A bit of Janis' history
- 2006 Janis in front of the Tonwshend School in the Czech Republic
- 2006 Janis in front of a dormitory at Tonwshend
- 2005 Janis in Minsk at the train station
- 2005 Janis at an outdoortraining in the CR
- 2004 Janis with friends in Smole
- 2004 Janis helping with the hay in Smole
- 2004 Janis with the One World dance group in Belarus
- 2004 Janis with Qvenn at the Tonwshend School in CR
- 2003 Janis at the Tonwshend School in CR
- 2003 Janis at the Tonwshend School in CR
- 2001 Janis with Olga and Jana in Minsk
- 2001 Janis or Helmut in Minsk
- 1999 Janis and Angel at Tonwshend
- 1998 Janis as grandma in Smole
- 1991 Janis in the Palatinate (Pfalz)
- 1991 Janis in the Palatinate having a picnic
- 1991 Janis in the Kindergarten in Mainz
- 1991 Djamschid, Janis and Jana at a winter school
Our dear and beloved son Janis was born 31st of July in 1986 in Dachau, Germany. Just as Janis was about two month old our whole family moved to a different country, Helmut's new work place, Mogilev in the soviet Belarus. Somehow the train station was packed with travellers, their cardboard boxes, suitcases, everyone was hurrying to throw their stuff into the train... My 2 year old daughter Jana and I were also pushed inside. Sitting in the cabin that was filled with who knows whose stuff that was also blocking the door, I was asking myself the question: "where is Janis?" Through the open window of the cabin (that was also a way to put ones luggage inside) of the already moving train Walter, Helmut's brother, (he brought us to the train station) managed to pass me Janis in his buggy. This is one of the brightest memories about the beginning of Janis' life, it is told in the family quite often. This event marked the beginning of Janis' "nomad life", as he likes to call it.
From his birth on Janiska was a very calm and undemanding child, very easy to care for. He didn't cry and wasn't capricious, he was always in a good mood. Always when he woke up he faced us with a constant love we read in his eyes. Even with the otitis of the middle ear he had when he was just 9 months old I haven't heard him cry. He just pressed his head on the side on which his ear hurt to the shoulder and made a face by looking at which I could see that something was wrong. Janis loved and trusted everyone. Even when the doctor gave him a shot his first reaction to the pain was laughter.
Life continued: we either came to or left Germany. In 1989 we moved to Moscow for a year, then in 1990 to Minsk, Belarus.
During those years our lives were determined by the possibility of serving the Baha'i Faith in the USSR countries and Helmut's working place.
During those travels Janis attended kindergarten for 2 years in Mainz, Germany. In 1993 when we decided to stay in Minsk, Belarus Janis went to school Nr. 73 that specialized on a learning the German language. When Janis turned 15 he was accepted to the Townshend International School in the Czech Republic, a school initiated by Baha'is. During the years spent there Janis found many friends, with gladness he participated in the school life as also in the Baha'i community life, he traveled and spent time with friends. In 2006 Janis graduated from school and came to Mannheim where our family awaited him. Janis was called into the army. He served the country doing alternative civilian service at the university hospital. In 2007, having sustained the vastest competition, Janis got accepted to the University of Heidelberg to study molecular biotechnology.
At the present time Janis is in Cairo, Egypt, meeting the girl he is in love with.
