Near Journey’s End

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30803, 15 July 1965, Page 1

Near Journey’s End

A long journey was almost at an end for three Russian refugee families who arrived in Christchurch late yes. terday afternoon. They will fly to Invercargill today where a resettlement programme has been arranged for them by the National Council of Churches. The journey began over a year ago when they fled to Hong Kong from the province of Sinkiang in North China. They left Hong Kong by ship on June 20. they arrived in Sydney on July 3. and they left Sydney for Christchurch yesterday morning. There are two families of Vshivkoffs and the third family are Mr and Mrs Dimitri Samoilov. The elder Vshivkoffs were born in Russia and they moved to China in 1930 In November, 1958, Advei Vshivkoff was arrested when he applied for an exit permit and he was not freed until 1961. In May, last year the whole family moved to Hong Kong.

Mr and Mrs Dimitri Samoilov were also born in China and they came to Hong Kong with their children in 1964 Both families have had experience in cattle raising and bee-keeping. Mr Samoilov has also worked in leather manufacturing. Religiously, the families are Old Believers, a break-away sect from the Russian Orthodox Church. All the men in the group wear full beards They regard beards as part of the image of God, in which man was created, and they do not shave.

Their first meal in Christchurch was with Mr and Mrs

Y Erofeef, assisted refugees who came to Christchurch in 1963. Wednesday is a customary fast day for Old Believers so no meat or foods cooked in oil were allowed. The new families had a speci-ally-prepared vegetable soup. Language Difficulty

None of the forms normally completed by air passengers had been completed before they arrived because no-one on the plane knew any Russian and none of the refugees knew any English All these formalities had to be carried out hv the official interpreter, Mr Erofeef, when the families arrived in Christchurch.

If the children in the group did not know exactly what was going on they seemed to sense that they were no ordinary passengers. Tiny Fedor Vshivkoff, aged one. was the first to arrive in the land of his adoption. He was carried down the gangway by his father and handed into the arms of the waiting hostess. Eleven - year - old Vasily Samoilov seemed anxious to nass on his comments through the interpreter. Miss Glafira Kaidalov. When asked how he enjoyed the flight, he smiled and said “Very well." The customs procedures took longer than usu 1. All the families’ belongings were packed into a few suitcases bu ! language problems were always present and there were some anxious moments over some seeds that they had in their luggage. Reception at Airport

Waiting to meet the new arrivals was the Rev. R. M. O'Grady, resettlement officer of the National Council of Churches, the Rev. D. M. Taylor. general secretary of the National Council of Churches

and other members of the staff.

Confident and self-assured after only 10 days In New Zealand, Miss Vera Rezchi-kova-Chang and her mother waited to renew acquaintance with the refugees. Vera and her mother travelled from Hong Kong to Sydney on the same boat but they flew to New Zealand 10 days ago.

If their appearance was not obviously Russian it was unmistakably different. The men wore long beards, broad hats, no ties and carried cameras which they had purchased in Hong Kong.

The women wore heavy dark clothing, headscarves and stout boots. It was only the clothing that made the children seem Russian; for the rest they were like children anywhere, smiling and curious.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Mr Dimitri Samoilov, said that he was glad that so many kind persons had helped them to bring this journey to an end.