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A homeless man from Pulawy showed others that it is never too late to realize one’s dreams. Stanislaw Cuch (60) has been living in St. Brother Albert’s Hostel in Puławy for a dozen or so years. He has just passed the school-leaving (matura) exam!!! It is a double success for him because thanks to learning he gave up vodka which made him end up in the gutter. Now he dreams of a travel to Sydney to meet the Pope Benedict XVI.
Mr Staszek, a homeless, sixty-year-old recent secondary-school graduate, is very humble.
- I have reached neither Mount Everest nor maturity, as I am already even overripened - he shrugs his shoulders.
- The main thing is that I am sober. He drank himself into a stupor
Building worker by trade, for several dozen years he has been drinking himself into a stupor. Nine years ago he gave up vodka. He started going to school not to be drawn to his pals.
For cleaning the forest he received copybooks from a teacher. Books were either bought by him or found in dustbins while he was searching for scrap. Teachers remember him very well: he came long before the lessons with a bag of books and school equipment, wearing slippers (which is best remembered today).
- One could say: a model student. He knew what he was going for to school – smiles Marek Matyjanka, director of the school, proud of his former pupil.
- He even read required readings and not summaries. There were no things like chewing gum or eating during the lessons, not mentioning drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes or writing “love Mary” on desks – adds Tomasz Pieńczakowski, his deputy.
Both of them stress: Mr Staszek was not treated leniently. And he did quite well. He laughs at the memories
- I knew something – says humbly Mr Stanisław. Today he laughs when recalling the oral exam in Russian.
- I drew the assignment: “Describe your house.”
He dealt best with geography: grade B speaks for itself.
- I love travels. I have already been to Rome to meet John Paul II and to Cologne at Benedict XVI. Now I dream of visiting Sydney. Mr Janek (64) still does not understand a three-year grind of his hostel-mate.
- What is the point of it for him? Even as a professor he will not get a job at his age. - Man does not live by bread alone – the recent secondary-school graduate of 2006 is happy. Adam Kierdej, Lublin
Source: Super Express from 5 June 2006 |
