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Russian wives, they are the best in Africa. Abstract: Reasons for the migration of Russian women to African countries

SUMMARY ON THE TOPIC:

"RUSSIAN WOMEN IN AFRICA"

completed by a student

faculty of MO

groups 503

Gorbunova Anastasia

Several thousand Russian women now live in Africa, who at different times married citizens of the countries of this continent. The marriage of any of our compatriots before the early 1990s can be compared with a personal feat, since this kind of "breakthrough" required a lot of courage and a lot of strength from a woman. The situation of the current generation, replenishing the female Russian community in Africa, is morally easier, although the new time has created new difficulties for them: a general drop in living standards, economic crises "at home" and in Africa, unregulated legal relations with their own homeland, and others.

The social profile of the studied group of women who married foreigners and left with their husbands for their homeland is quite diverse. Among them there are women whose cultural and educational level is quite high: but there are also our compatriots with a dubious or even criminal past. There are romantic adventurers, and sober realists, and carried away to Africa by the wind of love...

Some women were able to make a significant contribution to the development of their new homeland, successfully represent their husband's country in international organizations, and made a brilliant career in the scientific, public or business sphere. Others believe that their place is at home, in the company of a husband and children. Some try to combine the role of the keeper of the hearth with social activities. There are among our compatriots living in Africa who have put on a veil and have mastered the oldest profession in the world.

The researchers also note that the almost complete, as a rule, ignorance of the laws and customs of the country of their new residence by Russian women also creates huge problems for them.

In the legal acts of many African countries that regulate civil, family and marriage, labor relations, a lot is learned from the legislative practice of metropolitan countries. At the same time, they retain the influence of national customs and traditions, religious dogma, which are based on the theses little known to Russian women of the late 20th century about the primacy of men in the family, about the need to maintain strong blood ties.

The diversity and multidimensionality that distinguish the legal systems of African countries literally entangle a woman who is trying, de jure and de facto, to adapt to a new environment. This dissimilarity with the legislative provisions existing in her historical homeland in matters vital for her and her children (family and marriage, civil, social and others) can confuse our compatriot, put her in a difficult, and sometimes in a hopeless situation. Her ignorance of the country's legislation, and even more so of her customs and traditions, which are still relied upon in local legal practice, can lead (and often leads) the life of a mixed family to sharp conflicts, disrupt the harmony of marriage.

Almost forty years of experience of Russian-African marriage unions revealed a curious and very distinct trend: employment opportunities for foreign, including Russian citizens, in African countries were obviously more favorable for those who arrived in Africa in the 1960s-1970s, that is, in the first streams of Russian wives of Africans. This is explained, first of all, by the situation that prevailed in the markets of skilled labor in the period immediately following the gain of independence: the young sovereign states of Africa only laid the foundation for national systems of education and training. For the most part, our own future specialists were still studying, while foreign ones were actively leaving the former colonies.

The economic crisis that engulfed most of the countries of the continent in the 1980s could not but affect the employment of our citizens, although a number of sectors of the economy of young independent states still experience a shortage of specialists. To complicate the situation, such circumstances as the attitude (far from being favorable in all of Africa) to Soviet (Russian) diplomas can also complicate the situation; an emerging upward trend in unemployment among educated Africans.

In our minds, the socio-economic potential of almost any modern family is strongly associated with the participation in social production of both spouses. But we should not forget that the majority of Russian women come to African countries, first of all, as the wives of graduates. In turn, the higher education of their African husbands still provides most of them with the transition to a higher social status and the associated economic and social privileges, with the help of which it is quite possible to provide their family with a standard of living above the average African.

As for the forms and methods of including a foreign woman in the working life of African countries, they are extremely diverse. The range of opportunities for such a woman to realize her potential is very large - from various forms of discrimination against her participation in social production (Rwanda, Ethiopia, Congo) to the obvious advantages provided to her in the local labor market as a foreign specialist permanently residing here (Senegal, Cote d'Azur). d Yvoire, Zaire).

Like most women in the world, our compatriots and contemporaries living in African countries inevitably ask themselves the question: work or family? However, social norms and expectations governing family life in different societies are contradictory and ambiguous. In many countries, the image of a working woman has become a common norm. In others, the family is a value of a more moral than economic order, where they are encouraged to a greater extent economic activity women within the home, where motherhood remains the most important form of her work, where, finally, a man is not just a sovereign manager in the family, but also its main breadwinner. To all this, a woman, brought up in the values of the Soviet society, which equalized in her rights, and most importantly, in her duties, a man and a woman, will also have to adapt.

A successful career of a husband is not only a guarantee of a prosperous existence of the family, but also evidence of the well-preserved traditional division of functions between a man and a woman, when some professions are considered primordially masculine, others are feminine, and these ideas influence the choice of occupation.

The forecasts of demographers and migration specialists show that the process of creating racially and nationally mixed Russian-African families still has a future. Many Africans returning from Russia today expect to continue and expand the contacts and business ties established during their stay in Russia. A certain role in organizing these ties could be played by their Russian wives, who are familiar with the peculiarities and psychology of the market of their homeland and master the specifics of economic and interpersonal relationships in the country of residence. In addition, it must be admitted that our compatriots, who settled in African countries at different times, in some way outstripped their Russian compatriots, having previously encountered the specifics of a market economy, the problem of female employment, unemployment and other realities of market economy, which we are just mastering.

Unfortunately, some of them were ahead of their fellow citizens in their acquaintance with such phenomena as the institution of refugees, when a local inter-ethnic crisis or a spontaneous civil war broke out (as was the case, for example, in Uganda in the late 1980s, in Rwanda in 1990- i.e. as a result of the conflict between the Hutu and Tut-si peoples or in the Republic of the Congo in the second half of the 1990s as a result of the ethno-political conflict of the "northerners" and "southerners") suddenly drives a Russian woman from her place of habitation to a refugee camp of a neighboring country or to her homeland, turns her own life, family life, children into a nightmare, which since childhood she knew only from books and films.

Therefore, we can say with confidence that her Russian understanding of the words "life well" is undoubtedly and sometimes harshly "corrected" by African reality. Does she need the help of her compatriots and connection with the Motherland, does she prefer to cope with difficulties alone or collectively - these issues are also relevant and awaiting resolution.

Our compatriots permanently residing in Africa are trying to find ways of social self-expression, to develop their own forms of unity.

