The Journey
The dream of a 6th grader
by
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Ivan Pavlovich left the classroom after giving us an assignment to color the atlas of Canada according to each province’s main industry. I remember looking at the blank map. A symbol of wheat ears was pre-printed over the central west of the country, where Manitoba and Saskatchewan are, and they caught my attention. “Wow,” I said to myself, “This country has plenty of wheat, and probably they have never had to endure lack of bread on their tables.” Here my thoughts flew back in time to my grand-parents’ and my mother’s stories about their family not having enough bread because of Stalin’s forcible collectivization of people, and their deportation to Siberia as enemies of the state. After a few more minutes I heard the teacher’s light steps in the corridor. He came back and asked us how we were doing with the geography lesson. “Should I tell him that I was almost ready…or about the desire to go to Canada and see it with my own eyes?” I didn’t think it was a good idea, because we students were supposed to be the pioneers, the future of youth communist party. We were told we should not bother with the westerners, where “the capitalist system is standing with one foot on the edge and with the other foot stepping in the cleft.” Our bright future had been promised by our grandfather Lenin, and the communist party was surely guiding us to it. We lived in an advanced socialist society and by mid 80s we would reach being a full communist state. And the years went by…
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About the Book
It's often been said that every person has at least one book inside of him. The main purpose of this book is to express in written form for my children and grandchildren, the experiences I had throughout my journey to North America . But, if this book will have an impact on someone who is going through a similar experience or has been in my shoes and it will help them not to stop or give up, it will definitely accomplish its objective. My motto for this book was to learn from the past, to live in the present, and focus on the future. My guide: Proverbs 3:5-6; Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all the ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
About the Author
Sergei Ivantchev, M.D. (Full credentials are: RN, MS, FNP, M.D.) He was a practicing physician in Moldova who, upon arrival in Canada, started working in a pizza restaurant and delivered newspapers. Because of very limited opportunities for foreign trained physicians to practice medicine at that time, he went to a Nursing school in Ottawa. After graduation he could not find a full time employment in Canada, so he moved to USA where he worked as a Registered Nurse. Later on he finished the Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Massachusetts. Finally he completed a residency in Family Medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a Family Medicine-Anesthesia program at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. Currently he works as an ER physician in Massachusetts and as an Anesthesiologist in New Brunswick.