parents.” The couple lived in Collegeville, outside Philadelphia, at the time of DeArment’s arrival. She finally was able to meet her cousin’s husband in July 1992 when they arrived to fly her to America.ĭeArment refers to her cousin and her cousin’s husband as her aunt and uncle but also as her “U.S. because his daughter was getting married and they would not let him through.” I remember there was an older gentleman there that wanted to come to the U.S. “When we arrived at the embassy, I had to go in by myself because the appointment was just for me and they were turning people away left and right. “It was the time when the USSR started to fall apart,” she said. ![]() embassy in Moscow after a 30-hour train ride from the town nearest to the village. The F1 student visa was acquired in 1992 when her school records were filed with the U.S. The husband was not reluctant and said, “Sure, let’s do it,” as they were unable to have children of their own. Her cousin came home to the United States and discussed the prospect with her husband, who had never met DeArment. “When I was young, 13 for example, I had myself, two sisters, parents and my grandparents on my mother’s side all living in our small home,” DeArment said. It is very common to have three to four generations living in one home in the village she is from and in eastern Europe in general. Most of the homes had more than one generation living in them. Some of the homes were tiny and some were a bit bigger. The village consisted of approximately 100 homes - some made of brick, others made of mud. As hard as it was to see her go, he knew her future was elsewhere because there was not much opportunity there for a scholar. Her grandfather, who was the leader of her childhood village, convinced her cousin and uncle to find a way to take her to America as he identifed she was not the type to farm and had been doing extremely well in school as a straight-A student. because her cousin wanted to see the country she was from. She was visited in Ukraine by her relatives from the U.S. ![]() But you may not know that she came here from Ukraine in 1992 at age 13.
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