The phrase “let us turn our faces to our foreign compatriots,” which became common in the 1990s, is interpreted in different ways both by compatriots themselves and by diplomatic officials, who, unfortunately, often ignore the specifics of the situation of Russian women in Africa. The actions of consular services are often aimed more at exercising control and guardianship than at real assistance to women in their self-expression, including through compatriot unions.

Meanwhile, women themselves are now experiencing a period of hope for a renewal of their relationship with their homeland and its authorized representatives in Africa. No matter how complex and ambiguous these relationships are, compatriots are aware of their dependence on them, and in every possible way strive to maintain any possible channels of communication with their homeland.

It can be stated with confidence that today there are necessary prerequisites for the creation of a unified organization of Russian women in Africa. At the same time, the associations that have already been created do not have a single leadership, a single program of action; these movements have not yet acquired more or less definite forms. The reason for this is the very specifics of the position of a Russian woman in an African country and in an African family, where, even despite having a high educational and social status, she remains and is considered first as a wife and mother, and only then as a potential public figure.

It cannot be said that Russian women, now living in African countries, are indifferent to the problems of the further socio-political development of their homeland. Here people believe in Russia, they expect help from it, at the same time offering quite real cooperation, new forms of participation in the life of Russia. And this faith, as well as the desire to cooperate with Russian organizations, must be treated with understanding, providing support to compatriots, if necessary, helping in solving their problems. The homeland should not be indifferent to its citizens - current or former - wherever they are. This is one of the unwritten laws of any civilized society, and elementary self-respect obliges us to comply with it.

All of them consider it expedient to create an Association of Russian women permanently residing in the country (today such organizations exist in many African states). In the absence of such, they are drawn to the Russian cultural center, whose leader Rifat Pateev, together with his wife regularly holds "Russian evenings", which are attended not only by the women themselves, but also by their husbands and children.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. N. Krylova, E. Lvova RUSSIAN WOMEN IN AFRICA. PROBLEMS OF ADAPTATION.// "Asia and Africa Today", 2004, No. 1

2. Man and woman in Africa http://www.vip-tur.kz/content/view/200/249/

3. Women in traditional African religions http://woman.upelsinka.com/history/afric_1.htm

4. Alexander Devitt “Woman and woman in Africa. But what!”// Internet magazine "Foreigner" 03.10.1996

http://archive.travel.ru/archive/4022.html

N. Krylova, E. Lvova // "Asia and Africa Today", 2004, No. 1

Women in Traditional African Religions http://woman.upelsinka.com/history/afric_1.htm

Immediately after Valentine's Day, a young mother and wife, Natalia MOLODKINA, told

It all started with ... English

Elena Sedova, website: - Natalya, probably, many people on the street pay attention to you - if you go with the whole family, with your husband and child. How do you feel about this increased attention?

Natalya Molodkina: - Yes, we are often surrounded by everyone's attention, people walk, turn around after us, stare wide-eyed ... But we are already used to this. Of course, it used to be a little annoying, especially for Innocent's husband. He did not understand why suddenly there was such interest, and sometimes some kind of anger, on the part of strangers. Well, foreigner, so what? After all, he didn’t do anything bad to people, and they don’t look at Russians like that and don’t point fingers in other countries. But ours, apparently, is not the mentality. Although he later came to terms with it. And most of the "curious" look at us not with anger, but simply with interest and surprise.

Photo: /

E.S.: - How did it happen that a Russian girl found her happiness with an African? What connected you?

N.M.: - In 2010, I was relaxing with my friends in one of the Vladimir clubs and saw him - he danced brightly and unusually and attracted my attention to this. It all started with joint dances, and only then we started talking. But he had a fear - But English is excellent, I also know it, because by profession I am a teacher of a foreign language. And so it happened - we found a common language with him, but at first in English. Recently, we somehow sat with my husband and remembered how it was, how we started dating, but we didn’t remember ... It happened somehow suddenly, at first we were just friends, met in a company, and then we realized that we were a couple . I taught him Russian, and a year later he spoke quite well. And now, 4 years later, he speaks Russian with almost no accent.

African cuisine "in Russian"

E.S.: - How did Innosent "hook" you? Are foreigners different from Russian young people?

NM: - He attracted me with care and romance. It comes from his family - everyone there is very well-mannered and respects their parents, brothers, sisters ... Innocent does absolutely everything for me - he even cooks, and probably better than me: desserts, and his national cuisine, and Russian ... With this he me and struck. By the way, our first At first it was unusual that he helps me in everything - with cleaning, and with cooking, and with a child ... This is exactly what they differ from our young men. And the Russians, probably, “turn up their noses”, because they know that there are much fewer men in the country than women, and shamelessly take advantage of this, hoping that all household chores and chores will fall on the fragile female shoulders.

Photo: / Photo from the archive of Natalia Molodkina

E.S.: - Natalia, how do you feel about African national cuisine? And how does Innocent go with our Russian dishes?

N.M.: - National African cuisine is very diverse, and half of the ingredients here in Russia are not even found. When a husband wants to cook something from his kitchen, he looks for the right products for a long time in order to convey at least a little the real taste of the dish. Most of all it looks like a real African dish - chicken with spices in tomato sauce with semolina meatballs. These semolina balls should be dipped in a thick sauce and eaten with chicken. Semolina can be replaced with rice if someone does not like it. All my friends like it very much. peanuts with spinach are mixed with tomatoes and garlic. In this sauce - very satisfying and with a specific taste - you can boil fish, stew chicken ... We love it! Kebabs are very popular in Cameroon - from fish, chicken, other meat ... They cook all this right on the coals and with a lot of pepper. Innocent is somehow indifferent to Russian cuisine. they are cooked too. By the way, he adds grated lemon to the dough. It adds flavor to the taste.

A smart choice

E.S.:- Did your acquaintances and friends approve of your choice? Was it scary to go out together?

NM: - At first it was strange for them, because they did not know him as a person. But they understood that I was an adult and made my choice meaningfully. Later they got to know each other better, and now we are all very close friends. And it wasn’t scary, perhaps because I myself graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages and got used to working with foreigners. While still a student, I started working with Americans, and I had the opportunity to travel abroad. Perhaps this played a role.

E.S.:How did your parents react to your choice? Have you already met them?

