Great men are those who perform feats in the name of life on earth.
Maria Merinova
When I walked into Maria’s apartment, I was immersed in an atmosphere of silence and calm, as if the two little children weren’t even here. I was in a bad mood on the way to the shoot, and I had thoughts that corresponded to that state. I imagined a girl who had forgotten about herself, but had not forgotten to be useful to society: it was not enough for her two children, so she adopted two more. And now she was probably sitting at home, suffering from a hard time.
Maria offered me coffee and said that we had an hour for an interview while the kids were asleep. So I started asking questions…
Volunteer at a covid center
The covid episode wasn’t as impressive compared to Maria’s other stories, but still an important topic!
We all remember 2019 when we were put on “remote”. What did Maria do then? — She went to a covid center where she cared for the sick. The number of sick people was increasing every day, and in order to help the new arrivals, Maria quit her job at the dental clinic where she held a management position.
It’s not like raising your own.
For a woman with a lot of creative energy, it’s probably not a problem to adopt two children, but here it turned out to be even more interesting.
Maria and her husband wanted a big family. Their sons had grown older and were spending less time with their parents, and they had not been able to have children for many years. And to somehow fill the emptiness in the house, they decided to get dogs, even two. But that didn’t help with the main problem.
Then they went to foster school, found two severely premature sisters with heart defects, flew north to get them, and in three days they were home with little Nastya and Katya. “They were robot children,” is how Maria described them.
Now — Mariupol
Moving on to February 24. In all the languages of the world there is no way to convey the pain that people feel. I will not retell these stories here, you can listen to them on the “People of Russia” video.
When kovid was no longer the main topic, and Maria had two small children in her arms, an important question arose: How to help people in Mariupol?
The answer, of course, was found. Through the organization “Mercy” Maria began to look for grief-stricken (to put it mildly) people and to organize groups of psychologists, who, coordinated by her, traveled to Mariupol to help its population survive the tragedy. Maria also collected material aid, things, equipment, and sent it to the families.
Amazing but true
When Maria was talking about the terrible events, she was smiling. You can see it in the video. I still don’t get it — is it a defensive reaction? Or does it help her not to dive into the negativity that would attract more grief? Or is she just a happy woman with so much power that her smile is an example to those who have stopped smiling. I want to believe that’s exactly what it is!
As I was saying goodbye, I asked:
- If your husband is taken away to fight, what will you do?
I will quote Maria’s answer verbatim:
- My husband is my support and backbone, without him I would not be the same. I know he is always there to help and support me. I love my husband very much, and if they take him away… What will I do? — Suffer! Maria answered with a smile.
