An in-depth interview with Zsuzsa Csajkás, co-founder of both the South Florida Hungarian Kids Club and the Hungarian Chamber of Business and Commerce in Florida. Born in Csíkszereda (Miercurea Ciuc, Transylvania), she moved to the States for better opportunities and later to pursue a business career, only to then become deeply involved in the life of the Hungarian American community after the birth of her son.
An in-depth interview with Anna (Panni) De Cheke Qualls, co-founder of the Hungarian Folklife Association, who moved to the States as a child with her family in the 1980s, then became actively involved in Hungarian folk dancing after her son, Leó became passionate about it. Now mother and son dance together in the Tisza Ensemble and Bátori Folk Dance Ensemble, where Panni also volunteers.
On 27 September an online conference organized jointly by the Diaspora Project Network of the University of Pécs and Kerko Media Ltd. featured Hungarian communities in San Francisco and its vicinity. The livestreamed discussion, followed in more than ten countries, was an impressive presentation of the diverse voluntary activities and exemplary cooperation of Hungarian organizations.
Both Emese and her husband, László Kerkay have been cultivators of the rich Hungarian historical and cultural heritage and overall active contributors to the life of the Hungarian community of Passaic, New Jersey, having served at the Hungarian school for over 30 years: Emese as teacher and principal, László as treasurer. Emese has also been an active scout since the age of six and was a founding member and for 25 years curator of the American Hungarian Museum of Passaic.
Éva Voisin is an accomplished lawyer, founder of the Hungarian American Chamber of Commerce and the Honorary Consul of Hungary for Northern California since 1993. She was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary in 2013, and is also the 2003 recipient of the Pro Auxilio Civium Hungarorum prize and numerous other awards for her pro-bono legal and civic activities.
An in-depth interview with Enkő Gorondi, founder and headmaster of the Aprókfalva Montessori Preschool and learning pod, a unique Hungarian daily educational institution in Piscataway, New Jersey; and her daughter, who, as a teacher, scout leader and folk dance teacher is also an active member of the local Hungarian community.
An in-depth interview with Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Programme scholars Ágnes and István Vámosi, who undertook the responsibility of teaching Hungarian folk dance in Los Angeles for two years with their little son, Pityke in tow.
Professor Puskás is a highly accomplished researcher, engineer and university professor living in the United States, who is still active in her field of chemical engineering. She has not only excelled professionally, but has also been an active member of the Hungarian Diaspora in America.
An in-depth interview with pianist and choir director Zsuzsánna Balla, who has lived in the United States for more than twenty years, and yet she and her family have preserved and continue to foster their Hungarian heritage, and are active and enthusiastic members of the Hungarian American community.
An in-depth interview with Erika and József Megyeri, former and current presidents of the Hungarian Communion of Friends, about their families’ emigration to the U.S., their involvement in the life of the local Hungarian community as teenagers, and how and why they decided to play a leading role in community building.
‘The current Embassy has been very active in supporting the retention of the culture and also in organizing community events and film screenings, and joining us in National Day celebrations.’
An in-depth interview with Eva Kazella, a prominent member of the Hungarian American community, about the deportation of her family from Communist Slovakia, the vicissitudes before starting a new life in the United States, her family, and the vibrant community life of Hungarian Americans.
‘After all these years, I’m in a phase where I really enjoy my work…I also feel that I’m well known in the local community and that many people come to see me, so my work is a success every day. If only two out of twenty patients thank me for changing their lives because, for example, they can work or because their migraines have stopped, that’s a very good feeling for me. I am also on good terms with my colleagues. My secretaries have learned how to make Hungarian espresso, for example, and when I go to the office, they wait for me with it.’
The documentary presents the most successful ever Hungarian national water polo team that won three consecutive Olympic golds and whose most iconic figure, team captain and then coach Tibor Benedek, passed away at a tragically young age.
‘After being rejected several times in Rome, Cabrini insists on meeting the Pope. While no woman before her has ever founded such an order, Leo the XIII is persuaded by the nun’s determination and allows her to set sail. However, he directs her to New York (instead of the Far East), where at the time two million Italian refugees were chasing the American dream. On their arrival to the Five Points neighborhood of New York, the six nuns are confronted with the reality that most of the immigrants there are victims of crime, prostitution, poverty, and disease.’
‘The movie thus comes to a happy ending for the family involved (apart from the horrors experienced by the minors), but we are not relieved after watching it. Not only because we know that this is a true story, which makes it even more harrowing to follow. But also because by the end of the movie, we also learn (if we were not already aware before) that child sex trafficking is a huge global social issue, and one of the fastest growing businesses (comparable to drug trafficking) affecting millions of children, with millions of abusers and the U.S. authorities not seeming to be truly committed to eradicating it.’