NM: - It was more difficult with my parents. At first, they did not take our choice seriously at all, they thought. On his part, his parents also did not understand at first and hoped that he would meet for some time and return to his homeland. But then they had to accept that their son is already an adult and understands what he is doing. Well, soon after the correspondence meeting with my parents, a full-time meeting took place - with mine. We haven't reached his family yet. Ticket prices bite. A one-way flight per person costs about 50 thousand - and this is the minimum. So while met only with mine. Of course, Innocent was a little afraid - he did not know what to say, how to behave ... Yes, and at first they were uncomfortable - what if a foreigner does not understand them? But dinner, in general, went well. Over time, they realized that he was a serious person, after all, he had two higher educations - the first was economic (he graduated from the university in his home in Cameroon), and the second was a master's degree at VlSU. But despite all this, his biggest passion is dancing. He began to dance since childhood, but this did not interfere with his studies. “Every business needs to be brought to an end,” these are his words. In parallel with his studies in his homeland, he led his own dance group, he and the guys starred in commercials, participated and won in various competitions. And in Russia, a month after his arrival, he found out that there is a hip-hop group here, and began to study there. A little later, he created his own group in Vladimir. From this it began, smoothly his hobby turned into a profession that brings a stable income. Now he works in Moscow - he teaches dances, and in Vladimir - for 3-4 days. At first it seemed strange to my parents - But, as it turned out, everything is possible now, and Innocent earns well and fully provides for us and the baby.

E.S.:- It turns out that 50% of the time you are alone with your son. Is it hard to be alone with a baby?

NM: - Of course, the three of us are easier. But I'm already used to it. Earlier, when Yakim was still quite a baby, my mother from Kovrov often visited us. Now a little less often - work does not allow. Yes, and I started doing it. Although I will not say that he is calm - he is a lot of hooligans, like most children at his age. He loves music very much and already dances - it's probably in his blood.

“Oh, this wedding…”

Photo: / Photo from the archive of Natalia Molodkina

E.S.:- Did you have a noisy wedding?

NM: - Among the guests there were only the closest friends and acquaintances. We rented a car, ordered a restaurant - it was noisy and very fun - with dancing, games, drums ... A real African wedding! Friends later said that they had never had such fun.

E.S.:Did you take your husband's last name when you got married?

N.M .: - We have been so tormented with the documents that I have decided to leave mine for now, although in the future I will take my husband's surname. But the son was immediately recorded in his last name, and now he full name sounds like this - Abuem A Ibong Charles Yakim.

E.S.:- Recently passed. How did you celebrate this holiday?

Natalya MOLODKINA was born on November 7, 1987 in Kovrov, graduated from secondary school No. 21. Entered and graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages of VGGU in 2009. She worked as an English teacher at the Vladimir Gymnasium No. 35.

N.M .: - Earlier on this day, we always arranged romantic dinner, went to cafes, restaurants, to the cinema ... But now this holiday is more of a marketing holiday, all places need to be taken in advance, and we don’t really like it, because you can always arrange something unusual yourself. Therefore, they noted in a family way.

E.S.:- What is the key to family happiness for you?

NM: - In mutual understanding. You always need to give in to each other, be able to listen and hear. My character is more quick-tempered than that of my husband, but over time he taught me to restrain myself. He himself will never get involved in any quarrels, he would rather remain silent, wait a pause, let me calm down. and if there is any "linguistic" misunderstanding, we immediately switch to English. Age also makes itself felt - Innocent is 29 years old, he is older than me, and this is felt both in behavior and in attitude. By the way, after the birth of the child, it became somehow calmer. We realized that without each other it’s already nowhere, we are the closest people and only together we can overcome any difficulties.

At the origins of the almost six thousandth group of our compatriots permanently residing today in almost all African countries were representatives of the military and post-war generations - women brought up on purely Soviet values, among whom marriage with a foreign citizen was considered treason. Later, this contingent began to be replenished with representatives of a long “stagnant” period.

And for them, marriage with a foreigner also became a personal feat, since such a “breakthrough” in the dense shell of the socialist consciousness of their compatriots required great courage and a lot of strength from a woman. The situation of the current generation, replenishing the female Russian community in Africa, is morally easier, although the new time has created new difficulties for them: a general decline in living standards, economic and environmental crises “at home” and in Africa, unregulated legal relations with their own homeland, etc.

In their social profile, those who married foreigners and left with their husbands for their homeland are quite diverse. Among them are women whose cultural and educational level is quite high, but there are also representatives with a dubious or even criminal past. This group included romantic adventurers, and cold, sober realists, and carried away to Africa by the wind of love.
Therefore, immature (or matured on certain ideological positions) conclusions about the socio-psychological specifics of this community as a whole, about the trends that distinguish it from other groups of the domestic marriage market (including mild or deviant behavior in our understanding, consumer approach to the choice of a spouse, a common passionate desire to leave the Motherland at all costs, etc.), from the point of view of the author, are not at all safe, because private falsifications and distortions inevitably lead to conceptual falsification.

In socio-professional terms, this is also a rather heterogeneous community, where, however, people from the Soviet / Russian hinterland with a relatively high educational background predominate, professionally and psychologically prepared for their new living and working conditions.

They say that a person's character is his destiny. Some women (albeit not so many) were able to make a significant contribution to the development of their new homeland, successfully represent our Fatherland and the country of their husband in international organizations, and have made a brilliant career in the scientific, public or business sphere. Others believe that their place is at home, in the company of a husband and children. Some try - and not without success - to combine the roles of the guardian of the hearth and the social activist. There are among our compatriots living in Africa who have put on a veil and have mastered the oldest profession in the world.

A few words about this problem in its sociocultural context.
Awareness of yourself as a full-fledged member of the society that accepts you is an extremely complex, lengthy process that requires a significant amount of moral and intellectual strength, energy, and patience. Perhaps this is one of the most difficult parts of the process of adapting an individual to a new environment.

Further, it is known that in any type of marital relationship (be it traditional African, Western or "synthetic" marriage), the transition from the status of single to the status of spouses markedly changes the position and role of each of the premarital partners. At the same time, even people leading a joint life and household before marriage, who seem to have studied each other's character and habits well, discover a lot for themselves after entering into official marital relations.
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It has also been known for a relatively long time that any form of emigration (including our case) is accompanied by psychological distress. This condition may have other names - maladaptation, demoralization, culture shock. Its essence lies in the difficulties experienced by a person: uncertainty, anxiety, lack of information, psychological unpreparedness, family problems, character traits, etc., which scientists attribute to the reactions of the individual to the complex process of transition from one culture to another. In order to continue to live in a new environment, one must change a lot in oneself, and sometimes break it, accept for oneself other (different from the usual, native) forms of behavior and response, taking into account other realities. What could be more difficult?..

