PATH TO FREEDOM

Far left: Inna Alexandrov
'It's impossible to live there — not because
we couldn't buy things, but we could not
breathe there'

Left: Inna's mother, Mrs. Shapiro:
In and out of the hospital.

Below: Felix Alexandrov
'When a country has so many problems the
first people who suffer are the Jews'

Photos by Glenn Triest

assistance they have received from
the Jewish agencies, volunteers and
friends. For the first few days in
Michigan, the Alexandrovs and Inna's
85-year-old mother, Ida Shapiro,
stayed with friends in Ann Arbor
while finishing touches were put on
the apartment Jewish Family Service
(JFS) found and furnished for them.
JFS also provided for 120 days of
financial assistance to cover rent,
utilities and food.
"Our social worker was the first
person in America who helped us," In-
na says. "She gave us advice as a
mother to children. It is very complex
to leave your own country and go
somewhere else. I have a Russian
education. I lived in the best Russian
city. I know the culture. It's very
familiar to me. I don't know English
well, don't know the history well. I
can't read fluently. I don't know
American culture!'
"The culture shock is enormous,"
says Joanna Berger, director of the
English language program at the
Jewish Community Center. "We have
to teach them cross-cultural
references — reading, grammar, sur-
vival skills:'
Berger says the immigrants are
learning English and adjusting to
American culture with more ease
than the last wave of Soviet Jews in
the late 1970s and early 1980s. The
new immigrants have more worldly
perceptions and more English profi-
ciency; as refuseniks, they had time
to study English in preparation for
their departure, she says.
One of their frustrations is

abstract communication. Until they
have a solid grasp of the complexities
of English, immigrants feel thay can-
not communicate on the same in-
tellectual level as they can in their
own language, Berger says.
The Alexandrovs' first few weeks
were filled with major adjustments —
English classes, vocational evaluation
and medical check-ups. "When we
first came, we were as one in the
desert:' Inna says.
They received assistance from the
JFS and Jewish Vocational Service.
"They teach us how to interview, to
do resumes;' Felix says.
Inna recently found employment
as a computer programmer with
Meadowdale Foods. Felix, whose skills
are highly specialized, is still looking
for work.
The Alexandrovs' daughter
Simona is pursuing a master's degree
in fine art. She received a scholarship
to attend Cranbrook Institute.
The resettlement process brought
devasting news to the Alexandrov
family. At a free Sinai Hospital
screening last September, doctors who
examined Inna's mother discovered
she has stomach cancer. Shapiro was
subsequently in and out of the
hospital until doctors performed an
operation earlier this year. Inna says
they are not sure it was successful.
Distress and worry etch lines on
Inna's otherwise alert face when she
talks about her mother's condition.
The cancer, she says, probably would
not have been detected in the Soviet
Union, so she is grateful for the
medical and financial assistance and

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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