This is the story of mam, dad and their countrymen

Roebuck Road (132 St.). Over the years, their ranks have conspicuously
thinned. Gradually, the ‘old timers’ sold their land to developers and
used the monies toward retirement, purchase of new homes and travel.
Unfortunately, economics compelled them to work beyond the age of
65; they retired and shortly they faced serious health issues that ab-
breviated life. Penicillin, dentists, optometrists, surgeons, safety equip-
ment were either unavailable or in short supply. Leisure and ‘recrea-
tional’ activities were considered a luxury. Further, they had little
‘leisure-oriented experience and were little prepared to enjoy even a
short retirement.
Theirs was an era that preceded labour unions and ‘social justice’.
Work involved long hours, six days a week and in unsafe, unhygienic
environments. The justice system favoured the Anglo: this included
the police, the press, the courts and promotion.
Today, ours is one of the few original families remaining.
The times have changed. Life has become rather hedonistically in-
dulgent. Our purchases are made less on affordability and more on
whim and research... We are now considered to be “the region’s pi-
oneers”.
Of course it’s hard for youth to understand the conditions as they
had existed. What is currently available was not always thus.
The regional general store carried a little bit of everything. Today’s
super-markets, filled with goods from floor to ceiling, was unheard of.
Poor people have simple demands and their empty pockets allowed to
buy only basic goods. All sales were cash. Credit was unavailable.
As economics improved, so did the social system. Recreation, edu-
cation, transportation improved. Those, even a few years older than
I, had received just enough formal education that allowed them to
become literate and to do basic calculations. Recreational, non-pro-
ductive activities were generally frowned up. They were expensive,
time wasting and non-productive. The popular adage was; Use your
time usefully and tangibly.
Positive changes came slowly, but they did come. Surrey had no
hospitals. I was born on our farm: a neighbour’s lady, Mara Kekich,
served as a midwife. All went well. Mom was a full-time housewife; She
managed the children and the farm. Dad worked in the lumber mill
and in mines.
Many of us knew little English. We learned at school and on the
school grounds. Often our language consisted of a Yugoslav-English
blend, a sort of jargon. But we survived.
There was an elementary school, about two miles from home. We
walked along the trail, then along railway tracks, and to the two room,
wood-frame, grey-coloured school. It had not central heating, no elec-
tricity and no indoor plumbing. It was hard to get any teachers. Good
teachers were scarce. But it was good to be alive; the economic depres-
sion was ending.
We had loving parents. They were faced with a huge adjustment –
social, linguistic and cultural. In the house, we were Serbians. On the
street, we were Surrey residents. Life was simple, but good.
Being of Serbian legacy was, at first, a little ambivalent. A small
nation, secreted in the middle off Europe, with a language and an alpha-
bet that was different. It did not seem have much to commend it. But I
found the Serbian psyche to be strong and proud. The more I studied this
culture, the more reason that I found that there was much justification
in their raison d’être. They were tough, able and intelligent.
They fought the Turks (a huge monolithic empire), with success.
They challenged the Austrian Empire and acquitted themselves well.
We know of Prince (Krajlevic) Marko, Sultan Murat, the gushers and
Serbian heroes.
The world also knows of Nikola Tesla. This Serbian improved the
lot of every world citizen. Very few in the annals of human history can
make such a similar claim.
Our home was an extension of a Serbian village. Our diet was that
of a Serbian. Potatoes, cabbage both fresh and sauerkraut. Our bread
was home baked and coarse. The laundry was hand scrubbed. Our
household language was ‘village’ Slavic. We had cows and drank raw
milk, raised chickens and pigs. Every autumn, we would process the
pigs, make blood sausage, smoke sausage, bacon and ham. By Novem-
ber, the smokehouses would be curing the pork. For the initiated, sauer-
kraut, smoked ham, bans, home-made bread provided staple and qual-
ity food. We really purchased very little food, yet no one was hungry.
The result is that the next generation can claim a part of early
Surrey. It is easy to sell, it is difficult to buy.
Again, life quality improved because of better transportation, com-
munication. Homes became more comfortable. New roads appeared.
