Mailbox

Today's Mailbox includes: Topics: Health care. Listeners in West Africa. Short wave listening. Historic sites to see in Prague. The Roma minority. Quotes from: Roger Chambers, Emmanuel Ezeani, Rancho Palos Verdes, Abdelkarim Ahmed Ali, Carmen Davila, Alastair Pamphilon, Michael Fanderys.

Joining me in the studio is Martin Hrobsky with some of the mail we have received over the past few days. So, Martin, where do we start?

In Utica, New York, USA, the home of our long time listener Roger Chambers, who sends a reception report and adds:

"I have listened to Radio Prague and have many, many QSLs from the 1960s-1980s, but for various reasons have not written recently. However, your recent program has stimulated me to drop you a line. The item I liked so much was on the state of general health care in the Czech Republic."

Roger goes on to quote some of the results achieved in improving the state of health of Czechs. And those results really are impressive.

Even though a lot still remains to be done. For example, as far as Czech eating habits are concerned. Did you know that as far as the number of overweight citizens is concerned, this nation is the fourth in Europe? Only the Yugoslavs, Greeks and Romanians are generally more overweight than the Czechs. And not only that, the number of obese persons, especially children, is constantly growing.

And with it, of course, the number of persons who suffer from diseases caused by excessive weight, especially diabetes. There are 600 000 people being treated for diabetes, which in a population of 10 million is certainly not insignificant.

And a number of specialized clinics dealing with weight reduction have been opened - it's an important part of the general health care system mentioned in the program Roger Chambers liked so much.

And now, on to West Africa, to Sokoto State, Nigeria and a letter from Emmanuel Ezeani, who has only recently discovered Radio Prague on his short wave receiver.

"I know that this letter will come to you as a surprise, considering that you may not be receiving letters from this region, but it is wonderful what radio signals can do, where they can be heading."

Well, yes, it is amazing, where we can be heard. I agree there, but I'm afraid you're wrong about us not being used to getting mail from West Africa. We have, and in the past have had, many listeners in Nigeria, Ghana and other countries in the region. And we are always glad to hear that they can pick up our programs. And since I'm half Ghanaian, I'd like to say a special hello to all of our listeners in Ghana. Keep on listening, and please keep on writing.

Short wave listening can be complicated at times and yet many prefer it to the clearer forms of radio such as Rancho Palos Verdes from California, USA, for example:

"Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know how much I enjoy shortwave radio broadcasts from Radio Prague. You were booming in on 11615 kHz on the West Coast of North America at 0:00 hours. Please keep broadcasting on shortwave and keep up the great work at Radio Prague."

We certainly do intend to keep up broadcasting on short wave, but, I'm afraid we can only stick to the half hour programs we have now. This will, probably disappoint some listeners. Abdelkarim Ahmed Ali from Surman, Libya, is one of many who writes:

"I want to tell you that your programs are very interesting and excellent. But they are very short and I do wish you could extend them to at least one hour."

Unfortunately, it's mainly for financial reasons that each language service at Radio Prague has only a half hour. As it is, we are functioning on a very tight budget, but we certainly do not intend to cut down on our programs, like some radio stations have had to do.

And, as we've said, we will certainly continue broadcasting on short wave, even though we are, at the same time, looking into new ways of transmitting our programs, which some other listeners do prefer. We get more and more reports like this one from Carmen Davila:

"I have started listening to your station through the Internet."

And Alastair Pamphilon has e-mailed us from the UK saying he now listens to Radio Prague on the Internet on Winamp instead of Shortwave.

And we could quote from many other, similar reports. But I'd like to come back to Carmen Davila's e-mail, because she says:

"My interest in Prague came about because my friend Fiona and I will travel to the Czech Republic in 2 months time and we want to just....see it all. Can you give me some suggestions on what to do, we will be there 2 or 3 days only. Your city looks pretty neat in your web site pictures. I can't wait to start walking through your lovely streets."

Well, that's a difficult question. First of all, it's a shame you'll only visit Prague. The Czech Republic has many other sites well worth seeing. But 2 - 3 days is a very brief time to really see Prague itself. There are the obvious places you'll find in every guide book - the Castle, the Old Town Square, Charles Bridge, etc. But the real charm of the city is in the various nooks and corners, side streets, courtyards that many visitors don't have time to enjoy.

Just one example - Practically everybody stops on the right bank of the Vltava River, near Charles Bridge to admire the view of the Castle. But very few people turn around and notice the monument right across the street. It's a neo-gothic fountain, topped by a tower which is now empty, but was meant to hold and originally did hold an equestrian statue of Emperor Francis I.

That needs explaining. Francis I ruled the Austrian Empire, which the Czechs were a part of, from 1792 until 1835, and he had a relatively friendly relationship with the Czechs, even having himself crowned as the Czech king. Within a few weeks after his death the Czech nobility decided to build a monument commemorating him - and the fountain with the emperor's statue was unveiled in 1850.

But in May 1919, shortly after the fall of the Austrian Empire and the founding of independent Czechoslovakia, the statue was taken away from the fountain and ever since there has been that empty space in the tower.

It's nothing unusual to have statues representing old regimes pulled down, it's quite a habit, strong when political issues are at stake. But as time passes and politics becomes history, the situation changes again. Which is why the statue of Emperor Francis I is now to be returned to the fountain.

So, maybe it will be there by the time you come to Prague - so don't forget to turn around after having admired the view of Prague castle, and look at the tower across the street.

That's just one example of the numerous places worth seeing in Prague, places that many visitors miss. But, still, wherever you go, Prague really is beautiful, as listeners keep confirming. And that includes Michael Fanderys from North Ridgeville, Ohio, USA who writes about his and his wife's visit. They drove from Germany through Pilsen and on to Prague.

"Although our time in Prague was brief, we were captivated by every minute we were there. We both hope to return soon to your beautiful country."

But historic sites and architecture are only one aspect of getting to know a country. Just as important, if not even more so, are the people - getting to know them and their way of life.