Serge Kuzmin was 8 or 9 when he went into the Sumy boarding school/orphanage. He was quickly recognized as being a leader amongst his peers for his personality and ability to control a soccer ball on the field. Some of the teachers talk about what a shock it was when he and some other boys robbed an individual – the reason behind his prison sentencing. He was between the summer of graduating from the boarding school and going into the technical school when this unfortunate incident occurred. He was enrolled in a technical school which centered on construction and building trades.
The prison was located about 300 kilometers or about 240 miles from Sumy and took about 4 hours to travel one way. We really didn’t know what to expect, except based on Nadia’s previous visit. Prior to going into the administration building, we emptied all our pockets of everything, except a few Ugr (abt $8.00) to pay for the entrance fee, and our passports, for identification purposes.
Our Hired Van
Asking Directions
Prison - Donesk Region
Prison - Donesk Region
The administration building foyer was joined by an office on one side and a toilet on the other. It was like going back in time 70 years being in this place. The administration officer was a young man in his mid-twenties who was dressed very smartly in an official uniform – something like you would see in a WWII movie – green cotton shirt complete with a dark green tie, green wool dress pants and coat and an officer’s hat. The uniform itself gave an official heir. This along with the serious manner in which he took his responsibilities, put me somewhat on edge. All the old WWII movies I viewed growing up picturing German officers combined with any propaganda – whether true or not – of the former Soviet Union, gave this a bit of a creepy and dreary feeling. We waited and waited – probably a good 1 – 1 ½ hours before we went in to see Serge. Due to other factors, including Cheryl trying to come down with the flu, she remained behind and stayed in the van while we went in to visit Serge.
Serge looked like the few pictures we have seen of him. He has a dark complexion, much closer to Nadia’s than to Roman’s. He was quite happy to see his brother and sister and quickly it was easy to see why he was considered the ‘alpha’ of his class/grade at the boarding school. He was happy with quite a charismatic presence about him. He smiled and joked with his brother and sister as he spoke to them on the phone line through the partition which separated the inmates from the visitors. It was hard for me to connect this handsome young man to the deeds which put him in his current situation. After a few minutes, I got on one phone and Natalie, our translator got on the other. I told him that we would take good care of his younger brother and sister – that they would be well cared for. He told me “thank-you”. I told him we would think of him and pray for him. Again, he told me “thank-you”. At this point I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I turned the phone over to Nadia, who seemed to monopolize the majority of the conversation. At one point, she pulled out her and Roman’s Ukrainian pass ports and held them up to the glass separating her on one side – with a distance of about two feet before his metal mesh barrier separated him. He was able to see their new passports and pictures, complete with their new names. He also held up Cheryl’s passport picture so he could see what his siblings’ new mother looked like. We told Nadia and Roman previous to visiting Serge that we would provide him some clothing. Part of our visit consisted of Serge giving a laundry list of items to possibly provide him. In all it consisted of clothes, shaving toiletries, ping-pong balls and cross-word puzzles. Due to the restrictions placed on the amount of clothing (2 pair), Cheryl and I felt it was the least we could do to show our love and support to their brother by providing him with these items. We spent an hour in the prison visiting with Serge when the guard came back in to let us know our visit was to be concluded. It was about 3:00 pm when we went out to the van. The sun was starting to get lower in the sky and I was ready to begin our long journey home.
On the way home, we passed through the town of Donesk. I knew that Elder Bednar was in the town of Harkov?? to dedicate a new chapel there. He was having meetings there on Saturday and Sunday and I felt a little sad that we could not be part of the conference. On the other hand, I felt excited about our upcoming journey to Kiev on Monday.
Nucleur Power Plant - Downtown Donesk (Blurry), Next To Residential Housing
No comments:
Post a Comment