Getting to Africa as a wife, a Russian woman, mostly accustomed to a Europeanized lifestyle, if she does not directly encounter African archaism, then at least plunges into the atmosphere of the most complex social, ethno-religious, consanguineous, marriage and sex (including polygamous) relations, determined by the high degree of ethno-cultural identity of Africans. This can be expressed in the most unusual and bizarre variations in the relationship (external and intimate) between a man and a woman, as well as their child in an African family, in the cult of older family members and in the scale, depth and devotion to family relations and their nationality, specific regulations of the everyday behavior of a woman in Islamized and traditional African families. Not to mention housing, climate or food.
Take, for example, the concept of “living in a city”. It is unlikely that we will sin against the truth if we assume that in the minds of the average modern woman from Russia, the category “city” is usually associated with a large (or more or less large) cultural, administrative, industrial, populous center with a certain architecture, communications, cultural, educational, trade institutions, social services - in a word, the whole set of ideas about a modern city of the European type. Nevertheless, the inequality of data on urbanization processes and, consequently, on the concept of a “city” in Europe and, say, in the countries of Tropical Africa, is very different.
As a result, a woman informed by her future husband about the upcoming “life in the city” can often find herself in locality, rather, known to her as a town, town or village.

It is clear that in this case, her plans for employment, in general, for the urban lifestyle are violated, an additional feeling of socio-psychological stress and discomfort is created. In other words, entry into this completely new, alien cultural world requires a foreigner to mobilize spiritual forces, a significant reconstruction of her thinking and behavior.
“African style with family”
What can our compatriot expect in her husband's homeland and in his culture?
The collapse of the traditional economic structure, migration and urbanization processes, women's emancipation, the growth of women's employment in production are processes that inevitably affect the African extended family. Therefore, it is highly likely that a woman from Russia will not fall into a family of the classical traditional African type. She is more likely to find herself in a family whose life is still influenced by traditions, institutions, socio-cultural values, rituals that have been preserved from the old way of life. This is the real power assigned in the family to a man (the head of the family) or its older members, and the dependence of each on the family community, not only emotionally and psychologically, but also economically, and the institution of honoring elders, etc. Far from the last role in her Everyday life confessional attitudes of family members can play, which to a large extent regulate family and personal relationships.

In many ways, the orientation (or, more precisely, the hope) of a Russian woman towards her usual way of life in Africa is formally justified, since her husband, having received a higher education, belongs, according to modern African standards, to that privileged and progressively thinking part of the population that gravitates predominantly to Western standards of being in a small family.
However, being included in modern African (mainly urban) life, a woman often finds herself in a difficult and contradictory position: on the one hand, she gets access to socio-economic progress, in which she can try to realize herself as a person on an equal basis with a man; on the other hand, it is under the burden of traditions that remain in the family and impede its professional and social advancement, and ultimately undermine the very foundations of this small family.

Finally, even if the old way of life and orders are abandoned in her own house, then her life is likely to be influenced by the worldview, the rhythm and color of the life of her husband, his relatives and friends, in general, the social life surrounding her. All this creates a completely new, unusual, and perhaps psychologically uncomfortable atmosphere.

And one more very important, in our opinion, consideration.
The development of new forms observed today family life in Africa (against the background of the continuing predominance of the traditional type of family) should not, however, be confused with the evolution of the traditional Western family. African scholars warn their Western colleagues against hasty conclusions that the forces of modernization, urbanization and industrialization are inciting all types of families to transform into a single type of "marriage", where the extended family is rare, the woman is given free choice of a spouse, where the power of parents over children , and the husband decreases over the wife, where the equality of the sexes is affirmed.

Without refuting the fact that such changes are indeed taking place in Africa today, it should probably also be reckoned with the fact that many features of the traditional family on the continent are likely to continue into the foreseeable future. For a young African, even armed with the knowledge and experience of life in the West, it is still important enough family traditions, the authority of parents, moral and religious views of the home.

At the same time, studying the views of modern African students (let us recall that it is the student environment that is a kind of incubator for Russian-African mixed marriages) on these issues shows that the traditional goals and values of the life of ancestors are not easy to realize within the modern family. Let us note that, having often created his own family hearth, a young African soon becomes convinced of the unreality of literally following traditions (for example, the orientation of a traditional African family towards having many children or a woman who does not work outside the home).

At the same time, modern families cannot in all aspects satisfy the usual stereotypes of a young African man, brought up in the spirit of respect for customs, the traditional institution of marriage and consanguineous solidarity. This circumstance once again convinces that the family in Africa has a wider sociocultural significance than can be felt in the West. It is the family that remains today for many young people the focus of traditional institutions. Neglect of this circumstance, underestimation of it in the upcoming family life is fraught for the Russian woman with the occurrence of complications that can end dramatically for such a marriage.
“Marriage with an African de jure and de facto”
In addition, the almost complete, as a rule, ignorance by our compatriot of the laws and customs of the country of her new residence also creates huge problems for her and her offspring.

The modern legislation of many African countries, which regulates civil, family, marriage, labor relations, quite realistically reflects the processes taking place in this society. In legal acts on these issues, much is drawn from the legislative practice of metropolitan countries. At the same time, they noticeably retain the influence of national customs and traditions, religious dogma, which are based on the theses little known to Russian women of the late twentieth century about the primacy of men in the family, the need to maintain strong blood ties, the tradition of active social and economic activity of women in within the home and family.

The diversity and multidimensionality that distinguish the legal systems of African countries literally entangle a woman who is trying de jure and de facto to adapt to a new environment. This dissimilarity with the legislative provisions existing in her historical homeland in matters vital for her and her children (family and marriage, civil, social, etc.) can confuse our compatriot, put her in a difficult, and sometimes in a hopeless situation. Her ignorance of the country's legislation, and even more so of her customs and traditions, which are still relied upon in local legal practice, can lead (and often leads) the life of a mixed family to sharp conflicts, disrupt the harmony of marriage. The sad experience of one of our compatriots who decided to return to her homeland was very indicative in this regard.
Her husband (a Congolese, a doctor in a military hospital) systematically beat her, mocked her, threatened her with physical violence, so she turned to the Russian embassy for help. Given the psychological and physical condition of this woman, the embassy staff escorted her to the airport, and our diplomats were attacked by the husband of our citizen and one of the security guards of the local airport. Her departure from the country did not take place that day.

It did not take place even later: under various pretexts, the official authorities of the country continued to prevent the departure of this woman for a long time, arguing that being married to a Congolese and living in the territory of the Congo, she cannot enjoy any rights of her homeland and has the right to leave this territory only with the consent of the husband, or after the official divorce and him. The references of our diplomats to the Congolese family code and the results of consultations with well-known lawyers of the country did not have a positive effect.

