Hide Article Text (OCR)
Religious Refugees From Former Soviet Union Settle Comfortably Into Shenandoah Valley Homes'V i vfti?:.''’ - Ix • 'Vi':?:''.:'' \ Y-V-Vf' • ‘V*::.'r 'tomifummes year. . ..... . ....... •.......... .::..x,:. •• j....;. /..\ : ■ ’ ‘'*.*» •• *• * • _ — .... . _* j■-r,jr,'(. • .... % .; *.. t: .v - jm, .. ■ ■ •. ■ * .. • - vW:.... •;. W:v:. ■:^^:.v//j V Jx.-. ■;;. • ^ \ ./ ■ • • ,■ . • ^.•;v'• \-m\ + WM$S.• . *y;y.;.;• •' j • ' ; ' v’ 7 x:V: .U\ ' ■’ -'‘.V ^x..-. x‘7:: j.•. $???ut 900 immigrants,counties;By JESSICA CLARKENews-Record Staff WriterPARNASSUS — Nikolay Bondaruk came to Virginia in December 1990 jobless, with $20 in his wallet and his wife and five children packed into an aged Oldsmobile.Just 10 months before that, his English vocabulary consisted of hi,” “bye” and “thanks.”Now Bondaruk’s family is one of eight from the former Soviet Union who live in this Augusta County community, just south on Va. 42 of the crossroads of Moscow.“It’s not named for us, I don’t think ” Luda, Bondaruk’s 16-year-old daughter, says of Augusta’s Moscow.But some people call this area “new Russia” because of the growing number of immigrants, Bondaruk says.Many of the immigrants who live here are Bondaruk’s relatives, including his parents, sister and five brothers and their families, enough for a small neighborhood with nearly 50 people in all. Four families divided 80 rugged acres on Va. 875 to make their homes on.Nikolay Bondaruk has come far sincehe moved his family to California from their Brest home in the Belarus republic. He remembers the date they left Brest — Oct. 14,1989 — and when they arrived in the United States — Feb. 16,1990. They lived in Los Angeles for 10 months before moving here because he had trouble finding work there, and the weather was too hot.Now the six Bondaruk brothers drive trucks all over the United States for the same Richmond-based company. Nikolay Bondaruk’s route has rolled through 48 states.The influx of immigrants from theformer Soviet Union to the central Shenandoah Valley has continued since the first family moved to the area in August 1989. Their number has swelled classes in English as a Second Language (ESL) offered by schools and businesses. And the Community Mediation Center in Harrisonburg needs volunteers fluent in Russian to broaden conflict resolution services to immigrants.Ten to 15 families a year persecuted for their Russian Baptist and Pentecostal beliefs arrive in the central Valley from Russia and the republics of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Ukraine.About 900 immigrants, all religious refugees, from the former Soviet Union live in Harrisonburg and Augusta and Rockingham counties, drawn here by relatives and plentiful jobs, says Viktor Sokolyuk of the Virginia Council of Churches’ Refugee Resettlement Program office in Harrisonburg.Some 500 people have resettled herefrom other states because of availablejobs. They prefer to work here instead of being on welfare elsewhere, Sokolyuk says.The U.S. State Department determines eligibility for refugee status based on persecution because of religion, nationality,ethnicity and political beliefs. If the government grants that status, each family gets a sponsor, often a church, to help them adjust to American life, he says.The resettlement program helps immigrants from around the world with interpreting, English tutors, computer skills, job searches and transportation, says Sokolyuk, a Pentecostal refugee who moved to the United States from Ukraine in 1990.Though there is more religious freedomSee REFUGEES, Page 14
Newspaper Details
Daily News-Record
Harrisonburg, Virginia, US
Tue, Dec 24, 1996
Page 15
Full Page
Clipped by
James M.
USA 20 Sep 2022
Other Publications Near Harrisonburg, Virginia
Harrisonburg Republican
Harrisonburg Old Commonwealth
Harrisonburg Evening News
Harrisonburg Daily Independent
Daily News-Record
