Friday Sept 21, 2018
Today we headed out to a small village where Tanya, Ruslan’s wife was raised. It is the village of Billie Comin.
We stopped for a few minutes along the way so she could visit the grave of her parents who are both buried there as well as her grandparents.
We were expected at her sister’s place for a meal. Well, anyone who has been here knows what that means. Multiple dishes of food....when you think there can’t possibly be more, here comes another dish.
We visited with the family for a while. Then we got in the van and went to another sister’s house to repeat the process!! Needless to say we did not eat as much at the second sister’s house since we were stuffed.
While we were in this village we did stop in to three elderly ladies. We brought them some groceries and helped them out a bit. These old ladies all remembered Flo very fondly and all wondered she was gone and why they were still living. One in particular remembered that they have both been born in the same year. Had a few words with them about being ready for the inevitable. Lida, a lady we have been visiting for many years has serious lung issues and struggles to breathe.
All of these ladies commented how difficult it is to grow old here. Many feel left behind as their children have to work in the city and take care of their own families who are growing up and going to school. Pensions are small, the price of everything is going up and things are more difficult for those with fixed pensions. There is no social net here.
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