Even the official certificate signed by the Minister of Justice of the Congo did not play a role, in which it was clearly stated that local legislation does not provide for such restrictions and a Russian citizen can leave the country without hindrance. The main reason for such an unprecedented behavior of the Congolese officials was not the laws of the country, but local customs based on clan tribalistic survivals. The director of the consular and legal service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Congo belonged to the same clan as the husband of our compatriot, and the “tribal council” of this clan decided to prevent her from leaving the country for reasons of clan-tribal prestige.

More than one Russian woman married to an African has passed the dramatic path. But after all, difficulties and all sorts of conflicts are inherent not only in multi-racial marriages. Therefore, avoiding unnecessary discussions about the hypothetical hardships of her family life with a possible compatriot or real worries with today's African husband, we note one undoubted thing: elementary knowledge of the traditions, rituals, laws of the husband's homeland, which the Russian bride of an African may well receive at home, greatly facilitated her civil and psychological fate in a new place of residence. And perhaps the selection of spouses in this group of marriages would become more thorough and balanced. Moreover, becoming the wife of a citizen of an African country, our compatriot is not too different in rights and obligations from a native of this country.
“What does it mean to live well for a foreigner in Africa?”
Of course, each society in its own way corrects the concept of "good life." The modern African world, which accepts a Russian woman, is no exception.

Nevertheless, asking such a question, one should first of all note the breadth of this concept, covering a whole range of conditions - economic, physical, spiritual, moral, cultural and others - capable of providing an individual with a decent life. At the same time, there is no need to prove the importance of the material base for the existence of a family of any type, including a multi-racial Russian-African family.

As a rule, the average Russian woman of the second half of the 20th century was brought up in the values and conditions of mandatory participation in the labor process. In addition, among those leaving for permanent residence in Africa, there are many qualified specialists of higher and secondary education who are able to successfully compete in local labor markets. And by age, almost all of them are on the verge of their labor activity. In other words, there are all indicators of their psychological and professional readiness for work.

Almost forty years of experience in Russian-African marriage unions revealed a curious and very distinct trend: employment opportunities for foreign, including Russian citizens in African countries were obviously more favorable for those who arrived in Africa in the 60-70s, that is, with the first flows Russian wives of Africans. This is explained, first of all, by the situation that prevailed in the markets of skilled labor in the period immediately following the gain of independence: the young sovereign states of Africa only laid the foundation for national education and training systems; for the most part, their own future specialists were still in the preparation stage, and the former colonies were actively leaving for foreign ones.

The economic crisis that engulfed most countries of the continent in the 1980s could not but affect the employment of our citizens, although a number of sectors of the economy and the economy of young independent states still experience a shortage of specialists. The real situation, in addition, can be complicated by such circumstances as the attitude (far from being favorable in all of Africa) towards Soviet/Russian diplomas; the emerging trend towards unemployment among educated Africans, etc. life situations are infinitely diverse, and often our compatriot, now living in Africa, can find herself in the most critical economic situation.

In our minds, the socio-economic potential of almost any modern family is strongly associated with the participation of both spouses in social production. But we should not forget that the vast majority of Russian women come to African countries, first of all, as the wives of graduates. In turn, the higher education of their African husbands still provides the majority of them with the transition to a higher social status and the associated economic and social benefits, with the help of which it is quite possible to provide their family with a standard of living above the average African.

As for the forms and methods of including a foreign woman in the working life of African countries, they are extremely diverse. In addition, they are largely adjusted by the specifics of the employment of the female labor force in Africa. In general, the range of opportunities for such a woman to realize her potential is very large - from various forms of discrimination against her participation in public production (Rwanda, Ethiopia, Congo) to the obvious advantages provided to her in the local labor market as a foreign specialist permanently residing here (Senegal , Ivory Coast, Zaire). Far from the last role is played by such factors as the presence of local citizenship, overcoming the language barrier, the reproductive attitudes of the woman herself and her family, etc.

Like most women in the world, our compatriots and contemporaries living in African countries inevitably ask themselves the question: work or family? However, regarding the cultural and everyday experience of this group of women, it should immediately be noted that the social norms and expectations that regulate family life in various societies are contradictory and ambiguous.

On the one hand, in their original society, not in the first generation, the image of a working woman has been turned into a generally accepted norm. On the other hand, the social systems of many countries of their current residence are organized in such a way that the family is a value of a more moral than economic order, where women are encouraged to a greater extent economic activity within the home, where motherhood remains the most important form of her work, where, finally, a man often remains not only the sovereign manager in the family, but also its main breadwinner. To all this, a woman who was brought up in the values of Soviet society, which equalized in her rights, and most importantly, in her duties, a man and a woman, will also have to adapt.

A successful career of a husband is not only a guarantor of a prosperous existence of the family, but also evidence of the well-preserved traditional division of functions between a man and a woman, when some professions are considered primordially masculine, others are feminine, and this idea influences the choice of occupation and attitude towards workers. In many ways, they also determine the orientation towards family (rather than out-of-family, career-opportunistic) values, which is revealed among the women of the group under study, the attitude towards participation in the organization, first of all, of the family hearth and the upbringing of children.

True, the same traditions of family life can make women strive for economic independence, since conflicts caused by local customs can be added to the difficulties that are inevitable for the first years of marriage in a young mixed family. For example, a young African intellectual, upon returning to his homeland, may well acquire a second family, "forgetting" about the existence of the first.

The forecasts of demographers and migration specialists show that the process of creating racially and nationally mixed Russian-African families has a future. Many Africans returning from Russia today expect to continue and expand the contacts and business ties established during their stay in Russia.

A certain role in organizing these ties could be played by his Russian wife, who is familiar with the peculiarities and psychology of the market of her homeland and masters the specifics of economic and interpersonal relations in her country of residence. In addition, it must be admitted that our compatriots, who at different times settled in African countries, in some way outstripped their Russian compatriots, having previously encountered the specifics of a market economy, the problem of female employment, unemployment and other realities of capitalist management, which we are just mastering.

Unfortunately, some of them were ahead of their fellow citizens in their acquaintance with such phenomena as the institution of refugees, when a local ethnic crisis or a spontaneous civil war broke out (as was the case, for example, in Uganda in the late 80s, in Rwanda in the 90s). that is, as a result of the conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples or in the Republic of the Congo in the second half of the 90s, as a result of the ethno-political conflict of “northerners” and “southerners”), suddenly drives a Russian woman from a hard-worn place to a refugee camp in a neighboring country or to her homeland, turns her own life, the life of her family, children into a nightmare, which since childhood she knew only from books and films.

