Soviet Woman, 30 September 1978: 'Meetings, Contacts, Cooperation' (Hari Kartini di Moskow)

=== [PDF page 1] === M em orable R e c a llin g M y C h ild h o o d Drawings by Arkadi Kovtun O c c a s io n Looking back, I recall several m em orable days in my life. Because I have lived quietly, away from the centre of affairs, these are personal hig hligh ts—the first day in the coun try after a serious illness, the day our youngest son was born, the day we moved house. One that I shall never forget was the day our eldest daughter w on an Oxford scholarship. She had taken the entrance exam inations, and gone fo r an interview, but her school was discouraging because it be lieved Oxford to be a snob university that d id n 't w ant girls from ordinary gram m ar schools like theirs, and we had no standards of com parison because Cassandra had chosen to specialise in a subject studied by no one else at the school. She was not the only candidate: three of her friends had been fired by her exam ple to try to get into England's top university, and their poor, anxious headmistress w rung her hands over the fo u r of them, w ailing: "You haven't a chance of a place!" It was a Tuesday, and I was planning our second daughter's birthday supper when the telegraph boy came up the path, holding a fateful yellow envelope. Cassandra and I tore it open together, and shrieked w ith excitem ent. She had not m erely gained a place at the university; she had been awarded a scholarship, the top academic award that a student could win. I was a little girl of seven years one comes to meet me I w ill speakto studying in Grade II. One day as I the Station Master and get a porter returned from school I heard a to take me hom e." I could speak com m otion at home. I quickly put English flu en tly though I was a m y books on a chair and rushed to native and father knew that I w ould the bedroom to see m y m other act m y part w ell. I continued to read w rig g lin g in pain. M y father too had the name boards of the various come home by then and several stations that passed and when it neighbours were there helping came to Kadigam uwa I got up from m other to sit straight w hilst her m y seat, took m y satchel and at w ounds were attended to. tem pted to get off. A good Sam ari I was so horrified to find my tan, however, stopped me and said, m other bleeding that I shouted "Oh, "N o, child, this is Kadigamuwa and w hat's w rong and w hat happened?" not Kadugannawa." Even today M y father then took me aside and w hen I pass this station I begin to said, "D aughter, she has had a bad think to m yself, "W hat w ould have fall near the well and as a result one been m y fate if I got down at this arm and the nasal bone appears to desolate place all by m yself— a little have been fractured." In my excite to t of a girl?" m ent I asked, "W ill she die and w hat As the train reached Kadugan shall l do about it." Father pacified nawa, a passenger told me to get me and told me that some native down. I got dow n w ith his help as m edicine is being given and w hile the platform was too low fo r me to she rests a doctor w ill be sent for step dow n at once. It was getting and, in the m eantim e he wanted me dark too. I walked straight into the to look after m y baby sister and Station M aster's Office and wished brother. Station Master "G ood Evening." He The house we lived in was far too returned the greeting and said, "M y large fo r a small fa m ily like ours and dear young lady, where are you I very seldom go from one room to bound to?" I told him that I was another w ith o u t a chaperone. I did expecting my grandpa at the station not know how to prepare my sister's as m y father prom ised to send a m ilk or meals fo r those at home. telegram inform ing of m y arrival However, I agreed to look after and probably it has not reached him everything till father returned w ith yet. The Station Master listened to the doctor. me, picked me up and placed me on It was late in the evening when a high chair and said "Yes, I know the doctor left after dressing her yo ur grandpa, I w ill send you there w ounds and adm inistering the soon." W hat a relief— he called an necessary medicine. That whole elderly porter and said, "C arry this night father was by her side and I little girl to her grandpa's home as it looked after m y little sister w ho was is too far fo r her to w alk after a long forever crying calling for mother. A jou rn e y." I thanked him and left w ith neighbour supplied our night meal and, thanks to him, I was able to feed m y brother and put him to bed. I could hardly eat, or