Bina Dekalo and her mother Victoria Aroyo

This is a photo of me and my mother Victoria Aroyo, nee Behmoaras. It was taken in 1939 in Sofia. It is also a passport photo. In that year the Salvador boat crashed near the shores of Turkey. My sister Carolina and her three children, who were on that boat, died. I remember that my mother and I had sold most of our belongings and had paid to be included in the passengers' list. However, I opposed our leaving and said to my mother that there was no way I would board that boat. My mother insisted very much, because she wanted to see her sons. At that time my brothers Lazar and Marco were in Palestine and founded kibbutzim. After the tragic crash of the boat people told me that I was a fortune-teller and that I had a premonition what would happen. At that time we had nowhere to sleep. We had sold everything and had only three siutcases with the most necessary things. We lived in a rented apartment on Sofroniy Vrachanski Street. So, we remained in Bulgaria. I started working in a sausage factory to earn our living.