Therefore, we can say with confidence that her Russian understanding of the words "live well" is undoubtedly and sometimes harshly "corrected" by African reality, as well as by the peculiarities of the social and cultural life of a woman from another world, which she sometimes hardly adapts to new reality. Does she need the help of her compatriots and connection with the Motherland, does she prefer to cope with difficulties alone or collectively - these issues are also extremely relevant and awaiting resolution.
“They believe in Russia, they expect help from it”
Meanwhile, being a peculiar, but organic element of the structure of the Russian diaspora in Africa, our compatriots permanently residing on this continent are trying to look for ways of social self-expression, to develop their own forms of unity.

Although, of course, they are in many ways different from the dynamically developing movement of women in Russia today, represented by dozens of unions and associations of various orientations, diverse in their goals and objectives.

The "double" social existence of our compatriots in Africa - connected with the historical homeland and mastered in the homeland of her husband - inevitably reduces their social activity, and various kinds (primarily moral) forms of discrimination to which they are subjected to varying degrees on the African continent, and in Russia, weaken their social potential, give rise to a desire to passively follow in line with the ongoing socio-political processes.

The phrase "Let's turn our faces to our foreign compatriots", which became commonplace in the 1990s, is interpreted in different ways both by compatriots themselves and by diplomatic officials, who, unfortunately, often ignore the specifics of the situation of Russian women in Africa. The actions of consular services are often aimed at exercising control, guardianship, rather than at real assistance to women in their self-expression, including through compatriot unions.

Nevertheless, today, when the number of this contingent is measured in the thousands, and their active associations are in the tens, it would be inaccurate to call the movement of Russian women in Africa another link in the hierarchy of domestic institutions abroad, although women's unions remain significantly dependent on the latter.

In the 1990s, women themselves are experiencing a period of hope for a renewal of their relations with the Motherland and its authorized representatives in Africa. No matter how complex and ambiguous these relationships are, compatriots are aware of their dependence on them, and in every possible way strive to maintain any possible channels of communication with their homeland.

It can be said with confidence that today there are the necessary - primarily quantitative - prerequisites for the creation of a unified organization of Russian women in Africa. At the same time, its associations do not have a single leadership, a single program of action; these movements have not yet acquired more or less definite forms. And it is hardly possible, given their status as foreign citizens, the vulnerability of their position in all structures - domestic and newly acquired.

The positions of the women of this group themselves in relation to their organized movement in the localities are more or less stable. Although they may well be weakened (and often weakened) by the very specifics of the position of a Russian woman in an African country and in an African family, where, despite the presence of high educational and social status, she remains first a wife and mother, and only then a potential public figure.

It cannot be said that Russian women who now live in African countries are indifferent to the problems of the further socio-political development of the Motherland. Here people believe in Russia, they expect help from it, at the same time offering quite real cooperation, new forms of participation in the life of Russia. And yet it is hard not to notice: although many of the women are distinguished by an increased susceptibility to the ideals of goodness, harmonious being, this does not yet indicate their widespread readiness to directly and on a permanent basis participate in social movements through which they could try to improve their lives. In other words, the understanding of the need to consolidate actions and efforts in these circles is generally visible, although not so clearly.

It seems that, considering this community from the point of view of their manifestation of social activity, it should be remembered that today these women are no longer our compatriots, but the wives of African citizens, permanently residing with their families on the African continent. And the process of regulating their social activity is influenced by two groups of factors that are practically equal in strength.

On the one hand, this is a range of socio-political and economic opportunities that the host society can provide to a Russian citizen permanently residing here. On the other hand, the dominance in this society of patriarchal-traditional views and institutions, including those shared by women themselves, who are naturally more prone to stability, to obedience to the traditions that have developed in society, and with less desire to take risks, conflict, and destroy.

One way or another, once again (albeit from a different angle), the recorded predominance of family values over non-family ones indicates, among other things, the degree of integration of Russian women into the African society that accepts them. Many choose (or are forced to choose) typically female directions life path, its activities. However, these women carry out their numerous social roles in different ways, they are diverse in their psychological impulses, emotional manifestations, as diverse, colorful and many-sided is their native society and the world that accepts them today.

N.atalya Krylova

Yesterday I had a wonderful long-awaited meeting with my friend, a Russian girl who has been living here in Tunisia for twenty years. She is married to an Arab man, they have three charming girls, but most importantly, she is happy! It is even very worth talking about the relationship of people, between men and women, between adults and children. The issue of children is special for me, in any situation I am on their side, and therefore it is especially pleasant how they are treated here.
Mila, a charming blonde, with green eyes, white skin, little touched by the sun, she likes to be a white lady, lives in two houses, in Monastir the family has a permanent home, and in Sousse they have a business apartment for rent by tourists during the season. Of course, she goes to work, but her eyes somehow don’t show the drivenness and obsession with which we live in Russia.

Her main thing is three girls wearing Arabic names, but they also like Russians and Russian names more. The kids chat both in Arabic and in Russian, observing all the ornate shades and nuances of our language, sometimes they did not understand me, when the adverbial phrases were too complicated, then I began to speak in simpler sentences. When we walked along the shore, I was amused by two Russian nesting dolls, Arab guys, who usually glue the heifers here, and would like to shower us with their oriental charms, but they were stopped by black children next to us, this did not fit in their heads, and they retreated in surprise . I also used Mila as an interpreter if there were difficult questions: to make a discount on entertainment, to fry fish in a restaurant, and everyone listened to her unquestioningly and carried out, she spoke quietly, barely audibly, unlike men who constantly, it seems to me, yell , well, on the shore, of course, here the sound of the surf is the main background, it makes noise in the ears. My friends, when speaking Arabic, always raise their tone, but when they switch to another language, to English, for example, they turn off the sound, why?
When the Arab men understood that Mila was married to a Tunisian, a special reverence appeared in them, the same thing happens with tourists. Yes, yes, the whole male party of the guy’s friends, with whom the girl from another country is romancing, begins to court and make little compliments in various forms, and the girl is protected by a whole gang of Arab men, they won’t let a stranger come to you for a kilometer. The main thing is to find the right guy, if you really want to spend time in the company of a black handsome man with an oblique fathom in his shoulders and a strong backside. And there are enough guys here for every taste, and they are happy to maintain relationships with ladies of any appearance and wallet fullness. That's another story, for another story.
Who said Arabs are black? They have wonderful white skin, slightly darker than ours, only the sun, which does not descend from the sky for three hundred and sixty days a year, dyed them bronze. Another story is with the Arabs from the central part of the country, they are initially already dark, and the sun makes them even blacker. This is my friend black star Afef.
Wherever we came with the little ones, there was a special honor for them, they were greeted with a traditional double kiss (here, I’ll tell you, I always have a flight, in our Christian way, I go for the third kiss, so you have to kiss four times, a four-time kiss is already a special sign of respect and respect), they tried to please everyone, pamper them. Girls, like cats, caress their mother, you immediately feel that they live in contentment and love, which is very nice.
I met other children in other families, everywhere they were in the center of special attention, like little kings of the world. But such an attitude can only be in families where a woman does not work and is entirely devoted to her maternal duties. One more argument, offset to motherhood, in principle it is forbidden to drink alcohol in the country, of course, those who wish to find it, a pig will find dirt everywhere, but there are no women who drink here, and therefore the question of alcoholic mothers is not worth it!

