Mr. Mikołaj was born in the village of Luka, which existed until 1986, when the residents were resettled to Novaya Luka or apartments for displaced persons in the village of Bondary and other towns, due to the construction of the Siemianivka reservoir.
As he says, for the bachelors, one rode a bicycle to Tarnopol and Siemianowka for village games, and for indulgences. While attending a wedding party in Eliaszuki, a beautiful girl “caught his eye.” He could not forget her, although she was very young. He traveled more and more often to Siemianowka to meet her. She worked on her parents’ farm, and he tirelessly rode his bicycle to see her. Finally, he felt that it was time to get married, especially since there was a second candidate around her. Fortunately, Mrs. Kasia chose him and they have been together 68 years. Mr. Nikolai still talks about his wife – my Kasia.
He brought his young wife to Luka, children were born (2 sons and a daughter), and they supported themselves by working on the farm. Mr. Mikołaj was also mayor of the village for 10 years. Back in the late 1970s, a decision was made to evict the surrounding villages. When he was finishing building a new barn, people came and told him to leave it, because it would all be flooded and the villagers would be displaced. Out of 150 farmers, only 8 decided to start building houses in Nowa Luka and it was still an honest field. Mr. Mikołaj was the initiator of this idea, as he could not imagine living in a block of flats. So, he chose the first option and started building a house and outbuildings again, as he was still making a living from farming. They raised 7 cows, 2 horses, pigs and constantly the farm grew. The children grew up, went to school, then to work. However, son Jaroslaw returned and took over the farm from his father.
Mr. Mikołaj is proud to have received several awards for his work, such as : Distinguished Service to the Bialystok Region and Distinguished Agricultural Worker.
Old age has come, today he is already 93 years old and with it also illnesses. A few months ago he was discharged home from the hospital as a recumbent requiring long-term care, including medical care. Despite the efforts of his children, there was no possibility of providing home physiotherapy from the National Health Fund or a caregiver from the community social assistance center, so he remained in the care of his wife. In this situation, not finding support elsewhere, the daughter, knowing of the existence of the Foundation, turned to us for help. Since there were obvious medical indications Mr. Mikołaj was placed under the care of a doctor, physiotherapist and caregiver.
He is now able to sit up on his own, when previously he was only lying down. On top of that, he became very cheerful again. He was very eager to tell us the story of his life. The smiling faces of Mr. Mikołaj and Ms. Kasia are the greatest expression of gratitude to our team.
