKAHEAD Some 85 per cent of the populationneed jobs. This figure includes thousandsof former fighters, many of whom wantto be accepted back into society, and intotheir families, although they are still understandably the object of intense pub-As the experience of many other dev-astated countries has shown, a number ofcrucial issues have to be addressed simul-taneously, if a positive momentum is to becreated and maintained. President Johnson Sirleaf has been tour-ing the world to raise funds and lobby forLiberia, while taking a tough line on cor-ruption and trying to fulfil her electionpromise to restore electricity to key areasof Monrovia after 17 long years of darkness. Meanwhile, the recently establishedTruth and Reconciliation Commissionaims to cast another kind of light on theatrocities committed during the wars, invit-ing Liberians to testify and share theirgrievances. THECAMPSCLOSE On 31 March 2006,an importantlandmark was reached when all the IDPcamps were officially closed after 321,745people had been assisted by UNHCR togo back to their communities of origin. Today, even Boiwens citizens are backhome. They fled together and they left Wil-son Corner camp together. In accordancewith the villagers own list of priorities,UNHCR has reconstructed their palaverhut (a type of communal centre), installeda well and encouraged them to take partin an agricultural project. The children of Boiwen are goingback to school, and though the war woundsare still visible, life seems to be graduallyreturning to normal. The boundaries ofthat normality are explored by a group ofchildren staging a play on their graduationday: they decide to use the opportunity toaddress one of the communitys cur
31 rentpressing concerns the sad fact tha
rentpressing concerns the sad fact thatwhile some villagers are engaged infarming cassava, other people sneak alongat night to steal their crops.So, how exactly should one deal with acassava thief in a country where mob jus-tice is still considered acceptable, becausetrust in the police, the court system and allforms of authority was shattered long agoand has not yet been restored? The drama group came up with aground-breaking solution: instead of be-ing lynched on the spot, their thief wasbrought before the town chief, who thenconsulted with the elders and the variousinvolved parties. In the end, he was orderedto reimburse the family and sentenced toperform communal work. This enlightened proposal would ap-pear to bode well for the future. However,Boiwen, like thousands of other villages inLiberia, does not yet have a functioning lo-cal police force. Nor is there a clinic any-where close. The Superintendent thehighest local authority of Bomi County recently complained that dozens of schoolsneed to be built or rebuilt, and that chil-dren are at risk of sexual violence and abusewhen they have to get up at 4:30 a.m. andwalk for two hours to reach the nearest STEPBYSTEP Even though Liberias ruralpopu-lation is very willing to play a part in re-constructing the country, their long-termeconomic prospects are far from clear. Atthe moment there are hardly any incomepossibilities with the exception of smallbusinesses, mostly consisting of womenwho walk for hours, day after day, to sellwhatever merchandise they can lay theirHowever, most Liberians appear to havedecided to stand firm against anyone whowould like to spoil the new spirit of optimism that is gradually taking over Monrovia and the rural areas. The inhab-itants of the capital even those still livingrough along t
32 he edge of the beaches makeevery effor
he edge of the beaches makeevery effort to appreciate the achievementsof the new government and to exercise patience. Were trying, small, small, saysThomas Kamara, a former refugee inGuinea. In this part of West Africa, small,small implies things could be better but could also definitely be worse. It will take a long time to rebuild thiscountry. We cannot expect too much toosoon, he adds, emphasizing that despitethe individual hardships almost everyoneis still facing, Liberians are tired of war.Ive been a refugee for 13 years. The bestdecision I made last year was to come backhome. We want to live our life in peace.Back in Lofa County and other returnareas, farmers have started harvesting andlocal communities are banding together toreconstruct schools and houses, whilewomens groups focus on small businesses.Communities are assisting each other withtheir daily needs and look ahead, ratherthan back at their painful past. And today, in general, there seems to bea new sense of confidence in the air despitethe many immense challenges still facingthis war-ravaged society. It is the confidence of the people ofLiberia that one day they will be more pros-perous than they are now. That they willhave clean, safe drinking water, and lightin their houses. That they will have jobsand their children will go to a nearby school.That when they are sick, they will betreated by doctors in clinics. It is the belief that they can once againlive side by side and at peace with theirneighbours, and the dreadful memories ofthe recent conflict, anarchy and atrocitieswill be if not forgotten, because it is im-possible to forget such things at least con-signed firmly to the past. It may still sound like a dream. But thereis now at least a fighting chance that thedream will come true