I also noticed how Mila is talking on the phone with her husband, oh yes, she needs to take a master class on the subject of "Genology" and "Technique of owning voice and intonation when communicating with her husband." I especially emphasize that they speak Russian among themselves, occasionally switching to Arabic.
My beautiful friend has a big car, like a steam locomotive, on which she carries all her restless household, babies, bags, things, but she never knew how much gasoline costs in a tank and insurance, everyone financial matters the husband is engaged, without bothering the mind of his beloved wife with such trifles as money. And the girls can only swim in the sea, engage in education and study, which will begin on the 15th, buy good branded outfits that are much cheaper than ours, like food, like everything else.
Very interesting was the story of our guide, an Arab guy who accompanied an excursion to the desert, about the relationship of the sexes, about the hijab, veil, cafes in which only men sit. In some places he lied, counted on an inexperienced audience, but we are a knowledgeable people, we make corrections in our heads, put a tick. I will add, I remember him from my first trip to Tunisia in 2010, his colloquial speech has changed slightly, but his enthusiasm and cheerful disposition remained the same.
You ask, why are all these men sitting in a cafe at any time of the day? So it is different men, it’s just that you don’t distinguish between them, it seems to you that this is all one man, and he has already drunk coffee for ten minutes and left, another has come in his place, and so they change during the day. And the nights, I would like to add, because at night the heat subsides and everyone, mostly men, goes out. Well, what can I say, just living here for a couple of weeks, you already begin to distinguish them, recognize them, and you clearly understand that they are sitting the same: in the morning, afternoon and evening. And what are we sitting, you ask again? And then we sit, we wait for work. For example, someone builds a house, comes and hires workers for a day, lays bricks, and carries loads. And what do you want? We have unemployment, not everyone sits in offices, but the construction is permanent. Here, too, I want to be surprised: and what, even late in the evening and at night, they are waiting for work? Although maybe I often see working equipment on the streets at night.
And still you say, discrimination? Are there no women in the cafe? So you don't look closely. The situation is the same with them, with women, they sit in other cafes! Here are those, I exclaimed in my soul, I have never seen. It turns out that men are located in street cafes, where it is not very clean and smoky, well, why should ladies go there? They are in children's salons with a good TV, with children, again, in pillows and fluffy bedspreads. Eh, I’ll take a closer look at what kind of salons are there, I have a suspicion, they are sitting at home, waiting for their beloved ones, cooking cabbage soup. Not cabbage soup, of course, couscous, for example.
It is generally difficult with the hijab, opinions are divided, both among the women themselves and among the male part of the population, they themselves do not know what they want. In Tunisia, the freedom to choose whether to wear a hijab or not, even in the same family, it may be that sisters have different attitude to this, for example, the mother wears, the daughter does not, or one sister wears, the second wears shorts and an open T-shirt. By the way, further from the coast, men also tend to wrap themselves in a blanket from head to toe, the desert begins there, and the sand gets into all the holes and cracks.
Tirade from our guide. Here a husband put on his wife a hijab, all right, true believer. And to the beach, and not just to where everyone like him bathes, but to the tourist one. His wife dabbles, packed from head to toe in clothes, and he sits, admiring naked European women. And where is his righteousness, tell me? Why did you even come here, so smart? Stay at home, pray, and don't go, don't have fun. What are all these hijabs for? In order to hide a woman from the gaze of a man, and she will pass in a veil, it is not at all clear what it was? The wife in this outfit enters the water, bathes, goes out, and then the wind. And what? All her charms are visible, she is in clothes, without clothes. Why then all this masquerade? Go home, man, and do not be cunning, otherwise he is so righteous, he turned up.
You feel sorry for women, but you have to feel sorry for men. He can’t even marry himself, his mother chooses his wife. Do you know how? So the boy has matured, they tell him, it’s time, brother, and my mother went to the hammam, like, she needs to wash, but she looks askance at the girls, she chooses. I liked it, if any, they send matchmakers there. And the poor man does not know what he will get? Our men and mothers do not quarrel, otherwise she will bring such a bride, you will not wave away cowards. Here, a man can refuse a bride, but a woman cannot, this is perhaps the only minus for our women. In all other respects, one must say: poor men in Tunisia!
My friend said, answering the question, what he thinks about the fact that while a girl, she wears beautiful dresses, open shoulders, and then, becoming a girl, she often changes a fashionable girl's outfit for a black loose dress: I don't like closed women, but there is some truth in this: the girl's breasts, buttocks grow, she becomes attractive to many looks, men look on it, discuss; if the girl is modest and religious, she will put on a closed outfit and hide her hair under a headscarf.
And yet, a beautiful open female body attracts both views and minds, despite the prohibitions, and if a conditionally naked woman belongs to one man, all the others, knowing the situation, are silent, like pretty ones, they don’t even raise their eyes at her, let alone talk among themselves.
And also about religion, for which I have great respect for my guide, because he is both a cheerful and thinking person. Islam is a peaceful religion, he tells tourists, and it has five basic commandments left to us by Muhammad, the last of our main five prophets: God is one, his name is Allah; we all live until the day of judgment, and then either to heaven or to hell; pray five times a day, go to the mosque; visit Mecca; dont kill. But nowhere is it written: kill the infidel! Because if God created the infidels, he did it for something, and no one is allowed to judge, kill and punish, except God himself! And those who take hostages, arrange terrorist attacks, sacrificing themselves, these are not believers, these are fanatics, they think that they will go to heaven, hell, they will go to hell!

