From chilly Siberia to a warm Kibbutz
Yullia Mazennikov was born in Siberia, but one year ago she decided to leave Russia and make aliyah. On the 22nd of September 2017 Yulia, her husband Anton and their three children Alyona (11 years old), Lev (4 years old) and Arina (2 years old) came to kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, just three kilometres from Gaza.
The Mazennikov family
From cold Siberia the Mazennikov family got straight into extreme conditions: hot weather, tensed up as a result of the security situation at the border and on the other hand the very warm kibbutz hospitality.
“For the first time we learned about the “First Home in the Homeland” in Novosibirsk” – explains Yulia. “We liked it a lot because of the high level of the Hebrew course and the very good solution for our children. School and kindergarten in the kibbutz are not to compare with the system that we saw before. Our children feel free and develop very quickly here. In Russia they used to have health problems: bronchitis and asthma attacks. Since we are in Israel this never happened!”
“Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.” (Psalm 68:20)
On the day when the rocket fell in the playground of the kindergarten in Ein Hashlosha (on 28th of May 2018), our eldest daughter went out from the house to bring the two smallest to the kindergarten and suddenly the siren switched on. Alyona was totally at a loss and stopped, not knowing what to do, but small Lev, he is 5 years old now, was the one who took both sisters and made them run home to the bomb shelter. There is a shelter in every house in our kibbutz.
“I come to you, Lord, for protection; never let me be defeated. You are a righteous God; save me, I pray!” (Psalm 31:1)
This year in August, exactly one year after the aliyah of the Mazennikov family, the sister of Yulia, Evgenia, her husband, their three children and the parents of Yulia and Yevgenia joined them in Ein Hashlosha!
Vyacheslav (37), Evgeniya (33), Egor (7), Maksim (5), Gregory (2) – brand-new olim – from Siberia to Ein Hashlosha!
Now they are the biggest olim-family that is now in the “First Home in the Homeland” – 12 people! The smallest of them is Gregory, he’s two years old now, and the oldest is his grandfather Leonid – 60 years old.
4,561 kilometres flying distance from Novosibirsk to Tel Aviv!
In August 2018 “First Home in the Homeland” received over 100 new Jewish families, more families to come in October (to the Upper Galilee in the North) and in November 2018 (to the Negev-desert in the South).
Thank you for keeping us in your prayers!
Orly Wolstein
First Home in the Homeland
Jewish Agency for Israel
Please support the “First Home in the Homeland” Project. Any amount is welcome!
Assisting a family in the “First Home” program costs € 230 euro / US $ 250 a month.
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