Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Year’S Journey
    A Year’S Journey
    A Year’S Journey
    Ebook52 pages56 minutes

    A Year’S Journey

    By Georgette C. Doan

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In 1980, a family of twelvetwo parents and ten childrenleaves the comfort of their home from Timisoara, Romania, crossing many borders to arrive in United States of America.

    A Years Journey offers a moment-by-moment account of the familys flight from their homeland across open fields and numerous borders to attain their freedom. The voyage begins with catastrophe. The family loses their home to fire and finds their prospects for regaining stability bleak. To leave communist Romania at that time, they must walk by night to avoid traps and border patrol and make their way to Yugoslavia, where their fate remains uncertain. They consider moving to Australia but are determined not to separate their large family, which proves to be difficult to place together. Even so, some of the older children are sent abroad to Canada and Australia. The embassies of Yugoslavia and Austria, along with other refugee families, assist them through their travels until they finally arrive in the United States, where they await for the whole family to be reunited.

    Sharing a harrowing personal narrative, this memoir tells the story of one familys emigration from Cold Warera Romania to the United States.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchway Publishing
    Release dateOct 20, 2016
    ISBN9781480837867
    A Year’S Journey
    Author

    Georgette C. Doan

    Georgette C. Doan traveled in 1980 with her parents and nine siblings from Timisoara, Romania, to become a naturalized citizen of the United States. She lives with her husband, Mihai, in Portland, Oregon.

    Related to A Year’S Journey

    Related ebooks

    Personal Memoirs For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • UNLIMITED

      BITS & PIECES

      Jul 30, 2024

      In 1973, I had been divorced for a few years and was back into the dating scene. I met my current husband, Bob, and we hit it off immediately. He was also divorced, and we both said we would never get married again—famous last words! When Bob and I e

      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      He’s Not My Dad!

      Jun 8, 2023

      He’s Not My Dad!
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Why Wait?!

      Feb 3, 2022

      Why Wait?!
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      My Silver Fox

      Nov 2, 2023

      My Silver Fox
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      A New Normal

      Jul 31, 2017

      WORDS SHANDUKANI MULAUDZI WHEN MY FAMILY MOVED TO PRETORIA I WAS A FIVE-YEAR-OLD GIRL EXCITED FOR AN ADVENTURE.We lived in a small township called Makwarela in the former Bantustan of Venda, now Limpopo. My mother went to Pretoria for a few weeks fir

      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Love At First … Text!

      Apr 18, 2024

      Kirsty Shears, 44, from Coventry Staring at the screen of my Nokia phone, I couldn’t help but feel confused. Hello, a random text from an unknown number read. I’d only got my phone the week before, so I figured I might have forgotten to save someone’

      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      What Are The Chances?!

      Jun 23, 2022

      Staring at the screen of my Nokia phone, I was a little confused. Hello, a random text from an unknown number read. I’d only got my phone the week before, so I figured I might have forgotten to save someone’s number. It was 1998, so technology wasn’t

      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Thank You, Dad

      Jun 14, 2022

      Thank You, Dad
      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Two Loves Of My Life

      Jan 20, 2022

      Two Loves Of My Life
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      A Gift From above

      Aug 22, 2024

      A Gift From above
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Love On Lockdown

      Feb 23, 2023

      Love On Lockdown
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Headed To The Ozarks

      Jan 31, 2023

      Headed To The Ozarks
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Headed To The Ozarks

      Jan 31, 2023

      Headed To The Ozarks
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Becoming an ADULT ORPHAN

      Jun 23, 2020

      Taking a photograph of my two daughters grinning into the camera as they sit together on the sofa, a moment of sadness washed over me. I would love nothing more than to send the photo to my mum and dad, to show them how much their grandchildren, Izab

      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Meeting the Parents Between Seasons

      Dec 3, 2024

      Talk about two different worlds. Ronnie and I were the poster people for opposites. He came from the small town of Carbon, Texas, and he had 11 people in his high school graduation class. I came from a St. Louis suburb, and I had 600 in my class. But

      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Forget Me Not

      May 19, 2022

      Forget Me Not
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      A Cup Of Tea With.. TINA CROSS

      Jan 17, 2021

      In 1979, Tina Cross shot to stardom when she won the Pacific Song Contest. The promising young vocalist went on to become a household name, both in New Zealand and Australia. In 2007, she received a New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to musi

