Ep.1Staring From Behind
Ep.2 The Hidden Name
Ep.3 Grandma’s Farao
Ep.5 Money-strapped Student
Ep.6 1994:The Day His Dreams Were Shattered
Trans-Siberian Railway
July is almost here…
He is excited to go home for the first time.
With a one-way ticket bought with the money he saved from his part-time job, Vitalie boards the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Vitalie is sent off with many expectations.
The faces of his family, acquaintances, friends…all sorts of people come to mind.
At that time, the Trans-Siberian Railway costs about $200 one way from Beijing to Moscow. The journey to Moldova takes about a week.
He shares a room with the son of a member of parliament, who has gone to Beijing to study law, and a Bulgarian exchange student.
Because of his father’s position, the son of the member of parliament seems to have received travel expenses from the government.
Of course, Vitalie does not receive such treatment.
The train has a dining car, and at the border the restaurant cars of each country are connected, so the restaurants change drastically at each border, serving Chinese, Mongolian, Russian, etc.
But Vitalie eats the cup ramen he has stocked up on, and buys piroshki and other foods from the old ladies selling food at the train stops.
Although the meals in the restaurant cars are out of reach for a poor student, he still has a fun journey.
Vitalie Zubko, 24, is a student at an art school.
He has finally arrived in Moldova after a year!
He heads home with excitement.
His nostalgic home. A familiar village.
His beloved grandma, Alexandra, his kind father and mother, Georgi and Altina. His younger sister, Evdokia.
Everyone was full of energy and welcomed him with great joy.
Grandma’s delicious zama and mamaliga. Mom’s delicious sarmale and platinte…
Every day is happy with a kind family!
Time flies.
It’s August now, and it’s time to start preparing to go back to Beijing. The new semester starts in September.
But where on earth can I get the $200 to buy a ticket back?!
At the time, Moldova had just gained independence from the Soviet Union, and the people were struggling to survive with sadness and anxiety amid a turbulent situation and a depleted economy.
No jobs, no money.
Even the police were not being paid properly, so they could not perform their duties properly, and theft, drug use, and robbery were rampant.
Even if Georgi, the father, wanted to make money for his son, it was almost impossible.
He looked around for acquaintances, relatives, his former university teacher, but he couldn’t find anyone.
Dad’s Love
Meanwhile, Georgi has managed to find work in the village.
It’s a two-week job helping to build a new house.
He can give his precious son some money!
He worked happily every day in the heat of summer, covered in mud and dust.
And tomorrow is finally his last day of work.
For dinner that night, the whole family enjoyed a delicious platinte (cheese pie) made by Altina, and then Vitalie and Georgi went out for drinks at their relative, Aunt Donya’s house.
Feeling good after drinking, they talk for longer than usual, and the father speaks enthusiastically to his son.
“Pavlusha (Vitalie’s nickname), you should study hard. Don’t live the same life as your father. Your grandfather and great-grandfather were great men. Your great-grandfather was a judge of the Supreme Court. But then the Soviet Union came and destroyed everything… Pavlusha… you can’t stay in such a small place (Moldova). I want you to study abroad and live a big life.”
As his father embraced him tightly in his tanned arms, Vitalie was enveloped in the nostalgic scent of the sun.
His father’s hands were as hard and dry as wood as they had been in the past… his father’s hands were full of love… Vitalie’s heart was filled with emotion.
Georgi was an open-minded and intelligent man with a thirst for knowledge, and had read every book in the village’s small library.
However, he was also a victim of the collapse of society caused by the Soviet Union, and was forced to live a difficult life.
However, he was a loving father who supported his son’s dreams, not wanting his son to live the same sad life as him.
Vitalie deeply respected and loved such a wonderful father.
Georgi, in turn, loved and was proud of his son, who was striving to achieve his dreams with an indomitable spirit, just as he had taught him.
Surrounded by the beautiful sounds of insects living their short lives to the fullest, the father’s figure headed home and eventually faded into the darkness of night.
The next morning:
Vitalie wakes up at his relative’s house and heads out under the blazing sun to help a friend dig a well.
Meanwhile, Georgi finishes his last job, celebrates with a few drinks with his friends, and returns home feeling accomplished.
It’s only 3pm. He decides to lie down and rest until dinner is ready.
At around 4pm, while it was still hot, a friend came to call Vitalie, who was digging a well.
“Go home quickly! Hurry, hurry!”
“??…!! What? What?!”
“Anyway ! Hurry, hurry!”
