ISRAEL
in Afula Vadim & Menachem “
By Gail Lichtman
W
hen I was three, my father killed my mother,” relates Vadim Markelov in a matterof-fact tone as he begins to tell his life story. It is a journey that has taken him from a troubled youth to a confident, 24-year-old young man, a veteran of an elite IDF combat unit and a student completing his bachelor’s degree in industrial management. But it never would have happened if not for the love, patience, and care of the staff at EMUNAH’s Sarah Herzog Children’s Center in Afula, where, today, Vadim serves as a houseparent to the very same type of troubled boys he once was. “We were living in Latvia at the time,” Vadim continues. “My maternal grandmother took us in. By us, I mean my four-year-old brother, me and my infant sister. When I was nine, we learned that my father’s prison sentence had been reduced and he was getting out. My grandmother was afraid he would gain custody. So we made aliyah to Israel and settled in Hadera.” For Vadim, the adjustment to a new country, language and culture was difficult. He began to get into trouble. His
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