      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters from Cuba

      Jan 30, 2019

      Letters from Cuba
      13 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      ‘I Hope The Kids Have My Self-confidence’

      Apr 25, 2024

      This is one of my favourite pictures, as Judy, Jack, Chloe and I look quite embedded in the landscape – or seascape, as it were. It was taken around 1999 when we were at a beach called Talland Bay in Cornwall, a beautiful cove between Looe and Polper

      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      I Do, Forever

      Oct 12, 2023

      I Do, Forever
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      They said IT WOULD NEVER LAST

      Jan 13, 2020

      They said IT WOULD NEVER LAST
      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Q&A: ON YOUR MIND

      Apr 5, 2022

      Each issue on this page, we will feature a question that will be sure to prompt a flood of heartwarming memories. Send your 100-words-or-less responses ASAP to Editor@GoodOldDaysMagazine.com or to Good Old Days Q&A, 306 East Parr Road, Berne, IN 4671

      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Worth The wait

      Jun 13, 2024

      Worth The wait
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      My Life Was A LIE

      Jul 28, 2020

      My Life Was A LIE
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Year’S Journey

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Year’S Journey - Georgette C. Doan

      Copyright © 2016 Georgette C. Doan.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      Archway Publishing

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.archwaypublishing.com

      1 (888) 242-5904

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4808-3785-0 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4808-3786-7 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2016916304

      Archway Publishing rev. date: 10/14/2016

      One.jpg

      Acknowledgments

      I   commend my parents’ courage for raising ten children, giving us hope, and making our dreams a reality.

      The courage and faith that my parents showed us through the years inspired this book. Just as Moses took his people to the land of milk and honey, my mom brought us to the best place on earth. When things looked bad and she wanted to give up, she would reach out to God. Replenished with faith and hope, she would try one more day and one more time. My parents are the solid posts in our lives; therefore the words thank you will never be enough.

      Soon afterwards we got to California, as we were sitting around thanking God for all that He had done for us, we all thought that one of us should write the story of how we got there. The years have passed and no one has done it until now. Many thanks are extended to my family: Lisa, Cornel, Nicolina, Mike, Sandy, George, John, Lena, Augustin, Andrea, Violeta, Teodor, and Saveta.

      Georgette C. Doan

      Theme

      F or the most part, when you look at people or talk to someone, you don’t think about their past. Was it hard or treacherous, or were they born with a silver spoon in their mouth? Raising ten children is hard work, but raising ten children in a communist country with very little opportunity is devastatingly difficult. My parents wanted our lives to be a little better than what our small country, Romania, offered. They took their lives and our future into their hands and left everything they owned behind—without regret. We had very little money, but because of our faith in God, we always had a roof over our heads and a hot meal.

      I   am sure you have heard all kinds of stories, funny and sad and all interesting in their own way. The story I am about to tell you is different from anything you have heard, and this one is true.

      I will start by telling you a little about my family. My mom, Saveta, and my dad, Teodor, have ten children. Here they are from the oldest on down: Augustin, Lena, John, George, Sandy, Charlie (who is me, the storyteller), Mike, Zoe, Cornel, and Lisa. There are nineteen years between Augustin and Lisa. Violeta, Augustin’s wife, also lived with us.

      A series of events that would change my life began in April 1977. On a beautiful afternoon, our house burned down, and for the first time in our lives we had to rent a house. We lived in Timisoara, a large city in Romania. Until April 1977, we were happy in our own way.

      I think it was spring break, because we were all home from school. Mom baked bread every Saturday in an outdoor brick oven that Dad had built. All the children were doing different things, and Mom had put the bread in to bake. It was an average day around the house. About six o’clock, a man pounded on our door, saying the roof was on fire. At that point, we all panicked and started to get water to put out the fire, but it was more than we could handle. We didn’t have a phone and neither did any of our neighbors, but someone went to the nearest pay phone, which was a long walk away, to call the fire department.

      All our neighbors helped us fight the fire and move our belongings out of the house. However, no one asked or checked to see if everyone had made it

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1
      pFad - Phonifier reborn

      Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

      Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


      Alternative Proxies:

      Alternative Proxy

      pFad Proxy

      pFad v3 Proxy

      pFad v4 Proxy