Mather's letter

I am Tatiana Okhuocha from Novopolotsk, Belarus.

In Novopolotsk I went to college and worked as a seamstress. My friend, Svetlana, dated a Nigerian, who was studying at a university in Novopolotsk. Once, Svetlana’s boyfriend asked me to carry a suitcase of clocks from the Novopolotsk clock factory “New Ray” to his brother in Moscow who was returning to Nigeria for the holidays. I agreed because I would get the chance to see Russia’s capital, a life-long dream of mine. It was 1991 – a new Russia was being born.

Elton Eizefule, Svetlana’s boyfriend’s brother, hosted me well during my visit. He showed me the Institute of Steel and Alloys where he studied, the city parks, the Moscow River and other famous attractions. I left Moscow enthralled with what I had seen and immediately told all my friends at home about the fairy-tale I’d just lived.

A few days later Elton called. We quickly became good friends, and in time, fell in love with one another. I left for Moscow after the wedding and moved into a university dorm with Elton. After the birth of our first child, who we named Elton, the university gave us a separate room in the family dormitory. To help us survive I sewed dresses, suits and pants at night, while during the day I nannied. So we lived, for as long as my husband was studying at the Institute. While still at the institute I had another child, a daughter named Faina.