Lena

In the fifth grade I joined a club of young ecologists in the House of Pioneers. Basically it was a group of the better students from my class covering a hidden curriculum after school. Our lecturer and mentor was a young woman, named Lena, who was a walking talking dictionary. We started with botany, zoology, and geography. We took field trips to the Caucuses, and visited archeological sites. As we got older the club’s membership decreased, and the topics extended to Religions, underground art, music, literature, and finally POLITICS.

Eventually the House of Pioneers closed down for lack of funds and ideology to support it. But before that, Lena was fired for being seen at a student political strike.

She found a job in a movie theatre, two of my girl friend and I still continued our regular meetings in the film room. She still gave us books to read, and talked to us for hours when we bumped into her in the park. When we were selling our property and getting ready to leave for America, The Republic of Abkhazia was on the verge of Civil War. Lena was pregnant, and without any real means of support. She was on the staff of many local newspapers, but the job was more dangerous then financially helpful. I gave her many clothes, bedding, books and other material things.

By this time I had favorite politicians, in the same way as I had favorite Rock Stars, and watched the daily fights at the Conventions of Soviet Deputies, or what now is called the Duma. I wrote political poetry as did my favorite TV heroes, and I hated my family for deciding to flee. I was 16.
At present I don’t have that many opinions on politics, and I don’t remember most of the information that we covered at the club. But I do remember Lena, and what she stood for. She is probably still living in Sukhumi, and still is fighting for the rights of the country that is not recognized by NATO. Lena wasn’t even a certified teacher, but she was able to open the eyes of many teens.

Today I have only one thing to remind me of Lena. A broken metronome that beats unevenly is displayed in my home office. At the time it was given it was a very valuable gift for me as a music student. And today it represents a moment in time that shaped me as an individual I am.