"Believing is a Way to Survive" by Yelena K.

‘There is no way to survive, but being optimistic’, - says my Grandma every time when I feel sad. When I was a child, I couldn’t understand her, and it was hard for me to believe these words, but few years ago, she told me her story, and since that time I have no right not to believe her.

My Grandma and her family lived in Ukraine, they had their own manufacturing factory, it is impossible to say, that they were rich, but still they didn’t suffer from hunger and poverty. My Grandma was really gifted in music and she started study piano. She wanted to become a pianist.

When World War began her father and elder brother went to fight for their Motherland, my Grandma, her Mom, two sisters and youngest brother were evacuated to Kyrgyzstan. But the process of evacuation wasn’t so easy, because there were millions of people, who had to be rescued, so my Grandma’s family were evacuated on the last platform, and on one station her Mom broke her leg between two wagons, so she and my Grandma (she is an eldest daughter) descended from the train, and her Mom was taken to the hospital and my Granny was taken to the orphanage. She didn’t even know where is her siblings, if her Mom still alive or not, but she continued praying every day, asking God for their life, life together.


Almost one year my Grandma lived in the orphanage, her every single day was full of hopes. She expected every minute her Mom to come and take her home, and in 9 months her Mom was already able to walk, so she took her and continued evacuation. I am really delighted with her belief, and she always says, that there was no other choice: ‘The only opportunity to help my relatives was to believe. I thought, if I stop believing, they will immediately feel this, they will loose part of their strength, and not believing for me was equal to betraying’. When they arrived in Kyrgyzstan, they found their family, but I cannot say that they lived there, no, it was just keeping body and soul together, they dreamt about bread.

After the war Grandma’s Dad and elder brother came back and started work, her father was a tailor and brother worked on factory. My Grandma has got a scholarship and went to Saint-Petersburg to study in university, and then she went to Almaty to work. Here, in Almaty, she met her first and the only love, my Grandfather. That time he just started working in hospital, an ordinary doctor from very poor family. He worked hard, he wanted to make my Granny a best present on their wedding ceremony, he wasted all his money, but he presented her a piano.

My Grandma is sure that believing played a big role in her life and now I understand how it is important not to lose hope. Nobody will believe, but me.