My real name is Henry Jakl. I was born September 21, 1979 in the Czech Republic, in Opocno. My mothers name is Emily and my Father’s is Henry as well, and so is his grandfather. They were about 22/23 when they had me. All I can think is what were they thinking… having a kid at that age, but they did justify by telling me that under communist rule the only way you could get an apartment easily you needed a child. So, well, here I am. The above picture is taken at my second birthday. I lived in a town called Rychnov nad Knezno. I went to kinder garden there and finished my first year of school. My father was a boiler technician in a large central heating plant and my mother was a teacher in a post secondary school teaching Russian, Czech and gym. Later on my dad got offered a promotion and we moved to Ceska Lipa where once again he worked in a large central heating plant. I spent allot of my summers outside with my grandparents or with my mom. My grandparents own a cottage next to a large resovrore. That’s where I did my first kayaking. Thanks dad. 🙂 But alls good now. Yes it was a traumatic experience, but if it doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger… right? Well, we went to Yugoslavia in 1987 for a two week vacation at the beginning of September. We were more to the north on the coast where is was absolutely beautiful. This was the second time I was there, and from what I can remember and from the pictures my dad took, it was very, very nice. From there we went to Austria as political refuges. I began school there once again; my father did some small jobs and my mother helped around the place we were staying at (a almost looking hotel where people took refugeesuntil they were accepted by a country and allowed to emigrate). Then we ended up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They were desperate for people so this was the only place they would accept us. The sheer size of the country was amazing! So Once again I began school and my parents began to take English school. We stayed in Saskatoon for about 6 months. We took a trip to Calgary one day, and my father found a job and we moved here soon after. And well, here we are. So now it’s about 1989, my father is working hard and our family is began to prosper. And well, here I am now.