•

Ofidal
Perils Of
A Single Parent

am better adapted I'll think about
osa Goncharov, 35, finally
becoming a teacher," she says. Ms.
reached Israel after several
Goncharov is currently enrolled in a
years of haggling in the
government-sponsored
secretarial
Russian courts over the
course
that
she
expects
will lead to
• -right to bring her two children with
employment.
her.
"I have always felt a very
The gates of the former
strong
sense of Jewish identity
Soviet-Union have been opened
R osa
even
though
I grew up in a
f or several years, but for a sub-
Gon c harov town where there was virtually
;
stantial number of Jews they
and her
no Jewish community," Ms.
/-.' remain closed. Court orders
chi ldren.
Goncharov said. "What I like
obtained by former spouses
best about Israel is the free-
often prevent children from
dom
that
my children have here.
• being taken out of the country.
They
have
so many more friends, feel
Ms. Goncharov eventually won
•
free
and
are
given the opportunity to
her case and made aliyah with her
express
themselves
at school. In fact,
son Valentin, 10, and daughter Iona,
the
decision
to
come
to Israel was no
5. She is one of thousands of single
decision
at
all."
• , parents who have made aliyah from
the former Soviet Union. The
• Association for Single Parent Families
in Israel, supported by the UJA
Federation Annual Campaign, esti-
mates that 9 . 0 percent of single parent
In a joint project of the Hebrew
'families in Israel are new immigrants.
University of Jerusalem, Caspit Ltd.
Ms. Goncharov bought an apart-
arid Be'eri Printers, students have
ment in the Neve Avivim develop-
been issued smart cards — the first of
„pent of Lod, near Tel Aviv. with her
their kind on an Israeli campus —
("mother Raia and brother Yevgney,
which
will serve as portable, individ-
both of whom made aliyah in 1992.
ual
data
files with grades, academic
"I don't know how I could have
status,
tuition
payments and personal
coped without the support of my
data stored inside.
family; both emotionally and finan-
The Unicard, as it is called, dis-
\_ cially,” Ms. Goncharov said.
plays the bearer's photo, name and
Ms. Goncharov was born and
identity number and contains a com-
raised in Tula, an outer suburb of
puter chip with a microprocessor,
Moscow. She graduated from the
memory and sophisticated means of
local university with a BA in
data
storage.
Education and became an elementary
It
is already being used to borrow
- school teacher. Despite her teaching
books
from the libraries and identify
degree, she has been told that her
students at exams.
qualifications are not good enough to
The card will also be an ID card,
teach in Israel. Upon completion of
give access to computerized university
\--,an advanced Hebrew language ulpan,
services and databases and serve as a
'— she is still not confident enough to
money card for purchasing goods and
keep control of a class in Hebrew.
services
at campus stores.
"Perhaps in a few more years when I

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