The President’s wife Eva Pavlova is preparing her first project. Soon they will present a website that will provide first aid in the social and health fields, in education and upbringing. “We were thinking with our colleagues about how to address this area, and the website will probably be the first thing we could help with,” said Pavlova, who spoke for the first time at the event she sponsored.
Her nervousness was evident. Although she has already attended several official and unofficial events, public speaking is not something she enjoys. Monday’s opening of the Eurlyaid International Early Care Conference in Prague was the very first event that the President’s wife, Eva Pavlova, patronized. At the same time, for the first time in her new role, she attended an event without her husband.
In her short speech at the beginning of the event, she mentioned that she has stage fright. “Because of her, I had to prepare a puller,” she said in front of several hundred participants, who were amused by her honesty.
Thus, Pavlová begins to fulfill her earlier promises that she will intensively and systematically devote herself to work in the social field. She also described at the conference that immediately after her husband was elected president, she resolved to stand up for particularly vulnerable groups of the population.
And on Monday, it didn’t just stop at the speech. She spent several tens of minutes with the organizers of the event from the Society for Early Care, which is devoted to families with children with disabilities. “Ms. Pavlova showed that she is really interested in this topic. The topic of families with such children touches her and she would like to be helpful,” said the company’s chairperson, Pavla Matyášová.
It strives, for example, to make early care available to more children and faster. According to surveys in the Czech Republic, only three children out of ten receive this help, and in some regions families wait months for it.
I received many letters and suggestions, points out Pavlová
What exactly the first lady’s activities will look like is not yet entirely clear. By the end of May, however, he intends to present a website on which he will provide people with social information. The website is already ready and the only thing left to deal with is its financing.
“You can’t see it yet, but I already have an idea of what I’m going to do,” said Pavlova. “We thought about how to deal with this area, and we came to the conclusion that a website would be the first thing that we could help with. I have recently received many letters, requests and suggestions. Our website should connect helping people with an offer of what concerns them,” Pavlová explained.
The first lady has already announced that she wants to focus on, for example, the topic of children who suffer from the divorce of their parents, on the suicide of young people, sexual harassment in the workplace and on helping single mothers and fathers. She also considered the topic of oncology and follow-up care to be important. She herself was diagnosed with thyroid cancer three years ago. Although she has overcome Paul’s illness, she still goes for regular check-ups.
Before her performance, the wife of the president, Eva Pavlova, talked with the parents of the seriously ill boy Vincent | Photo: Štěpán Látal
“The website will be a kind of first aid. There will be information and links for orientation in these areas,” said Mária Pfeiferová from the press department of the presidential office.
At Monday’s event, in addition to speaking and talking with the organizers of the conference, Pavlová also met the parents of three-year-old Vincent, who suffers from an incurable disease – he has a chronic progressive disease and is receiving palliative care at home. His parents confided in Aktuálně.cz that the president’s wife was interested in their situation in detail and also had several questions. She also had her co-worker next to her, who was taking notes.
“I am very happy that Ms. Pavlova is involved in this issue and that she is so empathetic. If she helps in something for the better, it will be absolutely perfect,” said Vincent’s mother Anna Lundáková, with her husband Ondřej standing by her side.
Both pointed out that after the birth of a child with a disability, parents often do not know who to turn to for advice and help. “Early care consists of a lot of things and information that are often confusing and non-transparent. In such a situation, a parent has no reason to fight for something, because he is already fighting for his child to live,” added Lundáková.
Pavlova’s Monday meeting with the Society for Early Care was not the first. Two years ago, long before the announcement of his candidacy, the current president asked the congratulators at his birthday party not to bring him any gifts, but to make a financial contribution to this very company.
VIDEO: Timid Pavlova in her first speech: I apologize for my nervousness (15/05/2023)
The wife of the president, Eva Pavlová, delivered her first speech in the role of first lady at the International Conference for Early Care in Prague. | Video: Radek Bartoníček