Entertainment, health facilities, access to government, equity before
the law, security, dissemination of knowledge were upgraded. For ex-
ample, the dentist really improved life quality as did the services of the
teacher the doctor, the engineer, etc.
‘Dolce vita’ had arrived. And it was good!
The future remains enigmatically interesting. The leadership in the
world is in a state of flux and challenge. China is burgeoning, USA
seems to be diminishing, India is maturing, Russia is recovering,
Europe is showing signs of disorientation – and Canadians are the re-
cipients of such change.
I suspect that our children will be subjected to substantial adjustment.
It is easier to transition from rags to riches, rather than the reverse.

Contacts with the “Old Country”– Nightmares of ethnic cleansing
Our ethnic group had had sporadic contact with ‘Stari Kraj’. Letters,
and ‘word of mouth' provided the main communication. Wars, social
upheaval, weak economics prevented and reduced travel. Newspapers,
such as ‘Novosti’ and ‘Srbobran’ provided some highlights and insight.
Balkan conflict was frequent. There was much disruption of com-
munication. We had heard of ‘Mein Kampf’ and of the ‘super-race’
postulation. Religion lead to many of the South Slavic tragedies. Yugo-
slavia was historically Orthodox. But Moslem incursions came into
Bosnia and Serbia. Austrian-Hungarian dominated Croatia and Bosnia
introducing Catholicism and bitter dissension in Croatia and Slove-
nia. Sadly, no cruelty equals factionalism generated by religious dif-
ferences. Priests can convert normality into fanaticism – especially
among the newly converted. Nightmarish ethnic cleansing occurred.
In many instances, those who impose change claim that “the genocid-
ed committed the genociding”. The involved Pope pontificated while
his followers slaughtered. Jasenovac was kept secret until The Red
Army stormed it and exposed the cruelty of the extermination camps:
Aushwitz, Treblinka, Maindek, Jasenovac. The world finally saw what
had happened behind the barbed wire. Catholics quickly worked to
deny and to destroy the evidence. Only the Red Army’s efforts pre-
vented the camps disappearance. So evidence remained. Sixty years
later, the USA backed neo-fascist regime has successfully bulldozed all
evidence. Only written records and some museum artefacts remain.
Balkanization has its painfully ugly aspects. This butchery killed mil-
lions and needed telling. The victims of these camps were Slavic intelli-
gentsia, (including Russian) the Jews and gypsies. The strong were sent
to slave labour, the pretty girls were sent to the invader’s military bar-
racks. It was ironic that the Croatians were involved, since they too, are
simply Catholic converted Serbs. The power of religion and the bigotry
of the newly-converted is most compellingly powerful. Inferiors tend
to attack the superior - surreptitiously and violently. And that tends to
reflect the psychology of the Catholic Croatian.
Yes, we read about these events. We remember. Some of us were
lucky to have had many visits and see these sites ‘first hand’.
In Surrey, we learned slowly of these terrible atrocities. Eventu-
ally the truth did surface. Surrey Slavic Catholics, at first, were em-
barrassed. Then they went into a state of denial. How could the pious
Franciscan Cardinal Stepinac have advocated or have had a part of
this bestial persecution? Even the Pope went on to deify Stepinac and
recommended his sainthood. Catholics had no choice. Horrible events
had happened; there were too many witnesses. The USA became in-
volved —the worst of the Catholic Ustasha miscreants were given free
and protected passage to America. “Operation Gladio”. American Mc-
Carthyism promulgate that: If the victims were suspected commun-
ists, they were disposable.
Even the Jews were offended since they too shared similar brutal
treatment. USA welcomed fascists... The other were denied.
When I visited the Old Cathedral in Zagreb, I happened to ask ad-
herents, one by one, “Who was this Stepinac?” Whose “body” lies con-
spicuously. They all denied any knowledge of this person. Finally, as I
was leaving, an old man stated: “He was a great man: He killed Serbs”.
Such denial of truth reflects ignorance and prejudice.
We knew that divisiveness is potentially common in every world
nation; every nation has its closeted issues – everyone. Nationhood is
a fragile concept. No one knows that better than the coup-inspiring
USA hegemonic regime. The USA had itself experienced the pain of a
civil war. Yet the prevailing neocon hierarchy, effectively controls and