World A unique bridge to another world — MOSCOW — Paula Garb is a very unusual American. A 38-year-old from San Francisco, she has lived much of the past 20 years in the USSR, where she has married, divorced, raised two sons, graduated from Moscow University (history and anthro- pology) and built a successful career as a writer. I met her unexpectedly last year in a cinema, and recall being amazed by her son Gregory: to all outward appearances, he - was a typical Soviet schoolboy, but he spoke an easy and idiomatic English it was as if he’d spent his life some- where in New Jersey. They are not alone. Over the past 70 years, tens of thousands of From - Americans and Cana- dians have come, for Moscow j diverse reasons, to make ie eee their homes in the USSR. I have been in Fred Weir . Moscow for just over a year but have met, and been befriended by, at least a dozen of them. Phoebe Singer, now Kuratto, for instance, came to the Soviet Union from Canada in 1936 as the wife of the Tribune’s first Mos- cow correspondent, Pat Forkin. Pat died, but Phoebe elected to stay, raised a family here and eventually became a Soviet citizen. . Now 77, and a pensioner, her Moscow apartment is still a little breath of Canada. Sara Harris, now Kamenschikova, from New York City, married a Soviet journalist in the mid-60s, moved to Moscow, and has since acquired a university education, three growing children and a career as a Radio Moscow commentator. Sue Kailin, 30, works as a translator fora big Soviet publishing house. Sue has inte- grated so thoroughly with Soviet life that new Russian acquaintances often think she’s pulling their leg when she tells them she’s really an American ... There’s a surprising number of them here, people who have helped me tremend- ously with their advice, and by sharing their unique perspective on Soviet life. Yet neither their existence nor their potential significance is known or understood by the public in North America. These are people who defied all cold war myths, and went the other way. On an individual level, these Americans and Canadians have dissolved the iron curtain and adjusted and adapted themselves to a Soviet lifestyle. If their voices were heard, they might help us all to make that crucial leap of understanding. I have often thought that someone ought to write a book about them. Paula Garb has done exactly that. They Came To Stay is based on her inter- views with some 100 of these extraordinary Tribune Combined Sources GENEVA — Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Soviet Union and the United States signed the formal agreement here April 14 guaranteeing the non-interference accord between Afghanistan and Pakis- tan and paving the way for the withdraw- al of Soviet troops, set to begin May 15. The accord, signed by Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, Afghan Foreign Minister Abdul Wakil and Pakistan’s acting foreign minister, was the culmination of six years of mediated negotiations, begun under United Nations auspices in 1982. Agreement on the accord was an- nounced a week earlier, one day after announcement of an Afghan-Soviet agreement reached in Tashkent, the capi- tal of Soviet Uzbekistan, April 7. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev also con- firmed at that meeting that the troop pullout would begin May 15. Ata news conference here April 8, UN representative Diego Cordovez told reporters that the accord had been reached between Pakistan and Afghanis- tan and would be guaranteed by the U.S. and the USSR. Cordovez has been acting as mediator in the lengthy negotiations. “T am authorized to state at this time that throughout the negotiations it has been consistently recognized that the objective of a comprehensive settlement implies the broadest support and imme- diate participation of all segments of the Afghan people, and that this can best be Cordovez said in a statement approved by the four states. “Tt was equally recognized that any questions relating to the government in Afghanistan are matters within the exclusive jurisdiction of Afghanistan and can only be decided by the Afghan peo- ple themselves,” he said. Afghan accord signed assured by a broad-based government,” | Cordovez added: “The hope was therefore expressed that all elements of the Afghan nation, living inside and out- side Afghanistan, would respond to this historic opportunity.” “At this crucial stage, all concerned will therefore promote the endeavours of the Afghan people to work out arrange- ments for a broad-based government and will support and facilitate that pro- cess,” The Afghan government had already launched a national reconciliation pro- gram which has won some support among rebel groups who have been invited to relinquish their arms and par- ticipate in talks on the establishment of a. coalition government. Afghan President Najibullah also reaffirmed in a news con- ference in Tashkent April 7 that Afghan- istan would be “an independent, non- aligned and neutral state.” Cordovez emphasized that the test of the agreement “will come in its imple- mentation. “So I hope people will give it a chance,” he said. The accord provides that Pakistan and Afghanistan will not interfere in one another’s affairs, although it does not deal with the question of U.S. military aid to the rebels. Border areas in Pakis- tan have been the staging areas for the reactionary mujahadeen, the U.S.