Very big family

The dearest wish of one of the best mechanizers of Molodechno District is for his grandchildren to live in peaceful, calm Belarus, not knowing hunger and devastation

G—Grandpa, grandpa! —.as if on com‑ but he was being distracted. But we in‑ to their historic homeland in 2010. And mand, the kids rushed forward along the sisted: Franz Luzhinsky, a simple rural put down new roots very deep! Here is a thorny stubble, when the machine opera‑ worker, one of the best mechanizers of not fact to confirm it: 22 out of 33 grandchil‑ tor turned off the engine of his Amkodor only Molodechno District Agroservice, dren were born in Belarus. It is not difficult

It looked like nothing on earth! After but of the whole district, and his “sit cozily, to calculate: in the last decade, let’s call it all, 20 grandchildren, raising dust, rushed so as not to fall down” — 4 daughters and “Belarusian”, every year there was a dou‑ on the field to their grandfather. They 33 grandchildren deserve the front page in ble replenishment of the Luzhinskys. They hugged him, some asked to be taken into our newspaper! have 17 grandsons and 16 granddaughters. his arms, others wanted to sit in the cab It took a lot of effort to gather three The eldest, Dima, is serving in the army, of the tractor, the others were funnily generations of the Luzhynskys in one place the youngest Elina is still a baby. climbing up a haystack. In this noise, fun a on a weekday. But it was worth it. The fam‑ — We went to Belarus following our photographer tried to catch touching mo‑ ily is amazing and incredibly close -knit: if children, and today I do not regret it, — ments. And only grandfather Franz, happy, there is construction — they do it together, confesses the mechanizer.— Natasha was but a little embarrassed, from time to time and if it’s a holiday — all the more! And the first to settle in Molodechno. Then looked at the sun: there was a couple of holidays are not uncommon for them. Anyuta came to stay. She liked it, found a hours until sunset, the weather was fine, so Franz and Klavdiya used to live in Ka‑ job, got married. In 2007, Alesya and her many straw rolls he could have unloaded, zakhstan for half a century and returned family headed for Belarus. For me and

my wife and our eldest daughter Olya, 2010 was a memorable one. The date of the move was September 7. Two months later I received a Belarusian passport, driver’s license, and got a job in a district agroservice.

The whole family welcomed the move. First of all — hooray! — they were reunited. Secondly, for the first time in many years, the mechanic confesses, he had a feeling: here he was in demand, even irreplaceable. There is more private business in Kazakh ‑ stan: you work for three people — and get p aid for one, if you don’t like it — goodbye. In Belarus, the hard-working driver was im‑ mediately noticed and many times invited to t he district and regional stage to be honored.

Tadeusz Zaretsky, the director of the district agroservice, does not conceal it: such workers as Franzewicz are hard to be found. Conscientious, concerned about every piece of land, loves technical equip‑ ment: tractors as you want, but in bad hands they will cost nothing. So I rely on people. It’s a rare case but for 60 years of our agros‑ ervice existence, there were only three leaders. And we have not lost our material base, we stand firm on our feet and inspire confidence in the future into people who work for us.

These are not fine just words. For the first time I saw in the field I saw a tractor

bring 50 rolls of straw, each 200 kilograms, to Franz Luzhinsky for unloading. Tade‑ usz Zaretsky said with a smile that paired trolleys without sides are his own develop‑ ment. The fuel consumption for the straw harvest has reduced 14 times!

While the kids were having fun in the field and posing for a photographer, I talked to their moms. They all settled in Molodechno and its surroundings. Alesya and Olya have their own cottages in Khoz‑ hevo. In their household there are cows, broilers, hens, rabbits — everything that provides food security for families with 8 and 11 children. There are cucumbers, tomatoes in greenhouses. We visited Alesya and gasped in amazed delight: the house is beautiful, as much as 200 squares meters! For celebrations, the Luzhinskies come here and put three dining tables in a spacious courtyard. dren, received a subsidy for the con‑ struction of the cottage. The organi‑ zation built it, there was enough state s upport money for interior finishing materials. But not to pay for work. But it was even for the best. My husband learned from scratch to put tiles, plas ‑ ter, make screed. And today he’s mak‑ ing money on it. We want to put up a s auna, fence around the yard — Alesya shows us her premises. Near the house, she and her husband rent three hec‑ tares of pasture for the term of 20 years (f or many children families it is free of charge). —Does grandfather come to you? — I ask Alesya’s little ones. — Y es, he does. We’re feeding him lunch then — at first the little ones feel shy. And later they pull my hand to show me their favorite places in the yard.

Natasha has nine children, so she and her husband changed the city apartment for a private house. They bought it in Molodechno. Now they’re converting the attic into a full -fledged second floor with five bedrooms. The youngest, Anja, her husband and five children live in their own town apartment.

It’s a great pleasure to be in such

— You can buy as many expensive

— We, as a family with many chil‑ families. Because they’re real, they live closely-grouped, friendly and simple. When asked whether they miss Kazakh‑ stan, they answer: just a little. But they do not regret that they settled in Belarus and came back to the roots, where their great grandfathers used to live. Here are good conditions for children: medicine, educa‑ tion, art schools, roads, after all… And I was touched by the words of the mechanic that in the evening in his prayer he lists all his grandchildren and asks God for one thing: let them live in peaceful, calm Bela‑ rus. not know hunger, devastation, study and become good people. By Natalya Ostapchuk