The Rural Voice, 2001-06, Page 38167,
When a
young boy
fleeing the
Hungarian
uprising
reached
Canada, he found a
welcoming home on a
Bruce County Farm
"Kis fiam, kis fiam, hol van onok
... ?" Sometimes, even after all these
years, he still hears his anya calling
in his dreams. "Little son, little son,
where are you...?" Her voice echoes
from far across the water.
Sanyi was 14 when he came to
Canada in 1956. Ask him why he left
Hungary and he'll shrug his
shoulders and answer, "Why do 14 -
year -old boys do some of the things
they do...? I guess," he adds after
some serious thought, "I was caught
up in the anticipation of the free
world as much as everyone else was
during that very troubled period.
War, revolution, hunger..." he says,
remembering hard times.
Having heard the story before, I
sense that he came for many reasons.
One of which was to spare his mother
one mouth to feed. Another was with
hopes of earning a living in the
enticing land of wealth, then bringing
34 THE RURAL VOICE
his family over to join him. Then,
too, he likely came as any daring 14 -
year -old would, in search of
adventure in the land of promise
across the sea.
Most Magyars or Hungarians who
fled during tic uprising were grown
men or entire families. There were
some, however, underage like Sanyi,
who found "uncles" with similar
surnames to act as "guardians"
enabling them to come without much
ado. As soon as the ships landed,
these pretend relatives quickly parted
ways.
Upon arriving in Canada, Sanyi
was taken in by immigration
authorities who feared for the health
and welfare of such a young,
unaccompanied arrival. Best interests
at heart, they placed him on a farm
near Chesley with a family who
agreed to sponsor him until he
reached legal age. He was enrolled in
Sanyi Gabris (left) in
a recent photo at his
home in British
Columbia.
By Linda Gabris
school as Canadian law insisted. In
turn for room and board, he would act
as a helping hand on the family's
large, sprawling farm.
He vividly remembers the first
meal with his new host family.
"There was the farmer and his wife,
six children and myself all seated
around a huge table. I was nervous as
heck," he says, laughing, "what with
them not speaking one word of
Hungarian or me of English. It was
very uncomfortable. They passed me
steaming bowls of this and offered
me heaping platters of that. Some
things were familiar, others not..." he
smiles, recounting a Targe bowl of
bananas that sat in the middle of the
table. He had not seen bananas
before.
"There was more food at that one
setting," he says, shaking his head in
disbelief, "than I'd ever seen in my
whole life! And there I sat," he adds,