Orders of Motherhood and Tusnolobova-Marchenko prizes were awarded to women of the Vitebsk region

This year, 12 women from the Vitebsk region have been awarded the Order of Mother, and another 25 have become laureates of the award named after Hero of the Soviet Union Zinaida Tusnolobova-Marchenko. In total, over 700 residents of the northern region have been awarded the Order of Mother, and more than 470 women in the region have become recipients of the regional executive committee award.

Being a mother is both a great responsibility and immense happiness, believes Valentina Kukushkina from Liozno, a laureate of the Tusnolobova-Marchenko award. She has 10 children in her close-knit family: six biological children (four of whom already have their own families) and four adopted children. Today, her 12-year-old son Nikita came to share the festive moments with his mother. "We had a daughter who unexpectedly passed away when she was three months old. Perhaps to somehow alleviate the loss, we took in our first foster child, and then three more, and thus a whole family was formed. They say you can never have too much money, but we believe you can never have too many children," the mother of many children says with a smile. According to her, all four adopted children integrated into the family without any problems. "Over time, we ourselves forget who is adopted and who is biological – they are all the same to us. Despite coming from different families, all the adopted children have become friends and get along well. Two girls are already finishing the 11th grade. One wants to be an agronomist, the second – a food industry technologist," shares Valentina. "For our family, the award named after Tusnolobova-Marchenko is very important, because it is not only for me, but also for my mother, who taught me to be a mother, for my husband, and for my older children, because they helped us raise the younger ones."

Each of the mothers present has her own character, outlook on life, and parenting methods. But they are all united by one life thesis: children are the greatest female happiness. Olga Kisel, one of the youngest recipients of the regional award this year, is raising three children.

She works at the territorial center for social services for the population of the Beshenkovichi district, and also studies at Smolensk University with a degree in "social work". The mother of many children also finds time to lead a club for the elderly and minors on the basis of a Sunday school at the church in Beshenkovichi. "The children in our family are very versatile. Nikita loves sports, studies piano at the art school, Matvey is fond of drawing, our daughter Nadezhda sings and dances. Our main task with my husband is to instill in them a love for people, so that the children help each other. This is already felt now, when the elder Nikita reads bedtime stories to his younger sister and helps his brother with his homework," says Olga.

The Order of Motherhood awardee of this year, Lyudmila Senchenko, a teacher at Polotsk State University, came to a reception at the regional executive committee with her restless son. While we are talking with her, she does not take her eyes off the speedy Nikita - everything is interesting to him. "The youngest son is one year old, his name is Kirill. Older is Sergey, we affectionately call him a red cat, he is the only redhead in the family. The middle one is the restless Nikita, the only girl Tatyana is in the 2nd grade, the eldest son Egor is 10 years old. They are all different from each other, with different characters and hobbies. Someone draws and plays the accordion, the elder Egor, like all boys, is fond of football and is interested in history. Our house is a whole workshop where everyone is engaged in their favorite hobby," says Lyudmila. For her, the children are also a great help around the house. The Senchenko family raises chickens, rabbits, and geese on their dacha plot, and they spend the whole summer there together. According to the mother of many children, in order for children to grow up well-mannered and cultured, one must devote oneself to them completely.

BELTA.