sleep. I kept thinking to m yself. "W ill I be able to go to school any more? W ill m other recover? How long w ill she suffer like this?" As there was no one else, father had to apply fo r leave and stay at home. I couldn 't sleep in spite of my father saying on several occasions, "Sleep darling, I w ill look after ev eryth ing." But it was impossible. W hilst rocking sister to sleep, I told father, "Let's get down grandpa or grandm a or an auntie to look after m other till she is better." Father too had th ou gh t of this but he did not w ant to send a telegram invitin g one of them as they w ould find fa ult w ith him fo r not engaging a dom estic aid the porter. The porter tried to carry to assist m other. After a few m i me but I blankly refused. I gave m y nute's silence, father asked, "Can bag instead. As we were walking you go and explain matters and halfw ay m y grand-parents were in bring som eone?" Small as I was, I sight. My grandma ran tow ards me, said, "I shall." It was a distance of 62 embraced me and questioned me as to w hy I was sent like this un miles from home and I had to take the train. Father was very happy at chaperoned. I explained matters on the way. m y bravery. The fo llo w in g m orning The fo llo w in g m orning m y grand he e ntrusted, m other, sister and brother to a neighbour and brought parents, m yself and tw o servants me to the Fort Railway Station. I entrained to Colombo. M y father was so happy to see me return carried a small satchel w ith a frock safely w ith m y relatives, w ho stayed and underwear and nothing else. back till m y m other was perfectly But w ho was there to give me a w ell. Thanks to my stars, m y m other sandwich or a drink if I fe lt hungry or thirsty? is still alive, hale and hearty and often she asks me, "D aughter, I am Father advised me several tim es sure you w ill never send any of yo ur not to be misled. "Read the name girls alone at that age and such a boards at the stations and get down distance." Yes, I never w ill. I know it. only at Kadugannawa," he repeated. I said, "D o n 't w o rry I w ill go safely. I But m y dear father could not help it am not afraid of anyone and if no S. De SILVA W hat a m orning it was! Cassand ra rushed to the telephone, and rang her father, w ho was then w orking away from home. Then she rang the school, and m y second surprise that day came when I heard our norm ally polite and meek daughter firm ly ordering her bemused headmistress to seek out our tw o younger daugh ters at the school and give them the good news too. The telegraph boy m ust have been kept busy that day. W hile we were still rejoicing an excited father at the other end of the borough telephoned us to say that his daugh ter too had gained a place at the university. Then the doorbell rang. On the doorstep stood a third schoolfriend brandishing a tele gram. "J u lia!" "C assandra!" Shrieks of joy. Another place gained. Half an hour later the bell rang again, and there stood the fourth school friend trium ph an tly w aving a telegram: "Cassandra, Cassandra, I've got a place!" I w ent shopping in a joyful haze. I had planned to shop fo r a birthday meal, but now there was a double celebration. That was indeed a day to re m em ber. And although m y husband could not be at home w ith us all, he toasted us in his office. ELIZABETH DOUGLAS 33 === [PDF page 2] === housing construction is steadily in creasing. Every year more than one thousand fam ilies th ro w house w arm ing parties. We pay particular attention to the construction of kin dergartens and creches. The num ber of places in these preschool establishm ents has grow n more than tenfold in the last decade. The num ber of schools also increases w ith every year. M em bers of the delegation from Kitwe paid a visit to one of our m odern schools, at tended by more than 1,000 boys and girls. The school has excellently equipped class-rooms, a w onderful auditorium and sports halls. Be cause of our sultry clim ate, there are shade awnings and a sw im m ing pool. Our children told the guests about th eir Young Pioneer camps, Handshake TwinTowns By E. ALESIN A t the carpet factory Photographs by the author Kitwe Street in A lm a lyk /X lm a ly k is a small tow n in Uzbekistan, w ith modern architec ture and modern tow n planning. Its arrow -straight streets cut the tow n from end to end and w here the horizon should be one's gaze meets m ountain slopes overgrow n w ith forests and covered w ith the snoww hite islands of glaciers. One of Alm alyk's streets is called Kitwe. "W here does this name come from? " I asked Boris Agarkov, chair man