Tanya Aksenova, interpreter for an initial 1992 trip to Russia that prompted the later formation of OBI, and her husband "Bob," visited the United States for three weeks, beginning on September 26, 2008.
On a cold September day in 1992, Tanya offered her services as an interpreter to an inaugural American PWOC contingent to her hometown, Omsk, Siberia in Russia. Arriving that day were Caroline Grube and Nancy Smith, both integral in the later formation of Olive Branch International.
Following that visit, Caroline and Nancy returned to Siberia with a group of thirty-eight, through “Open Heart, Open Doors,” a PWOC outreach project, the following year. There Tanya, a highly skilled interpreter, became “the voice of OBI,’ bridging the gaps that might exist between the Americans and Russians because of their language barrier.
At the Aksenovas’ arrival into the United States sixteen years after this binding US-Russian friendship was formed, were Nancy and Hugh Smith and Caroline and Rick Grube. Included in the Aksenovas’ visits were Florida stops at Disney World in Orlando, Gainesville, Daytona and St. Augustine, in Florida, visiting friends of the extended OBI family at each location.
Additional stops included Charleston, SC, for a visit with Kris and Gil Harper, and the Fayetteville, NC area where they met with Gene and Betsy Fuzy.
Visits to military installations included to PWOC and church and chapel activities at Army installations --Forts Belvoir, Fort Monroe -- and at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, all in Virginia.
