Rakovskaya, Anna
I was born on June 29, 1935 in the city of Chernihiv
Description
Tell about your childhood, school, family, etc.
I come from a family of government clerks. I received a secondary education. Then I got a degree in philology at Kyiv State University.
Where did you work? Was your work good? Were you happy with your job?
At first I worked at the Kyiv Polytechnic University, and then at the Kyiv State University as a translator and teacher. I was satisfied with my work and the working conditions as well.
Tell about your present life.
Now I live alone. My relatives and friends help me, because now I am unable to move and walk on my own.
Have you accepted Christ? How long have you been following the Lord?
I believe in Christ. Since childhood I have been trying to follow the Lord.
Tell about one thing your sponsor needs to know about you.
I am disabled and cannot support myself.
Story
I have recently visited Anna Rakovskaya. Because of long period of being sick with COVID (both Anna and myself) it had been a long time since we met last. So I brought Anna lots of food vouchers, her Christmas and Easter presents and $25 she received from her sponsor. Anna is greatly thankful.
What is new with Anna? She had had COVID and successfully recovered. Praise God! Her faithful girl-friends keep on taking care of her. Sophia comes every day now. Soon Anna plans to go to Chernihiv to visit her other friend Tonia who has a cozy old house where Anna is well-received.
As usual, an hour that I had planed to spend at Anna’s home turned into a couple of hours 🙂 I am not tired to admire this lady’s mind and will-power. As for her spirit, Anna is an Orthodox Christian and she does know the Lord.
Regarding her health and activities. She moves in her apartment in a wheel chair – the needs assisstance to get into and out of it. She needs no assisstance while eating.
Anna’s former students sometimes come to visit her and help with some house work.
She is very thankul for all the help MMK provides and sends her warm greetings to her sponsor.
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Anna Rakovskaya is a great model of love and peseverance.
She was born in 1935 in a family of teachers. No surprise, she became a teacher herself. For many years Anna had been teaching in two famous Kyiv Universities. He first husband was a military – he served in Kazakhstan were nuclear testing took place. Thus, he received a solid dose of radiation and died when their son was a baby. The baby was born with serious disfunction of joints.
Anna remarried when her son was 7, but her new husband could not become a good father to Anna’s boy. Anna was a faithful wife and took good care of her husband till his very death.
Anna was an amazing mother. Her son was in a wheel chair. Unlike his physical skills, his intellectual skills were superb. In Soviet school he was considered to be a child with sever disability. The child was not allowed to enter a regular school in a wheelchair. Many times Anna was told to put her son into a boarding school. Having not taken such an advice, Anna finally made a school principal send school teachers to their home. Thus, the boy received good education. He did it successfully through college and in the beginning of 1990 when Ukraine was experiencing poverty, unemployment and hopelessness, the young man started a softwear company by giving jobs to a couple of his friends (even now some of those guys regularly visit Anna who became their dear friend). At his early 30s he died.
Not only Anna was an English professor, she was also a gifted translator which allowed her to travel some. Having many faithful friends she did not seem to notice all the difficultied she was dealing with. Soon after the death of her son, her only brother got very sick and Anna took him to her home. By that time Nikolay was in MMK program. Another Nikolay was his faithful Stephen minister. Three years ago Anna’s brother (her only relative) died and we learnt about her and made her a part of our program.
Anna has two good girl-friends who take shift taking care of her. Three years ago she chose to move to a wheel chair. Then she learnt that she had Parkinson’s. The doctor told her that necessary medications would negatively affect her mental ability. Anna said, she would rather loose ability to move than her mental skills.
Anna knows the Lord. She chose to stay in the Orthodox church, yet her faith and comiltment to the Lord are vividly seen.