Until here the narration has been done using my Dad as the narrator. From now on, for practical purposes, I myself will be the narrator.
\Dad had obtained an immigration visa to Brazil based on him supposedly being a farmer, thus he was considering doing farming. He even went to the State of Parana where one of his Czech friends lived, in order to check some properties. But that was not actually what he wanted to do since he was much more interested in engaging in some kind of business. Thus we stayed in São Paulo where he would have many more opportunities. After a few failed trials, he finally started a small business importing some goods from Italy, mainly lithograph prints. After a while he was supplying tens of stores with his products to customers that framed the prints with fancy frames.
Not long after our arrival to Brazil, my three older brothers were sent to a Seventh-Day Adventist boarding school, and in 1954 we actually moved to the vicinity of that institution, the Colégio Adventista Brasileiro, aka CAB). My parents were not Adventists but, when still in Europe, Dad had contact with a person that gave him positive information about the education provided by that Denomination. Our new home was about half a kilometer from the main entrance of that school. In 1957 I started first grade,, the beginning of a journey that would keep me for 16 years as a student in that school.
My older brother, Gustav (1934-2019), finished college (School of Theology) in (I believe) 1957 and became a pastor - a career that he would abandon after a couple of years when he decided to start a business in the city of Fortaleza, in the State of Ceara, where his wife Teresa was from. Alex (1936-2024) finished High School in 1959 and in August of 1960 he immigrated to the US and settled in Southern California where he lived until his retirement. Ivan (1939- ) finished college (School of Theology) in 1964 but instead of going into ministry he also moved to Southern California in 1965.
I have great memories of my years in that school where I made many good friends and received a very good education provided by dedicated teachers, many of them “not easy to please” since they were strict and we needed to be “highly accountable” with our academic performance and behavior as well. In 1967 I decided to add music to my education and opted for playing the Cello. The principal Cellist of the São Paulo Municipal Symphonic Orchestra was my teacher;. Luckily he lived about one kilometer from our home, and by his preference, he came to our home once a week to teach me. Another strict teacher, but I made quick progress. His name was Flabio Russo, a talented musician that had moved from Argentina, where he played in the orchestra at the famous Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Music became one of my great interests in those years, and I had the opportunity to play in a string quartet, an Octet, and a small orchestra in school. But after finishing college (School of Theology with a minor in Education) I practically abandoned my musical activities.
This is a picture of our Octet,
We, the children, adjusted very easily and quickly to the Brazilian culture. Brazilians are easy to interact with and usually very friendly, though difficult to Clearly define what Brazilian culture is Since the population is composed of peoples from all around the world - one example isThat there are more Lebanese people in Brazil than in Lebanon. In 2023 the population was close to 215 million, with basically all countries in the world being represented by a significant number of their people.
In 1972 I graduated from college and was ready to start my first job. My degree was in theology With a minor in education, however, I did not intend to be a pastor but rather a religion teacher. I got a job at a small Seventh-day Adventist school in the State of Espírito Santo that was ca. 1,200 kilometers from where I lived, in São Paulo. Thus, in January of 1973 I married Neide de Souza and we moved to our first home. The school was financially very tight and has difficulty to pay the staff wages on time. It was discovered later on that the treasurer was embezzling money. There were about 200 boarding students but due to the lack of funds, many of them worked at the school in exchange for their tuition.
The house we got was a disaster. It was a very old and ugly construction that for some reason didn’t even have a bathroom - but one was added before we moved in. The (one) bedroom was narrow and we had difficulty even moving in it. The kitchen and living room were also very small. There was an addition to the house made of wood that I elected to be my office. Later on I realized that there were termites underneath that soon discovered my books and started to enlarge their nest trying to include some of my books into their construction. And then, there were the windows… Well, there were no actual windows in the house but only wooden shutters that had to be closed when it rained or when it was windy - thus leaving us in the dark. It was very hot in that area, which made everything worse. At night we would like to leave the “windows” open to mitigate the heat a little bit, but then there were those gigantic cockroaches flying around that would end up landing inside the house… There was no vegetation around the house, just pure dirt, so I got a few plants and started doing some gardening - only to realize that, when I planted something, during that very night the big ants called “sauva’ would eat everything to the ground.
Our first home...
