Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
Family
August 16, 2005
Larry Polyak, Scoutmaster

Some of you might remember from last month, that I told you I would be traveling to the country of Croatia this summer, to visit the city where my grandfather had immigrated from. I promised not to bore you with pictures of my vacation, but I didn't promise that I wouldn't do another Scoutmaster minute on the subject!

I went with my wife Karen, my brother and his wife, and my sister and her husband. We knew very little about where our grandfather came from, and had no idea if there were any relatives still there. We had an old address, "18 Bregi Radoboj" but were told that addresses had probably changed in the almost 100 years since our grandfather had lived there. We were also told that "bregi" means "in the hills" so that "Bregi Radoboj" meant "In the hills of the town of Radoboj".

Armed with only this knowledge we set out on our adventure, with no expectations other than to say we had been there. After we arrived in Croatia, we found the town of Radaboj on a map, rented an Opel sedan that could fit the six of us, and drove 2 1/2 hours from the capital of Zagreb to Radaboj. It is a very small village in the country. The road through town was paved, but only one lane, and without traffic lights. We saw a road leading up to the hills so we took it. After a while we saw some houses. They had addresses. First there was 10, then 12, then 16. Then there was 21, 27, and 29. No address number 18. We were 6000 miles from home and had no idea if we were even in the right place. We saw an old man walking along the road, so we stopped and tried to communicate with him. He did not speak any English, only Croatian, but got the impression we were looking for someone. We told him our last name and he seemed to get very excited. Other people started coming out of their houses, although noone could speak English. I showed a woman my California driver's license and pointed to my last name. She seemed interested.

Just then, another woman came out of her house, speaking German. My brother and I know a few words of German so we started talking with her, but still could not communicate well. After a while, she invited us into her house, gave us a mini tour, had us all sit down while she insisted to get something for us to drink. After about 20 minutes or so at her house, we still were not sure if we were on the right track. Then a young man and woman pulled up on a motorcycle. The woman was a young college student who could speak English. As it turns out, the people in the village had sent for her. She started explaining that she was the neighbor of a well known local man named Josip Poljak who was in the construction industry. We followed her to Josip's house and met his 78 year old mother Magdalena. She went upstairs and came back a few minutes later with a small old black and white picture. We immediately recognized the man in the picture as our grandfather. Finally, we were sure we were in the right place.

After that, it was a blur. We ended up meeting not only our cousin Josip and his wife Nada, but also four other Poljak cousins. All of them had a grandparent who was a sibling of our grandfather. Our grandfather was the only one who had left Croatia. They knew they had relatives in America but did not know how to find us. They insisted we stay for dinner. Neighbors came by with food and to help cook. Basically they threw us a big party. It was amazing. Their welcoming and outpouring of generosity was overwhelming. It was a day we will never forget.

Since then, I have had time to reflect on family and how important it is. Think about your own family. It hurts me when I hear about members of the same family who do not get along. Your family will always be your family, and you should always - always - cherish, respect and welcome them.

Thank you for listening.