The story of a blind man

Full-time volunteer helper

Zsolt lives in one of the segregates of Tiszavasvár, in the so-called Bűdi settlement, with his wife and their four-year-old daughter.

If necessary, he can use the disabled ID card to travel to the gynecology of the Nyíregyháza hospital at a discount, or to help them with their official affairs, just as he did on Monday morning.

Zsolt lost his sight almost completely in the nineties, when he lifted heavily and his retina was torn from his eyes, which the doctors could no longer restore. Her visual impairment separates her from almost all kinds of work, yet the man still found meaning after the accident of her life.

He first worked as a patron at an organization helping young people who have just come out of state care, the Nyírség Welfare Service Foundation, which meant helping young people living in the foundation's home. Whatever problems they had, they could turn to him. This is where Zsolt's experience and enthusiasm for helping work come from.

“A friend of mine invited me here to rest for two weeks, it was twenty years ago."

He had to choose between his love and his parents

Zsolt, his wife: Erika and their four-year-old daughter, Jázmin, live in one of the rooms of the poor but tidy family house.

If anyone, Zsolt, knows for sure how strong anti-Gypsyism can be in some.

The man's parents have not been talking to the boys slowly for twenty years because he married a Roma woman. Although they also live in Nagykálló, in the county, only 50 kilometers from Tiszavasvár, where Zsolt also grew up, the man has not been visited since he moved here, nor later by the small family of three.

“After Erika and I moved in, they had an offer: if I leave her and move out of the farm, they will buy me an apartment and they will support me monthly with money to supplement my disability pension. All I asked of them was that if there was one who would cook, wash and clean me, who would I fall in love with: the cook or the housewife? ”

Zsolt recalls how he reacted when his parents practically gave him an ultimatum. “It was clear I wasn’t leaving Erika,” he added.

A little girl was adopted

Zsolt and Erika knew from the beginning that Erika would not be able to get pregnant naturally, so the couple tried the flask baby program at the end of the 2000s. The price of a “try” was 1-1.5 million forints in the now state-supported program, and Zsolték ran for him three times - unsuccessfully.

A personal loan was taken out to cover the costs, which has been moaning ever since, but due to Erika’s intervening accident - and the consequent loss of income - no longer to the bank but to a debt collection company at a much higher interest rate than the original contract. "Currently, we have HUF 80,000 a month left after the installment is paid for everything else, we have no savings," says Zsolt. The family's livelihood currently depends practically on Erika, Zsolt's disability pension: 43 thousand forints a month would not be enough for anything on its own.

Although the flask baby program did not work, in 2013 we were “very fortunate” - says Zsolt, that they lived when a couple living in Tiszavasvár at the time approached them with the idea that they could adopt their unborn child if they wanted to.

“This is open adoption. The same thing happens through the state, only the blood parents agree in advance with the adoptive parents. ”

- explains Zsolt. Since Erika and I knew the party, they were happy to go into the matter and be able to accompany the mother’s pregnancy as well.

In the autumn of 2013, the birth started right in Zsolték's house - the mother's amniotic fluid ran out suddenly when she was with Zsolték. Jasmine, who has another meaning in Zsolt's life, has already been brought home from the hospital. She goes to kindergarten now, but in the pictures the father shows in the small room sitting on the edge of the bed, she still smiles like a toddler.

Hungarian source: https://index.hu/belfold/2018/03/12/abcug_tiszavas...