By ANN ALLEN
Indiana Correspondent

ROCHESTER, Ind. — Sergii Panchenko, 22, knows Ukrainian history inside and out. It was in 1562 that his country asked Russia to protect it from Turkey, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and what is now Poland.

“That was a big mistake,” he said. “Russia took us over.”

Russia tore apart his family as well. His grandfather, who had 10,000 hectares before the Russian Revolution, was murdered and his property was seized when he refused to give up his land (a hectare is equivalent to 2.47 acres). By the time collective farms had been organized, many other once-independent farmers had been arrested and murdered.

The periods of USSR-forced starvation annihilated millions of Ukrainians. “It is important I know this history,” Panchenko said. “My country is independent now. We have to learn from the past to avoid repeating it.”

Now seeking new ways to improve his country’s future, the Poltava Agrarian Academy student is spending the summer with Alan and Nancy Gohn and their children, Michelle, Chelsea and Wes, near Rochester, Ind.

Although he has blended well with the Gohn youngsters, who nicknamed him “Serg,” he is quick to say, “I came to work and to learn.”

Those were precisely the qualities Mark Kepler (refer to page 1B article) wanted when he sought referrals for the summer/work program. “He’s good help,” Alan Gohn said. “He’s a hard worker and he’s willing to try anything.”

So far, Panchenko has helped plant soybeans, disked fields, moved and helped fix irrigation equipment, driven a tractor and a combine, mowed the yard, delivered seed, scouted bean and corn fields on a Gator, made counts to determine if replanting was necessary, walked the fields to determine the percentage of corn broken by high winds, done stand counts for Pioneer and driven a skid loader and a forklift.

“It’s all experience,” he said, “and it’s good for me.”

During the Fulton County 4-H fair, he showed a pig in the carcass show, placing second. He’s attended fireworks, played and watched baseball games, gone up in a neighbor’s paraplane and caught a large-mouth bass.

All of this is a drastic contrast to his life in Vapryk, one of the hundreds of villages that dot Ukraine. There, on the 2 hectares that surround the home he shares with his widowed mother and brother, he grows potatoes and raises pigs that he sells three at a time.

His mother, a teacher, spends her summers raising vegetables, cherries, plums, apples, blueberries, strawberries and grapes in addition to corn for the pigs. Her parents join them in the summer and help care for the produce.

Like Ol’ha Reva, another Ukrainian exchange student he has known for five years, he previously worked in England and France. While at the Gohns he has been known to get up at 5 a.m. to Skype (Internet phone) friends, his girlfriend and his brother and to share his newly acquired fondness for breaded tenderloins – something he ate every day of the county fair.

He’s also tried sushi and shrimp with varying degrees of success. Sweet potatoes, however, quickly became a favorite. Both he and Reva grew fond of the tuber, which is not grown in Ukraine, and would like to introduce it to their friends.

His host family is already dreading having to say good-bye come September. “I think we’ll try to go visit him,” Gohn said.

Watching Sergii teasing her children, Nancy added, “It’s been a fun summer.”