of the Executive Com m ittee of the City Soviet of People's Deputies. "I suppose many w ho ride along Alm alyk Street also ask this ques tion. There is such a street in the Zambian tow n of Kitwe. The thing is that Alm alyk and Kitwe are tw in tow ns. An agreement on friendship between our tow ns was signed sev eral years ago. Here it is." Boris Agarkov showed me an attractively designed docum ent, rem inding one of an ancient deed, w ith the seals of both tow ns. It reads: "Both sides of the agreem ent assert the im p or tance of frie n d ly contacts among all the peoples on earth fo r peace, m utual understanding and coopera-tion. Both parties to the agreement are resolved to make a contribution to the cause of strengthening and developing frie n d ly relations be tween the Republic of Zambia and the Soviet U n io n..." "W hat is there in com m on be tween Alm alyk and the distant A fri can tow n that unites you?" "First of all, our to w n and Kitwe are the tow ns of m etallurgists. Kitwe is situated in the so-called 'copper belt,' where high-grade copper is smelted. "As regards our tow n, it sprawls at the fo o th ills of the Kuram insky ridge. After m ineral deposits were discovered in the m ountains, people began to settle here to m ine this natural wealth fo r our country. Steel sm elting in process The steel w orkers' preventorium Young tow nsfolk A lm a lyk's new school Boris Agarkov, M ayor o f A lm alyk "A lm alyk is under 30. This, by the way, coincides w ith the average age of its inhabitants," Boris Agarkov spoke about "his king do m " w ith unconcealed pride and love. "The tow n has grown up v irtu a lly on an em pty spot. Before it was bare steppe where one could meet only a lonely shepherd driving sheep from one pasture to another. Alm alyk burgeoned at a rapid pace: plants and factories m ushroom ed and mines were sunk. Today Alm alyk has nearly 100,000 residents, w ith everything necessary fo r a modern city dw eller: com fortable flats, hos pitals, polyclinics, libraries, clubs and cinemas. Guests from Kitwe, w ho have visited us on more than one occasion, used to say: 'It's amazing how fast yo ur to w n grows and im p ro v e s.'" "Y ou m entioned that African friends often v is it yo ur tow n. Tell me, please, about one of the visits." "T w o years ago I took part in the reception of a delegation from Kitwe headed by its M ayor M. R. Wunda. We tried to show our guests every thing we had. They visited enter prises, where they showed lively interest in the labour conditions of our w orkers. N aturally, it d id n 't es cape th eir attention that our shops were fu lly automated. Not a single 'h o t' operation is done m anually. A utom ation allows w om en to con trol some of the units. Our guests were impressed by the active role Soviet w om en play in all aspects of to w n life. One can find them among shop forem en, and shift chiefs, half the people's deputies at the City Soviet are w om en. "O ur friends asked us num erous questions about housing construc tion in Alm alyk and concern fo r children. These problem s are, in deed, im p orta nt fo r us. M any young people live in our tow n. The scope of w here every A lm alyk school stu dent can spend his or her sum m er vacation. "Guests from Kitwe visited a pre ventorium fo r our m etallurgists. Here the workers get a good rest after the shift, high-caloric food and w hat is the m ain th ing, regular medical control. Steel-workers re ceive everything to bolster their health. There's a small polyclinic on the ground flo o r w here the w orkers can get any medical treatm ent and be exam ined by the specialists w orking here. Nearly all m ajor enter prises in our tow n have such pre ventorium s. There are m any 'h o t' shops and arduous jobs at our works, therefore, we keep the health of our workers under constant con tro l." "W e can hardly believe that your workers get all this free, our guests were amazed. But added: 'The tim e w ill come when we, too, w ill have the same th in g.'" "B y the way, our to w nsfo lk also w en t to Kitwe. I m yself d id n 't have a chance to go there, but m em bers of our delegation told me h o w w g rm ly and cordially the African friends w elcom ed them and how quickly they found a com m on language w ith Kitwe workers. "A letter w hich M. R. Wunda sent to us after the v is it here speaks of m utual understanding, the w arm relations w hich have been estab lished between our tw o tow ns. "I hope our friendship w ill con tinue and grow firm e r," w rote the M ayor of Kitwe. "I'm confident our m utual visits w ill help strengthen the solidarity of