Chapter Twenty-One

Return to Amur

    On Dec. 28 I received the following, joyous email from Alysha titled “Travel.”

Hey you!  I am going to Moscow on January 6^th.  I will get there at 11:15 am on the 7^th.  I will be leaving for Blagoveshchensk on the 10^th…

    This time, it was Alysha who would travel to Russia by herself. Brian had his job to attend to, but he would be joining his wife in Russia once they had a court date for two new children. 

    Alysha’s mother came and over and helped out with Tiffany and Brody the month that she was away. They too had been put through the wringer by the process, and all the family wanted was for Brian, Alysha, Tiffany and Brody to have a solid family with two more children.

    Irina’s collegue, Dmitry, would be a source of support for Alysha once in Russia.  He would prove to be as trustworthy and supportive to Alysha as Irina O’Rear had been.

    Dmitry, after informing the Towells of Oleg and Elena’s adoption by their new Russian family, had been carefully setting the groundwork for Alysha and Brian’s new children. He and Irina were able to establish a rapport with the orphanage director, Ludmilla Ivanova and were ready to introduce Alysha to two other suitable children in the 2-3 age range, preferably a boy and a girl.

    Alysha says that her flights to Moscow and on to Amur went well; she traveled with Irina’s colleague and was charged the fair and going rate for the flights.

    Once in Blagoveshchensk, she was impressed her actual fees for lodging at the Hotel Druzba were nearly half that of the Amrex families; she was also stunned to find out that Amrex families were being ripped off by Tatyana for meals; a meal in one restaurant would only cost Alysha and her guide 234 rubles ($7.75), yet when she would later compare costs with an Amrex family, their same meal at the same restaurant would cost the Amrex family 450 rubles ($15) (because Tatyana would ask them for that amount, she would pay the cashier and then pocket the change).

    Another area where Amrex families were taken advantage of was transportation and visa fees for the children. “Been to Blago” stated she had been driven around by Tatyana’s son for $3.00 an hour on their first trip. Her second trip, the rates had been raised to $5.00 an hour.

    Of course, to some people, a few dollars here and a few dollars there didn’t bother them — when in fact, it should have disturbed them greatly.  They would brush it off as being “the Russian way” when in fact, it is the wrong and corrupt way.

    This price inflation for transportation was minor compared to what Alysha learned about the real, hard financial loss to the children at the orphanage when she spoke to the orphanage director one-on-one on Jan. 16.

    Due to Alysha’s posts on FRUA, Tatyana Vladimirovna Dmitriyeva had it in for her before Alysha arrived in Amur. Even some of the clients who had traveled before and after Alysha’s arrival knew that she was speaking openly about things they had blatantly chosen to ignore. Some were even told by their agencies to not tell other people where they were traveling to adopt their kids! The other PAPs were scared and apprehensive about the “buzz” that had started on the adoption thread.

    At the orphanage, Alysha was introduced to a little girl and a little boy, roughly Elena and Oleg’s age.  The girl was stunningly beautiful — blue eyes, dark hair — as vivacious and happy as Elena.  She loved to talk!  As a matter of fact, everyday that Alysha visited her at the orphanage, she would grab a toy and sit right on Alysha’s lap.  

    When Alysha would leave, she would be sad to see her go. Alysha was surprised that she began to pick up English words at a good clip and would repeat them to Alysha. She had just turned three in November.

    The little boy, or shall I say, the Towells’ son, was a bit younger than his new sister — he was two and a half years old; his birthday was in July 1999. He was a tiny little boy — thin and a bit listless, but he was a fighter. 

    He had serious sinus troubles and it was difficult for him to breathe. But that was not insurmountable. 

    When Alysha showed him another picture book with Brody, his new American brother, he would point to him and say Brat! Brat! which means “brother” in Russian.

    Alysha had wanted to take them from the orphanage, but during early to mid-January, Ludmilla had put the orphanage under a quarantine; it seems that there were a few children who had contracted chickenpox, and in order to confine the disease, she was not allowing the children to leave — or for others to be brought in.

    While Alysha was visiting her son and daughter at the orphanage, Tatyana attempted to shield her Amrex clients from her.  When a client was in the room with them, she would pretend to make a big show of how pretty Alysha’s little girl was, but as soon as they left the room, she reverted back to her stern, standoffish self.

    Alysha, as well has Brian, noted that they had never seen Tatyana holding one of the children she was placing.  As a matter of fact, one day Alysha had to use the bathroom, and she asked Tatyana to hold her little girl.  Tatyana didn’t.  One of the other folks did.

    In order to communicate behind Tatyana’s back one with Tree of Life client, Alysha resorted to writing a note with her hotel room’s number on it and slipped it into the coat pocket of a Tree of Life client!  

    How wacked is that?  He was happy for her to have done it; they were able to compare notes and costs of their adoptions, and when he found out that they were being ripped off for their meals, hotel and driver, he was not too happy.

    Alysha waited until February to come home with her children, instead of taking two trips to Russia. She felt it would be better to wait the three to four weeks out with the children and have Brian come over than to leave and lose them as she had with Elena and Oleg.

    A few glitches were worked out with the children’s paperwork for the judge and after, the court date went without a hitch. 

    The only hard questions she and Brian faced was a question of discipline; they were asked if they would ever hit their children?  This was due to the publicity surrounding Viktor Matthey’s October 2001 death in New Jersey at the hands of his strict parents. Viktor’s death cast quite a spell over Blagoveshchensk when Newark’s The Star Ledger ran the full story on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2001.

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