Tri City Herald, WA
Pct 3 2004

East to West

This story was published Sunday, October 3rd, 2004

By Cara Fitzpatrick Herald staff writer

Boris Tarasov covered his face with his hands, bowed his head and let
his tears run.

Around him, rows of people wept in the sanctuary of the Family of
Faith Center in Kennewick, as they do every Friday and Sunday.

But the next prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, prompted people to look up
and quietly repeat the words together.

“Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name …”

The words, familiar to Christians throughout the world, are spoken in
Ukrainian here by more than 250 residents of Kennewick, Richland and
Pasco. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union share the church to
hold services, Bible study and choir practice in their own language
and their own style.

On the last Friday of the month, they move their worship about a mile
away to a Russian church, where they join 300 other people of similar
origins for a joint service.

That so many people from half a world away have been able to form not
one church, but two, is testament to the number of immigrants from
the 15 former Soviet republics who have made a home for themselves in
the Tri-Cities.

That number might appear small when compared with how many
Tri-Citians claim German, Irish or Mexican descent, but the Russian
group increasingly is being recognized in schools, neighborhoods and
the workplace.

Those who work with the immigrants through church programs or relief
organizations say the trend is in its third or fourth wave, with new
arrivals joining relatives and friends already here.

Tarasov, his wife, Sofiya, and their six children left Stadniki,
Ukraine, almost five years ago. What they knew about the United
States came from Soviet propaganda and stories from Sofiya’s sister,
who had moved to Richland six years before.

“She told us, ‘We found a good place,’ ” he said.

That simple description was enough to convince Tarasov.

After staying with relatives for two weeks, the family settled into
the McMurray Park Apartments in downtown Richland. He spoke a little
English and yearned for a job.

“I wanted to do something,” he said.

He began doing odd jobs around the apartment complex, fixing things
and cleaning the pool. He didn’t get paid, but it filled some of his
need for work.

Then he found a job at Simplot and began working the night shift in
addition to doing odd jobs during the day.

“I slept only three hours at night,” he said, smiling. “I worked and
only thought about sleeping.”

Sofiya Tarasov kept similar hours working at the Samovar Russian
Restaurant & Bakery in Richland and cleaning vacant apartments at
McMurray. Their school-age children — then 17, 16, 14 and 8 —
adapted to their new life by becoming immersed in Richland schools.

The oldest two children — Alex, then 21, and Valentina, then 19, —
entered the work force immediately and learned English with the help
of friends and family.

Now, Tarasov’s three oldest sons have married other immigrants from
the Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. He has become the full-time maintenance
worker for the apartment complex and his wife works at Lamb Weston.

Three grandchildren have been born here — all American citizens.

Then and now

Ten years ago, there were fewer resources available for immigrants
from the former Soviet Union. Many had to rely on faith and the
kindness of strangers to get out of their homelands and become
established in the United States.

Vasily Doroshchuk learned in the middle of the night in 1989 that his
family was fleeing the Ukraine as religious refugees when his father
woke him to pack.

Vasily, then 15, wasn’t so sure.

“He said, ‘We’re leaving the country,’ and I said, ‘That’s great,
bye,’ ” he said.

But Vasily joined his parents, brother and two sisters in the
family’s flight, which took four months. Three other siblings stayed
behind.

Upon their arrival in Austria they were given three choices:
Australia, Canada or the United States.

His father chose America.

At that time, there was a new Soviet family arriving in the
Tri-Cities each week, he said.

Those numbers have slowed with time and the heightened security since
the 9/11 attacks, said Frank LaSalle of West Side Church in Richland.

The church has made serving new arrivals one of its core missions,
and has volunteer-based programs to help immigrants find housing,
learn English and get jobs.

Often, families are placed into the church’s temporary housing — six
houses that are nearby. Typically, families stay six months or less,
“depending on what their situation is,” LaSalle said.

Many then go into apartments, which are more flexible and less
expensive than other housing options, he said.

