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A Dream Briefly Realized

A decade ago, Irina Buslo was a teacher in Belarus. But when she moved to New York from Minsk six years ago, she worked as a baby sitter. Later she got a job as a clerk at Banana Republic, but her interest was in learning about computers. A year and a half ago, when she was hired to be an administrative assistant at Fuji Bank in 2 World Trade Center, she was thrilled. She and her roommate, Irina Bobb, celebrated by buying new shoes.

The job meant that she could send more money home to her mother and 13-year-old daughter, who live together in Minsk, and that she was a step closer to bringing her daughter to New York.

Ms. Bobb, a waitress who also immigrated from Minsk, recalled that Ms. Buslo, 32, would send money home to Minsk before she would pay the rent on the two-bedroom apartment they shared in Sunnyside, Queens. "You always think about your relatives, about your daughter," she said. "You could always catch up with rent."

Ms. Buslo, who was divorced from her husband, had studied English and Spanish in college in Minsk in the early 80's, said Ilya Prishepov, a friend who attended with her and later immigrated to the United States. He now owns a construction business in Pawling, N.Y. "She wanted to work in a big company," Mr. Prishepov said. "That is what she did."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on May 5, 2002.