-backed rebels fighting the Afghan government. Also included are in the accord are proposals for the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees now in Pakistan and elsewhere. A new proposal, added to the accord in negotiations this month, provides for monitoring of the accord through the guarantor states and the UN, including the possibility of UN observers. The UN has reportedly made informal represen- tations to Canada, requesting Canadian participation for the UN observer team. ‘ 8 « Pacific Tribune, April 20, 1988 North Americans who have, over the past seven decades, chosen to live in the USSR. None of them were, or have much in com- mon with, inhabitants of those arid and insular Moscow circles of foreign diplo- mats, journalist and business people. They are immigrants or permanent residents, people who have taken regular Soviet jobs, apartments and often spouses. They have — learned to speak in Russian and pay in roubles. A few of them originally came to the Soviet Union out of political idealism, but just as many have been motivated by romantic considerations, a spirit of adven- ture, a vision of a more secure way of life or even love of the Russian language. Some, particularly the earliest immi- grants, had an ethnic background in one or another Soviet nationality. Most recent ones do not; many of Garb’s people sport such untypical Soviet names as Crane, Nel- son, Rapoport and Golden. Few of these people show any interest in a role as reverse-cold warriors. Indeed, their’ feelings are often mixed, and their emotions complicated. Part of their lives, and families too, lie on both sides of the great global divide. While Garb found many wil- ling — even anxious — to speak about their experiences and draw contrasts between the worlds their lives have spanned, others would not talk. “ Some are just modest, while some, hav- ing abolished the cold war in their own lives, find it more terrifying than ever. I have encountered this too: one young Canadian panicked — but found it difficult to explain why — when [asked if I could mention her in an article. Another, an elderly person, asked: “What on earth is interesting about me?” Yet they are all fascinating. Garb has taken a very broad sample of them and brought their stories to life in the pages of her book. She has found individuals whose stay in the USSR dates from the early colo- nies of Canadian and American workers who came to assist Soviet Russia with their labour and skills at the beginning of the 1920s. Letting them speak as much as possible in their own voices, she follows them through all of the great changes and events that marked their lives. The book would be worthless if Garb had neglected to mention that North Americans were not only builders who found a new place and pur- pose, but also sometimes victims of the same vicissitudes faced by all Soviet people: famine, privation, war and — dispropot- tionately — Stalinist repression. It must have taken some courage, even today, to print all of these stories from start to finish, but that’s what Garb has done. The later generations of immigrants, het- self included, have found it somewhat easiet to adapt to Soviet life. Yet they too have faced many difficulties — all ‘eloquently related in Garb’s book — and sometimes their friends and relatives back home are apt to regard them strangely. I asked Sara Kamenschikova how she sums up her 20 years of Soviet life. “I feel very much enriched by not only observing but also living two cultures,” she says. “I think I’ve been able to take the best from each. I’ve learned to appreciate pe0- ple, the quality of relationships much more than is normal for Americans. I’ve also adjusted to some difficulties. I also think that I’ve been able to give something to the Soviet people around me, to help them see some things from new angles ... “When I compare my life with that of my sister — asurgeon’s wife in California — I realize that I have given up quite a bit in material standards. But, you know, I don’t have half the worries that she does. I don’t get frantic about money — no one here does — and, above all, I don’t worry about my kids, about their education, the street environment or whether there will be opportunities for them when they enter life on their own... : “My mother once told me: ‘Sara, your brother and sister might be richer than you, but your life is a heck of a lot more interest- ing than theirs.” It is one of the never-ending surprises of my job that I continue to find Americans and Canadians living here, sometimes in the oddest corners of Soviet society. The fact that of all Garb’s subjects, only one so far is personally known to me — Carl Watts from Hamilton, Ontario — also attests to the size and breadth of this community. Although they may be officially forgot- ten, ignored and, perhaps, held under suspi- cion in North America, I believe that these are people whose moment has come. To build peace and co-operation between two vastly different and confrontational socie- ties will require a major effort toward mut- ual understanding. Those who have lived and found belonging and purpose on both sides form a ready bridge for the rest of us to cross. They Came To Stay is published by Pro- gress Publishers, Moscow.