The Hungarian Summit has proven to be a key event for enhancing economic, educational, community, and cultural relations between Hungary and the United States. Its fourth instalment, featuring distinguished speakers and engaging panel discussions on business, educational, community, and cultural topics offered participants a unique opportunity to meet like-minded innovators and develop valuable connections with the aim of building a bridge connecting two nations.
The story begins in 1994, when a Texas pastor and his wife, leading by example, persuade the members of the congregation to take into foster care orphaned or severely abused children nobody else would want.
The staging of the musical version of one of the most popular young adult fiction works ever written in Hungarian, titled Be Faithful Unto Death, was a major undertaking and a dream come true for the initiator of the project, Bernadett Csizmadia. The show was performed on the 50th anniversary celebration of the Széchenyi Hungarian School and Kindergarten of New Brunswick, NJ.
Lili Balogh and István Dániel Molnár of the Angyalföld Vadrózsa Dance Ensemble came to the United States as Kőrösi Csoma Program scholars to teach Hungarian folk dancing in New Brunswick, New Jersey. We spoke with the young Hungarian couple, now engaged to each other, about their motivation, their goals and their US experiences.
Luca Mórocz, who came to the U.S. in 2017 as a Hungarian American Coalition (HAC) intern and has worked as a foreign exchange diplomat at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs assigned to the U.S. State Department’s Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, is currently living and studying in Washington, D.C., organizing various HAC events and a leadership training program. In the interview she talks about her experience in the US, her professional career, and shares her thoughts regarding the challenges of youth engagement Hungarian organizations in the United States face while introducing her new project, the HYPE Network.
‘When discussing on a diaspora level, we should not just share local reports with each other, but actually try to find real solutions to the problems. For example, nowadays, we talk a lot about how to reach people who no longer speak Hungarian. To paraphrase a Sándor Kányádi poem: we have only one homeland, and that is the Hungarian language. If the language is lost, many great things will be lost as well.’
Péter Sztáray thanked the Premier of Ontario for his personal presence, which the Hungarian politician described as a recognition of the friendship between the two nations.
‘The more I travelled in America, the more I realized that there is no state in the U.S. where Hungarians have not created something lasting; where there is not some Hungarian thread, some Hungarian history, some Hungarian contribution. We wanted to visualize this centuries-old creative process and make it easily accessible to the widest possible audience. That’s how the idea of the HuGo app was born, and of course it took years to fine-tune the concept with our developers arriving at the publicly available version we have today.’ Anna Smith Lacey on the HuGo app and the power of the community.
‘I’m the Executive Director, but I also know that if there’s garbage, somebody must take it out. Similarly, I’m six feet tall, so if something in the back or on the top needs to be reached, I do it. When I was locked in the elevator once, the repairman showed me how to fix the elevator if I ever got stuck in it again. I am the chief bottle washer or the brain, the archivist, the curator when needed. I wear all these hats. Since I’m approachable, everybody feels they know me from different events in town. For some, I even became the face of the Hungarian community in New Brunswick.’
‘Since 1990, we have had to find new ways of explaining the issues. The communist dictatorships have collapsed, everything seems to be going fine, nice-sounding laws are being passed, but these are not being enforced, and in some cases the situation is deteriorating. The countries have European Union membership, and many border issues have disappeared thanks to the Schengen agreement, but problems remain.’
‘Many people have asked me why I don’t devote my time to myself and my family instead of volunteering. The answer is simple: I care about Hungarian families and the community. My mission is to preserve, nurture and pass on our Hungarian identity, our rich language and culture to the next generation. Fortunately, many of us feel the same way and many of us are working for the same goals.’
It was an initiative where expert breeding and handling on three different continents that made this incredible success possible. Cudar, the third-placed Kuvasz, was bred in Brazil, with a Hungarian heart. Now living in America, it came back to Europe to demonstrate to the world the beauty, values and power of this incredible Hungarian breed.
‘When you move abroad, either of necessity or at your own initiative, the inevitable clash between the host and home cultures raises questions about the future of your mother tongue, culture of origin, and national identity. In a foreign language environment, the use of the mother tongue is not obvious, nor is the development and preservation of the original identity.’
Refugee groups started trickling in after the catastrophic defeat of the Austro–Hungarian empire in the First World War and the dismembering of the historical Hungarian Kingdom, resulting in the loss of many ethnically Hungarian territories for Hungary. The destruction of the war and the discriminative policies of the new states prompted many Hungarians to seek a better life beyond the sea. Latin America soon became an important emigration target, as the United States started to severely restrict immigration from Eastern Europe in the 1920s.