Scott Michael, affiliate director of World Relief in Richland, said
the majority of Russian and Ukrainian families have settled in
Richland and Kennewick because of the two cities’ affordable housing.
And many prefer smaller towns because they are less overwhelming than
big cities, he said.

“It really gives them a chance to survive and make a go of it,” he
said.

In the 2000 Census, 877 people in Benton County identified their
ancestry as Russian, while another 616 people said they were
Ukrainian. Smaller groups also checked Estonian, Latvian, Armenian
and Lithuanian. In Franklin County, there were 115 Russians, 179
Ukrainians, 63 Armenians and 15 Lithuanians.

Those numbers have continued to rise since that data was collected.

World Relief helped settle 552 immigrants from the former Soviet
Union between 1999 and August 2004.

Michael said the total number includes new arrivals who have
relatives here and those immigrants known as “free” cases, who come
without friends or relatives to help. In those cases, World Relief
helps them find housing and furniture, look for jobs, learn English
and register their children for school, he said.

Little Ukraine

Boris Tarasov says it’s easy to pick out the Ukrainian and Russian
immigrants at the McMurray Park Apartments: They’re the ones standing
outside talking.

Evenings in the Ukraine or elsewhere in the former Soviet Union are a
time traditionally spent outside chatting with neighbors and watching
the children play. He said other immigrants thought they would learn
English by talking with their neighbors in the evening.

“But Americans aren’t outside,” he said, laughing.

Instead, that tradition has been brought to the Tri-Cities by
Russians and Ukrainians who live near each other.

Tarasov said there are two apartment complexes in Richland where
small enclaves of immigrants live — the McMurray Park Apartments on
Pike Avenue and the Orchard Hills Apartments on Leslie Road. About 20
families live at McMurray and another 15 at Orchard Hills. And there
are a few areas in Kennewick and Pasco where some families also live
near each other, he said.

“It is almost community,” he said.

Despite the vast breadth of the former Soviet Union, Tarasov said
people from the “east to the very west” of the massive country were
taught to speak Russian and received the same education. Their
traditions are also similar because of that, he said.

“It’s no matter if they are from different republics, the culture is
almost the same,” he said.

Pastor Viktor Grinchuk said the Ukrainian church provides a place for
Soviet immigrants to share problems, worship in their own language
and keep cultural traditions alive.

There are activities at the church almost every day of the week,
including choir practice, youth group, Bible study and regular
services. Similar activities occur at the Russian church, where
services are held in Russian.

“Sermons are based on what kind of problems our church has or our
brothers in Ukraine,” he said, adding that they also invite speakers
to come from other churches. Recently, visitors came to speak from
Bulgaria and Uzbekistan, he said.

The church also has sparked many marriages.

Tarasov’s two oldest sons met their wives at church. Both women are
from the same region of Ukraine as their husbands.

His other son, Yuriy, met his wife, Irina, through a mutual friend.
Yuriy attended Hanford High School, while Irina attended Pasco High
School.

The two shared a common language — Russian — and the Pentecostal
faith, but her family of 10 immigrated from Kyrgyzstan. The
landlocked country in central Asia has a population of 5 million who
speak Kyrgyz and Russian and are split between Muslims and Russian
Orthodox.

That difference has not deterred the couple, however.

Irina Tarasov said she speaks English, Russian and a little
Ukrainian. Her family lives in Pasco and attends the Russian church,
while she lives at McMurray in Richland and attends church with her
husband’s family.

While Boris Tarasov said it is important to keep their cultural
traditions, he also has been excited to learn American ones and to
improve his English by reading books, magazines and newspapers.

Part of his eagerness to learn comes from having a father whose
passion was to learn English and one day meet an American. The Cold
War prevented Tarasov’s father from fulfilling his dream before his
death in 1994.

But his son is proud to be part of the wave of immigrants breaking
down the old barriers.

“I am living his dream,” he said.