Love story: how an orphan from Ukraine found fate in the USA

34-year-old Transcarpathian Maxim Olag, who never knew his parents, has been living and working in the USA for more than 5 for years now: he has been promoting Ukrainian dances in America.

Photos from the personal archive of Maxim Olag (Tyachiv News)

The story of his emigration told edition Tyachiv News.

Maxim was born in 1981 in Mukachevo, the mother left the newborn in the hospital.

He spent his childhood in orphanages and in a boarding school. He didn’t really like to study, he was a “middle peasant”, but he loved to sing and dance.

In Uzhgorod Vocational School No. 5, Maxim learned to be an auto mechanic, after which he got a job as a plumber at the same educational institution.

After 5 years, the guy quit and decided to take new heights of life - entered the correspondence department of the Law Faculty of Uzhgorod National University, while he was studying, got a job as a security guard of a private company.

One day Maxim came across an advertisement in the newspaper for a job in a drama theater - the main condition for employment was talent, and education and work experience did not play a key role.

The guy felt that this was his chance, and was able to get a job in the theater. There he worked for 7 years in various capacities: actor, sound engineer, costumer.

In 2008 of the year, an American woman, Sheela Slemp, arrived in Perechyn for 15 for years engaged in volunteering and working with various non-governmental organizations to develop local communities.

Maxim and Sheela met at a birthday party with a mutual friend Irina Sudakova, who helped Olaga a lot in her childhood.

“Irina Sudakova celebrated her anniversary at the Perechin restaurant. I was a little late because I was late at work in Uzhgorod. Among the guests was Sheila. When the guests began to leave, Irina Ivanovna asked the guys who could escort the American to the house where she lived at that time. The hour was late. Winter, snow, wet. It took about 20 minutes to walk. Of all the guests, I turned out to be the most sober, so I agreed to take the girl home. Since then we started dating,” said Maxim.

Two years later, on October 30, 2010, the couple formalized their relationship.

Photos from the personal archive of Maxim Olag (Tyachiv News)

"Sewed meI was attracted by kindness, openness, sincerity, and wisdom. She knows how to endure and learn, I helped her to better master the Ukrainian language. And she helped me with English. Shila lived for a long time in the Kyiv region, where she spoke literary Ukrainian. And when she was sent to Perechyn, she encountered a problem, because we speak a dialect, but she didn’t understand it,” said Maxim.

The Shila organization managed to organize a trip for Ukrainian young talents to perform in the USA, then Olag first visited America. They visited several cities, and Maksim admitted that during the whole of this month he was psychologically prepared that he would remain living in distant lands without Ukrainian friends.

“It was not difficult for me to adapt to a new culture and environment. There were no problems with the language either, because I had already mastered it at the everyday level. The first year was a little hard for me, I was bored, corresponded with friends on social networks, called Perechyn every week, talked for hours,” admitted Maxim.

In the USA, Shila and Maxim celebrated their wedding for the second time at the request of the woman’s parents.

The first two months, the newlyweds lived with relatives, later Sheela got a job in the Department of Forestry, and the couple moved to Washington, DC.

Now they live in this city in a rented apartment, but plan to buy their own housing in the near future.

Maxim works in the Sunday Ukrainian school named after T. Shevchenko, where he teaches Transcarpathian 150 dances to children aged from 3 to 17. For an hour he earns a 22 dollar. Engaged in 7-8 hours per day, which gives him about 540 dollars per month.

Photos from the personal archive of Maxim Olag (Tyachiv News)

He earns money by preparing and selling meals for Shila’s colleagues. Among the dishes - borscht and cabbage rolls. In the summer of 2016, he received the diploma of a professional chef.

Maxim is also a member of the Carpathia group, which promotes Ukrainian culture in the United States, and in addition prepares for the exam for American citizenship.

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