the citizens of A l m alyk and Kitw e." "I support the w ish of m y col league and w ill try and do every thing to prom ote and expand frie n d ship between our tw in -to w n s." === [PDF page 3] === n ilK BWaraffl With Our Irish Friends M ikhail Kuzin, president o f the USSR-lreland Society, opening the evening ■ estive evenings dedicated to the National Day of Ireland have be come a tradition in our country. This year the public gathered at Mos cow's Friendship House to mark this memorable day for the Irish people. Frank Edwards, general secretary of the Ireland-USSR Society, Prof. O'Heohr, rector of Galwayll Univer sity and K. Nolan of Dublin Universi ty came to Moscow from Ireland for the event. The gathering was attended by Edward John Brennan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ireland in the USSR,and Mary Banis ter, Embassy staff worker. Opening the evening, Mikhail Kuzin, president of the USSR-lreland Society, spoke of the cordial rela tions between the two friendship societies, about fruitful scientific and exploration," he said. Speaking about the relations be tween the countries, the Ambas sador Extraordinary and Plenipoten tiary of Ireland in the USSR, Edward John Brennan, said, in part,that if the two sides kept up firm friendly relations, there was nothing to stop them exchanging useful and inter esting information. It meant that people would learn more about the policy, economy and cultural life of a friendly state and develop a deeper mutual confidence. Moscow students and school children showed the gathering an interesting program of Irish folklore, music and literature. V. SOKOLOV the Order of the "Friendship of the Peoples" to its general secretary Frank Edwards. Boris Likhachev, vice-president of the USSR-lreland Society, said that the Soviet Union attaches great im portance to the positive contribution which Ireland is making to the cause of peace and European settle ment. Prof. M. Urnov, head of the foreign literature department of the Moscow Polygraphic Institute, noted the lasting significance of Irish litera ture. "The people's epos, Irish sagas, are being studied in Soviet higher schools," he said. "The interest of the Soviet reader in Irish literature is mounting with every year. Prepara tory work has started in the Soviet Union for publication of a collection Edward John Brennan, Am bassador Extraordinary and P lenipotentiary o f Ireland in the USSR, addressing the gathering Prof. O 'Heohr thanked the gathering on behalf o f the delegation Frank Edwards w ith senior students o f M oscow school No. 440 cultural contacts between the peoples of the Soviet Union and Ireland. "The river of friendship is never ice-bound, and two-way navigation along it has been open for 12 years," he said. The Soviet government has made a high appraisal of the activities of the Ireland-USSR Society, awarding of poems of the Irish poet William Yeats." Prof. Urnov read some of these, to the applause of the audi ence. Prof. O'Heohr, on behalf of the delegation, thanked the gathering for the warm words addressed to his country and his people and the way the Soviet people honoured Irish customs. A green shamrock—-the Irish na tional symbol—glowed in the pro fessor's lapel. Members of the Soviet friendship society wore simi lar tokens. Mr. O'Heohr spoke of the un paralleled scientific research con ducted on board the orbital station Salyut-6. "Soviet science made a gigantjc step along the path of space Photographs by V. Trostyansky 35 === [PDF page 4] === w ’i r For the 1980 Olympic Games i A sir By N. BABIN E. W. Djajadiningrat, the wife o f the A m bassador o f Indonesia in the USSR, speaking at the gathering. S itting on her le ft is Ludm ila Pakhomova, vice-chairman o f the USSR-Indonesia Society An Indonesian g irl dem onstrating folk dances We asked Mr. Rolf Schur to switch on the dioptron to see how it operates. "Here, make yourself comforta ble in this seat." He invited us to a device on a stand. "In a minute the dioptron will print out all the data about the condition of your eyesight." The procedure turned out to be exceptionally simple. Looking into the wide eyepiece of the dioptron, I saw in its dark depths a bright circle, the size of a 5-kopek coin, crossed by two thin lines. Mr. Rolf pressed a button on a small control panel, then another... "Ready!" he said. A card slightly bigger than a postcard emerged from a slot in the panel. Mr. Rolf handed it to me, indicating with his finger: "Here's the dioptric data about your right eye, and here's about your left..." The whole procedure took under a minute. We were visiting