Has something happened?!!
Vitalie runs off with a feeling of foreboding.
As he approaches the road in front of his house, he sees a crowd of people at the gate.
My father is dead…
“Study hard…”
Vitalie never thought that last night’s embrace and encouragement would be his last….
Vitalie breaks down in tears.
Later that day —
His mother looks at Vitalie with eyes swollen from crying. In her hand she holds some money.
“This is what your father said to you…”
He gave Vitalie the money he earned from working for two weeks today.
It was only a little, but he said Vitalie would need the money to go to Chisinau and make the necessary arrangements to return to Beijing.”
The money his father had made at the cost of his life.
But it was still not enough to cover the cost of the trip to Beijing.
Vitalie groans, heartbroken.
But ironically, that money also goes to paying for Georgi’s own funeral.
The 1990s in Moldova were a sad, sad time when the hardships and hopes of many people were wasted.
The next day, he plans to go to Soroka to determine the cause of his father’s death at the young age of 48, but receives information that the hospital is full, so he is forced to head to the dangerous region of Transnistria.
When the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of December 1991, 15 states, including Moldova, became independent. Transnistria, which was located in Moldova, strongly opposed the decision and declared its independence as a republic in 1990. Since then, bloody incidents and economic blockades have continued, escalating into war. The situation has calmed down for the time being since a peace agreement was signed in July 1992. However, it claims to be a state, uses its own currency, has Russian peacekeeping forces stationed there, and supports Russia. The Moldovan government does not have administrative power over it.
He laid her father on the straw-covered bed of the truck, covered him with a blanket, and asked the driver to leave at around 9am.
Tears flowed from Vitalie’s eyes as he stroked his father and spoke to him.
He safely passed the imposing Transnistrian checkpoint manned by armed soldiers and arrived at the hospital around 11am.
But to his surprise, there was no doctor. No matter how long he waited, no doctor came.He was referred to a powerful court, and finally a doctor came at 1pm.
The diagnosis was a heart attack.
At around 3pm, He loaded his father back onto the truck and finally set off on the road.
A young man sat swaying in the bed of the truck, kicking up dust as it drove by. He wiped his eyes from time to time.
The river flowed as usual, rolling jewels across its surface, cows grazed leisurely, and children ran along the road, playing with each other.
A ray of light
Days were heartbreaking…
Vitalie walked around calling out his father’s name, crying wherever he went.
Saddened by his grief, Vitalie gradually stopped making efforts to return to Beijing.
Day after day passed, and soon it was September.
In Beijing, the next semester began without any contact from Vitalie.
Will his promise to his father end up half-fulfilled?
Moved by the encouragement of his family and friends, Vitalie mustered up his strength and headed for Chisinau.
He contacted his teachers at his university and school, looking for someone who could support him.
He racked all his brains to find a way to return to Beijing. He contacted the Moldovan government many times,
but was told,
“There’s no one in charge, so please come next Wednesday.”
The following week, he went there with hope, thinking, “Today’s the day!”
But, “It’s not possible today either. Next Thursday.”
Every time it was postponed.
This game probably continued until he gave up.
He had hoped that the government would help him, so it was a harsh reality.
He had been enrolled in a university in Chișinău, the capital of Moldova, for a year, and thanks to the arrangements of his former professors, he was allowed to live in a dormitory for free.
With the help of acquaintances and friends, he continued to search for funds to return to Beijing.
One day, with a faint hope, as always, he went to the government office to submit an application.
As he left the office, he bumped into his young university professor, Prousi Alexandra.
“Vitalie, what are you doing? You haven’t returned to Beijing yet?”
Vitalie explained the situation to him.
“Damn you! This country! The future of Moldova! You’re treating these precious students so poorly! Okay! I’ll do something about it!”
This reunion would change the course of events.
Prousi took the situation seriously, and began to use all the methods and connections he could think of to find supporters, and before long, the professors at the university in Chisinau also began to take action seriously.
And then, a ray of hope shone through.
It was the genius investor George Soros.
A man whose fame was solidified by his enormous profits from the 1982 pound crisis –
A year earlier, in 1993, the philanthropist Soros established the Open Society Foundations and extended a helping hand to civil society groups in Eastern Europe, which reached Moldova at the right time.
“Don’t give up on your dreams”
His mentors, who wanted to “help Vitalie get out of Moldova!” and Georgi’s wish and Vitalie’s dream to come true, came to fruition.
Vitalie contacted the Soros Foundation, entrusting his last hope.
