Zyta Eliahu - February 3, 2008
Meeting Foster Family
And I remember arriving at the station in London--Liverpool Station. I remember--actually, I remember getting--I don't remember getting off the train but I remember being there and a lady came to meet me. Now, Winton's children had already--was already prearranged--most of them--where they were going--with whom they were going to go--not all of them. And Winton's children were also asked to send in a photograph, so my parents sent in a photograph. So, this lady came to meet me and we took a taxi. I--we must have gone to another station to catch another train because from Liverpool Station you can't go to Kent in England. They funny, you know, so, so many odd things--what I remember of that--of meeting the lady, taking the taxi, I remember sitting about half hour in the taxi because of the traffic jam in London. I mean, of all the things to remember...
So, you went to Kent.
Yes.
Do you remember the name--the woman's name?
Oh yes, I went to--she was called Winifred Peck. I stayed in touch with her after I came here and I lived with them for eight years. And, yes, so I arrived in Kent in a very pretty village called Loose near Maidstone, which is the county town of Kent. And I arrived there and I remember it was a lovely summer day--it was July--and they had this beautiful garden and lovely big house. And I arrived there and I really felt very, sort of, in anguish. I felt terribly unhappy--really broken up because I realized that here was I and I don't know when I'm going to see my parents. It was sort of the breaking point for me. When I finally arrived at the family that was taking me and everything around me was so beautiful and here I was all alone so, I started crying. Now, the neighbors had a daughter that had learned German in school so she came and tried to comfort me. Well, everybody tried to comfort me. They were very kind, this family but it didn't help very much. I was crying for months on and off so um, but eventually--they had a child too who's about two years older than me and actually the family set up was a little unusual. There was this elderly gentleman who owned the house and the garden and the lady who took me in--who was my foster mother--she was his house keeper and she lived--she was divorced--separated from her husband--and she lived there with her daughter. She was the same age as my parents--in her early thirties--and she lived there with her daughter and I think she was responsible for me. Of course, the elderly gentleman was in his home and sharing everything with us. They treated me the same as her daughter when it came to school, clothes, everything.
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