Amur girls leave for Africa for military husbands and family happiness

05.09.2014, 08:07

Such marriages are called black and white, and in the Amur region they have become by no means uncommon - after the "invasion" of Africans in the Far Eastern Higher Military Command School. Amurskaya Pravda tried to find out how strong the love of dark-skinned machos is and whether a bright future awaits our girls in distant Africa.

Coffee with cream

They still look after them: they looked with curiosity in Russia, and now men in Africa envy. "Coffee with cream" - friends call the couple jokingly. An unusual “cocktail” was formed by chance: Blagoveshchenka Lyubov Kostrykina met her future African husband through a friend. David Antonio came from Angola to study military skills, but surrendered to the Russian beauty without a fight. Although Love did not think to win him forever.

When I first saw him, he seemed too black. At first, she was very shy about him, - the girl does not hide. But he looked at me like that! Liked it right away. Met with a bouquet, pampered: flowers, gifts. And then called every hour!

He conquered her with the poems of Pushkin, Yesenin and Tsvetaeva. I read Russian poets by heart! A year later, he proposed. “With flowers, like in a movie, on one knee,” Lyubov smiles. In the winter of 2010, their son was born in Blagoveshchensk, and two years later the family moved to her husband's homeland: to the capital of Angola - the city of Luanda.

When I first saw him, he seemed too black. At first he was very shy!

Apartments are cheaper

They met very young: Lyubov was 21 years old, David - 23. But the parents managed to believe in the sincerity of their feelings. Although it was not without difficulties.

Mom, of course, was surprised, - Lyuba shares. - Dad reacted with restraint and wariness. For a long time I was afraid to introduce them, but it turned out in vain. They met and started talking, we could not pull them apart. And then we stayed with our parents for several days.

In Africa, the white-skinned daughter-in-law was also loved immediately. It turned out to be more difficult to become a family by law. The ring, donated back in 2009, Love could not put on at the solemn registration - the couple was refused in the Annunciation registry office, as there were not enough documents. A paper question does not allow formalizing a relationship between lovers so far. However, nothing stands in the way of their happiness. Even eternal summer after harsh winters. Although the Amur woman got used to the thirty-degree heat for a long time, which lasts in Luanda almost all year round.

At first I was dying from the heat, I even lost weight. Now I've gotten used to it. Here you can find a job, - says Lyubov. - Even as a manager, as I am by education, even as a salesman. But the problem is the language.

So far, Blagoveshchenka has mastered only colloquial Portuguese, which is spoken by the local population. This is not enough for employment, but she can already buy fruit on the market on her own. “In stores everything is the same as in ours,” the girl notes. “And apartments are cheaper than in Blagoveshchensk.”

Native speech Love does not forget. She says: her husband loves Russia very much, so at home all conversations are only in Russian. The TV picks up two of our channels. And they even plan to give their son to Russian school- such is at the embassy. The Amur woman never regretted her decision to leave with her beloved. “I can’t imagine my life without him! I love my husband very much, especially his eyes. But I didn’t believe him, I doubted his feelings, - Lyuba admits. - And here I am in Angola. I never thought I'd go this far!"

Love and David have been together for seven years. They are happy that their union has grown into a large multinational family. Could mother-in-law Isabella ever think that Russian would be heard in their house, and at the table next to the traditional dish "Kalulu" there would be exotic - pancakes? African relatives often ask their daughter-in-law to cook Russian pies.

Even the mother-in-law liked the borscht, - Lyubov shares. - True, for them this is an unusual dish, because here beets are used as a medicine for blood renewal.

Meanwhile, a small "cosmopolitan" is growing up in the house. The granddaughter is at home everywhere: for an African grandmother, he is Sandra, and for a Russian one, Alexander. By the way, the boy's name is translated from Portuguese as "beginning". In the future, Love and David want three children. And everyone will be expected to visit in the Amur region. Four-year-old Sasha will see the Russian winter already in next year. And he will surely love her.

After all, he is ours, Russian! Love laughs.

Let him not look like his Russian grandparents anyway.

“Men are men in Africa too”

Cadets from Africa have been recruited to DVVKU since 2006. During this time, dozens of potential foreign suitors have come and are still going to the Amur region. Of course, not all stories are so romantic. Annunciation Svetlana Kosenko spent more than a year on black Romeo. And I realized: men are men in Africa too.

Many of them are married and have children. I was with the guys in the clubs, our girls hang on them, and they use it! - the girl is sure. - They also deceive and fool their heads!

Nevertheless, the long "business trips" of the Africans have borne fruit. In the Amur maternity hospitals, cases of the birth of mulattoes have been recorded more than once. “We had one such case about four years ago,” says Elena Bolgova, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the Blagoveshchensk City Maternity Hospital. - Such children are not born dark-skinned, apparently their skin color changes later. Babies differ in the shape of the eyes and the shape of the nose.

There were also many international marriages. Several "colorful" registrations were carried out in Blagoveshchensk. And in the Belogorsk registry office, a photo from the first and only such ceremony was even decorated with a stand. “The bride, although she was dark-haired, but with snow-white skin. And the groom is so black! - recalls the chief specialist-expert of the registry office for Belogorsk and the Belogorsk district Natalya Basova. - He turned out to be a citizen of Namibia. From the side of the groom there were 7 more dark-skinned guys. Hefty! I am meter seventy-two, in heels - lower than they are. The girls opened their mouths!”

By the way, this year, according to the AP, future African officers were forbidden to marry Russian women - until they graduate from college. Like, love interferes with education.

OPINION

Vladimir Samokhvalov, geneticist, director of the Center for Family Health and Reproduction of the Amur Regional Clinical Hospital:

At least four genes are responsible for skin color. In people with dark skin, they are in a dominant state. If there is a white-skinned woman in a couple, and her partner is dark-skinned, then the probability that the child will be of Slavic appearance is very low. As a rule, mulattoes appear in such unions. This is called the intermediate type of inheritance. It is often asked if a couple where both partners are white can have a dark baby - yes, there is a chance if both had dark-skinned ancestors.

The leaders are suitors from the former Soviet republics(see infographic)

59 marriages involving foreigners were registered in the Amur region in the first half of 2014 (for the same period in 2013 - 38 marriages). Amur residents created families with citizens of the following countries:

Azerbaijan - 11

Ukraine - 11

Armenia - 10

Kyrgyzstan - 6

Tajikistan - 6

Uzbekistan - 3

Belarus - 2

Moldova - 2

Kazakhstan - 1

Germany - 1

Australia - 1

Latvia - 1