Lidia Kozar
Name, date and place of birth:
#144 Kozar, Lidia. October 1, 1934. Zvenigorodka, Cherkassy region.
Tell about your childhood, school, family, etc.
During WW II I was sent to the orphanage since my parents got lost, perhaps they were killed.
Where did you work? Was your work good? Were you happy with your job?
After the orphanage I was sent to the technical college in Kyiv. After graduating from the college I started working at the big plant in Kyiv where I worked till my retirement. My work was hard – I had to clean parts before they were to be assembled, but I was pleased with it.
Tell about your present life.
I met my husband at the factory where I was working. We got married and soon I had a daughter. My husband was a drinker. I waited until my daughter grew up and left him for another man. With my second husband I lived for 10 years before he died. My daughter was killed in a car accident. Her husband still visits me in the house for elderly people where I live now.
Have you accepted Christ? How long have you been following the Lord?
I accepted Christ 17 years ago I will follow Him till the end. He helped me to live through the death of my child.
Tell about one thing your sponsor needs to know about you.
I am very happy to be in St. Paul Church. I am very thankful to our sponsors for their help. I wish you all happiness and well-being.
Опис
Lidia Kozar is 86.
Lidia lives alone. Her daughter died in the car accident 17 years ago. No grandchildren. But Lidia’s son-in-law is a wonderful care-taker. He comes every Sunday and brings Lidia cooked food, takes her food vouchers and buys her needed groceries. Lidia is served by a Stephen minister.
Three years ago Lidia had a bad stroke – since then she does not go outside. She has difficulties with her speech and walking yet this lady is full of peace and God’s grace. She was one of the most hospitable hosts I had visited: as soon as I entered the kitchen, she began fixing some potatoes with mushroom (yet she could hardly walk!), “Sit down, Lena, sit down, you should eat first. This is something my son-in-law brought me and I want you to try it”. She says, she met the Lord when she came to St. Paul Church.
Lidia grew up in the orphanage in Uman town. She saw her parents last in 1941 shortly before they were taken by the Nazi to one of the consentration camps. She and her older brother (who was later lost) were brought with many other kids to a local orphanage. When the Nazy invaded into Ukraine, they were bombing the town. At the end of the war when the Nazi were defeated and were moving back to Germany, she says, they were burning everything on their way. And here is an interesting thing: Galina says, the view from the orphanage broken windows was terrible – all the burning and bombed house. I asked, “And what about your orphanage? Were you evacuated then?” She said, “No. We were there” “But the town around you was merely destroyed” She replied, “Lena, we, children, were praying. Having been raised in the Soviet system with no spiritual values, in the toughest times of fear and dispair in our orphanage we, kids, would get under our beds and pray. This is how I learnt that God existed and He cared – no kid from our orphanage died during WW II.”
After the war Lidia was moved to Kyiv where she finished school and later technical college and worked at one of the biggest plants in the former USSR. Her husband was an abusive alcoholic so once she just took her daughter and left home.
Lidia had always been a good swimmer – she believes, that it does help her to put “herself together” now.
In the photo one can see Lidia with a present from MMK – a beautiful handmade blanket from the US (oh, how Lidia LOVED it!)