The school had classes up to 8th grade and I was supposed to teach religion classes. However, a few days before the starting of the school year the Math teacher quit and there was nobody that could teach those classes. I was the only one who had taken Science courses in High School, so I was asked to take over. The School obtained a special authorization for me and I was on. With only a few days to get ready I started teaching Math instead of Religion. So simple, uh? … 🙄
I enjoyed teaching in that school despite the inhospitable conditions, The students were amicable and responded well to my teaching. However, the Director soon became belligerent because during faculty meetings I occasionally voiced some ideas that differed from his, and he could not tolerate that. His managerial style was authoritarian and he felt being more of a dictator than an open-minded administrator. Thus, in April of that same year he one day told me, “If you don’t support ALL my positions during the meetings, I will fire you!” So I conferred with my father and made arrangements to work in his business - which he always wanted me to do! Therefore, I submitted my resignation immediately, telling the Dictator that he would not have to fire me, that I was leaving by the end of May, a full month before the end of the school semester. If he didn’t care about me, I didn’t care about his school either.
We moved back to São Paulo and I became Dad’s partner in charge of developing a clock factory of wall clocks and grandfather clocks - all made of carved wood. The clock movements were imported from Germany and the cases were made in our factory. It was a success, and soon we had 42 employees. But in 1979 the Brazilian government stopped issuing import licenses for clock movements, to protect one Brazilian manufacturer that was making movements, though the quality was so deplorable that we would not use their products. This was the end of our business, and I decided to move to my wife’s hometown where I first took a job and later on started a business selling Purina products in my store. That city, Jacarei, was about 50 miles from São Paulo, and about two hours from my parents home.
At that time we had two children , Jane and Fabio, born in July 1975 and September 1976 respectively, and in 1980 another daughter, Lais, landed in our camp. In January of 1983 we moved into our new house that was built on a 900 m2 that I had bought, the house being totally paid for. Life was good, but unfortunately a tension was building between us and my in-laws due to friction about religious issues. The situation became unbearable, so at the end of 1989 we decided to move to California in the US. And we did it! I will elaborate more on this religious and family crisis in a further chapter.
Moving to America was a quick and sudden adventure. We made that decision on November 19, 1989 and 10 days later i was landing in Los Angeles. Those 10 days were very busy since we were selling practically everything that we had except our house, but we made it. I was able to sell my business to my store manager. My wife and my children stayed there for another 3 weeks to make some final Arrangements in terms of selling our Goods and get ready for the big trip, the most important change in our lives. Due to my concerns with the political stability in Brazil i had always kept passports with valid visas to the US just in case that we needed to leave the country, and that was very helpful at that time because we were able to leave Immediately with no concern. The idea of always having passports ready to be used was certainly related to my parents experience in Europe because it's taught us to always be prepared for emergencies in which we need to make a sudden move.
Once in the US, I started by working on my own doing painting jobs and refinishing furniture, always getting a new job by word of the mouth. We became members of the 7th Day Baptist Church in Riverside, where we made very good friends. Since I had a degree in Theology, they applied for our immigration, and in 1993 we went to Paris, France, to get Green Cards (they are actually pink…) I would be employed as their Minister of Missions using my multi-languages abilities (Portuguese, Spanish). After a while I took a Bible teaching position at the La Sierra Academy ,
During those early years in America I finished my doctoral degree in Psychology, and in May of 1995 started working at a Mental Health clinic running treatment groups for domestic violence perpetrators ordered by the Court to take the treatment for one full year - or “else” (i. E., jail). That job was the best learning experience I ever had, in which I learned more about human behavior than I could possibly have learned in any academic environment. This was my job for 12 years, in which I graduated 1,851 people. After that I transitioned to Geriatric Psychology, working exclusively in Skilled Nursing Facilities as a Medicare provider until December of 2020 when I retire at age 70.
I can say I was basically forced into retirement due to my poor vision since I developed macular degeneration. This condition prevents one from reading or doing several things that require Central Vision.My peripheral vision is intact but I can no longer read and writing becomes very difficult. Therefore, I Take advantage of the many Technological resources available in our days, using audio help as much as I can. - including the latest portions of this writings after chapter 16.
After living in Riverside, CA for 33 years, in March of 2023 we moved to Reno, NV where our daughter Lais lives with her family - and we enjoy it here very much.
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