By Margaret Sheard ….
Chris and I first met Yuliya Skripko when we contributed articles for the Cyprus Observer newspaper (now long gone), and Yuliya was in charge of a Russian section (Obozrevatel) of this newspaper, which was eventually published as a separate newspaper.
That was some 8 or 9 years ago. We moved away from the Cyprus Observer newspaper and eventually Yuliya left the TRNC and went to live in Switzerland, with her son Ales.
Yuliya, originally from Minsk, Belarus, came to North Cyprus in 2008 and for a time was the PA to Serhat Akpinar, the founder of Girne American University.
I made contact to see how Yuliya was coping with lockdown in Switzerland and she replied that they have been in lockdown for 2 months now but she is happy to be alive and healthy. Currently, Yuliya and Ales are living close to the Italian border. This is how they are coping during the lockdown.
” Ales is still having online lessons and doing his homework. We are reading, watching movies, cooking, eating, cleaning the big house as cleaners can’t come, doing some sports, playing monopoly… we are lucky having a big beautiful garden and enjoying it so much for sunbathing, playing outdoors games, BBQs etc. We are trying to go for shopping once in two weeks (all clothed like a astronauts!). We don’t complain we are really happy. “
Yuliya has said that in Switzerland from 11th May almost everything will be open again – bars and shops, schools, salons, sport clubs etc.
Although Yuliya misses Cyprus and the lovely people, she is very happy to be now living in Switzerland.
Contact was also made with Yuliya to let her know about the death of Sergey Eletskikh. She was already aware, having received the news from a Russian friend, but expressed her sadness as she was very close to Sergey who not only helped her with the Russian newspaper, but also with many of her other events, such as beach cleaning, tree planting, saving the turtles, organising children’s contests and much more. Yuliya said they did so many good things together.
