But she had yet to face the biggest challenge of adjusting to America.
“The hardest part was our daughter’s constant reminders to us that
she wanted to go home. She was 4 years old, but she grew up on that
flight here,” Vasilenok tearfully recalled. “We were on the highway
driving home one day, and she asked, ‘When are we going to go home?’
I told her we had one more exit. Then she said, ‘Mom, home is where
your family is … home is not this.’ That was the darkest time for me.”
In her heart, Vasilenok knew she had to make some changes. To
fulfill a teaching requirement at her job, she signed up for a tax class,
thinking that it would help her to fill out her taxes. But it turned out to
be a class for small business owners on how to do their taxes.
“That’s when I had an idea,” she said. “We came to the realization
that the only way for me to make a living and be with Lubov was to
work from home. So we borrowed money and we bought a home.”
It was the beginning of Vasilenok’s home-based child care business,
now 20-plus years strong. It’s currently licensed for 10 children, most
of whom are immigrants or are children of immigrants.
“America, in the eyes of many people, is a superhero country, but
you work hard here. Yes, there’s a place for the great American dream,
but the only way for immigrants to get out of poverty is to start from
the very bottom - and to get an education.”
When asked if she ever dreams of returning to Belarus, Vasilenok
shook her head.
“No, I’m not crazy. This is home now,” she said. “Two years after
we came here, we went to the (Gateway) Arch for the Fourth of July.
When they played the ‘Star-Spangled Banner,’ Lubov put her hand on
her heart and started singing. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we are home!’ If
it’s home for her, it’s home for us!”
SAVVY I SOPHISTICATED I SASSY
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