Robin Solomon had started fundraising among her friends to help Marina and Ira come to College of the Canyons. When Robin's mother, Charlotte, met the twins, she quickly decided to host them. By the time the girls were ready to begin college, Robin had completed her first stint with the U.S. Foreign Service at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. She escorted the twins back to Valencia and Charlotte welcomed them into her home. Ten days later, Charlotte, who was the picture of health, came out of a teachers' meeting and cheerfully called home to announce she would be home a little early. However, she never made it. Within minutes of her calling home she collapsed and died. The twins stepped in as Robin's support team in spite of the fact that their own source of support was gone. Soon Robin will be off to help staff the U.S. Consulate in Adana, Turkey. Meanwhile, the Renners have offered their home, and the girls are working hard at COC, the only new international students carrying a full load. Their initial test results have been truly good. The Santa Clarita Valley International Program is accepting contributions to help continue to pay Ira and Marina's out-of-state fees and provide books and student health insurance. Checks payable to SCVIP can be marked "Kazakh scholarship" and mailed to SCVIP, P.O. Box 220333, Santa Clarita, CA 91322-0333.
RPCV Robin Sullivan helps twins from Kazakhstan attend school in Wisconsin
Twins Overcome Tragedy to Study at COC
Sunday October 21, 2007
When twins Ira and Marina Shulyakova were born in Kokshetau in northern Kazakhstan, doctors told their mother they should be allowed to die. The girls were severely underweight and had serious heart problems.
Kazakhstan was a new nation, independent from the Soviet Union. All of the USSR's facilities for open-heart surgery were concentrated in Russia. With medical help denied, the twins' mother was left to struggle as well as she could to keep them alive.
However, Kokshetau had a sister-city relationship with Waukesha, Wis., and Wisconsin was a state with a chapter of Healing the Children. Officials in Wisconsin could not offer the expertise the twins needed, but they did refer them to the Healing the Children chapter in Santa Clarita.
Mistakes at home almost resulted in their life-saving trip to California being scrapped, but at the age of 9 they made it barely in time. Marina had perhaps a month left to live. Ira was in better shape.
The girls had the good fortune to be hosted by Greg and Laura Renner, and between Laura's passion for teaching and the twins' determination to learn, they learned English quickly.
However, when they returned home, confusion over language led to their grades going down. They were tracked permanently into a school for poor students.
Enter the Peace Corps. Kazakhstan was in great need of English teachers, and the twins became acquainted with Emily and Robin, two volunteers. Ira and Marina's mother invited the Americans to numerous dinners, her way of paying America back.
Emily taught in School 13, a big institution with 35 students per class. Robin taught in the Humanitarian-Technical High School, a private school with 20 in a classroom.
They soon recognized the twins were different from all the other kids. When the teachers organized a summer camp for 30 leaders, the twins stood out as being kind and good-hearted.
Soon Robin and Emily convinced the twins' mother that for two Peace Corps volunteers, the burden of paying $200 a year in tuition was not too much, and the girls' mother accepted the help necessary to put them in the best school where they could flourish with individual attention.
The adjustment was hard. School 13 had not prepared the girls. They studied until 2 a.m. regularly so they "would not be the worst." Their efforts paid off.
They earned good grades. However, the biggest hurdle to come was passing the English-language exam, where they had to compete against graduate students and English teachers who wanted to study in the U.S.
The train ride to Almaty, 900 kilometers away, took 30 hours. There had been a railroad accident, and the twins ran out of food. When they got to Almaty, they discovered the test had to be taken on computers, and the only thing they knew about computers was how to receive and send e-mail.
Robin Solomon had started fundraising among her friends to help Marina and Ira come to College of the Canyons. When Robin's mother, Charlotte, met the twins, she quickly decided to host them.
By the time the girls were ready to begin college, Robin had completed her first stint with the U.S. Foreign Service at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. She escorted the twins back to Valencia and Charlotte welcomed them into her home.
Ten days later, Charlotte, who was the picture of health, came out of a teachers' meeting and cheerfully called home to announce she would be home a little early.
However, she never made it. Within minutes of her calling home she collapsed and died.
The twins stepped in as Robin's support team in spite of the fact that their own source of support was gone. Soon Robin will be off to help staff the U.S. Consulate in Adana, Turkey.
Meanwhile, the Renners have offered their home, and the girls are working hard at COC, the only new international students carrying a full load. Their initial test results have been truly good.
The Santa Clarita Valley International Program is accepting contributions to help continue to pay Ira and Marina's out-of-state fees and provide books and student health insurance. Checks payable to SCVIP can be marked "Kazakh scholarship" and mailed to SCVIP, P.O. Box 220333, Santa Clarita, CA 91322-0333.
Service clubs interested in inviting the twins to speak should call Laura Renner at (661) 297-2861.
Carl Boyer is secretary of the Santa Clarita Valley International Program. He chaired the Santa Clarita city formation committee and has served as a Santa Clarita City Council member and as mayor of Santa Clarita.
Copyright:The Signal