the stand of the American firm, Coherent Radiation, which engineer Rolf Schur re presented at the international exhi bition Sport-78 held in Mos cow. Taking part in our meeting was Natalia Makarskaya, Cand. Sc. (Med.), senior researcher at the Helmholtz Research Institute of Eye Diseases. We learned from her that back in 1974, the institute had established fruitful business and scientific con tacts with the Coherent Radiation firm. symposium laser coagulators was held in Moscow last October," she told us. "It was organized by the USSR Ministry of Public Health, the Coherent Radia tion firm and our institute... I must say that symposiums, conferences, mutual trips of specialists, joint re search work of scientists and the exchange of experience have be come a regular feature..." "I would like to explain," the KARTINI DAY inf Soviet and Indonesian women women. Kartini had her followers at gathered in the House of Friendship various islands and in different re with Peoples of Foreign Countries to gions of the country. Overcoming jointly mark Kartini Day—the nation inert traditions and all sorts of obsta al heroine of Indonesia, who was cles, they found courage to fight for born more than a century ago. the emancipation of women. We Opening the meeting, Ludmila pronounce the names of such Pakhomova, vice-chairman of the heroines as Dewi Artika, Maria USSR-Indonesia Society, chairman Walandau Maramis, Thut Nyak Dien of the women's commission, and others with a great deal of pride. Can.Sc.fEcon.), noted that the Soviet Nowadays my compatriots play a women pay their respect to this considerable role in the public life of outstanding daughter of the In my country. Nearly 40 women have donesian people, a fighter for equal been elected to the organs of high ity who initiated the women's demo state authority. Great progress has cratic movement in her country in been made in the field of educa the struggle for equality. tion." E. W. Djajadiningrat, the wife of. In conclusion Mrs Djajadiningrat the Ambassador of Indonesia in the said: USSR, told the gathering how In "The women of Indonesia do not donesian women struggled for stand aside from the problems oc many years for equality, how they cupying the minds of the world fought shoulder to shoulder with public. We support all efforts aimed men against colonialism for the at strengthening peace, security and independence of their country. mutual understanding among na "Kartini received her education in tions. I want to thank the women's Holland. After she returned to her commission of the USSR-Indonesia native country, she felt acutely the Society for the fact that we are backwardness of her countrywomen marking here with you the Day of compared with European women. the national heroine of Indonesia." She managed to set up several L. VOLOKHONSKAYA schools for girls, which later on Photographs by I. Nevelyov turned into educational centres for 36 American engineer pitched in, "that we are showing a new model of an automatic electronic dioptron. A more compact model as compared with all the previous models which produces a more precise readings in six measurements. You've already seen it in operation..." "Well, but what's it got to do with a strictly 'sports' exhibition?" we inquired. Mr. Rolf smiled. "The dioptron can be used suc cessfully for checking sportsmen's eyesight. Especially the shooters' eyesight." He told us that the firm delivers argon lasers, coagulators for eye operations... Today there are at least 15 such coagulators of the Coherent Radiation firm operating in the Soviet Union. "So, it seems you are doing quite well." "Of course, we are pleased to take part in this exhibition of sports gear and equipment. I hope the trade, economic, scientific and tech nological ties between the USA and the Soviet Union develop and strengthen. All my colleagues sup port my viewpoint..." That's what Mr. Rolf Schur told Another engineer, whom we met later on at the stand of the British firm Lewis Peat, echoed this opinion. "No computer," said Mr. Bob Crawford, senior sales engineer who represented this firm in Moscow, "can calculate the importance of economic, scientific and technologi cal contacts for a better understand ing between Britain and the Soviet Union..." I recalled other meetings and interviews at various international exhibitions in Moscow. Business men, scientists-experts, engineers from the United States, Britain, Fin land, France, Canada, the FRG, while emphasizing the reliable and stable contacts with the Soviet Union, in variably added that complex, scien tific and technological problems can