Twelve-year-old boy from Kyiv region has grown weary of his popularity
Andrii is a perfect hero. Modest, laconic and friendly, he doesn’t like being the center of attention, but he is keen on sports and singing. At the beginning of December the whole of Ukraine found out that in the village of Nemishaieve (Borodianka district, Kyiv oblast) a boy jumped into a manhole to save his younger brother and then held him on his shoulders standing in the freezing water. On December 24, in Borodianka, Andrii Zhovtonoh was presented with a decoration “The Ukrainian Pride.” He was also given a bicycle, and a stand with newspaper articles about the hero was hung up in his school.
“I COULDN’T JUST WATCH A PERSON DIE…”
This story would never have happened if there were no broken and open manholes. Five-year-old Bohdan Zhovtonoh fell into such a manhole and his brother Andrii jumped to save him without a single second of hesitation — not even thinking to call their parents by mobile phone!
This story began when Andrii came to the kindergarten to take Bohdan home (though usually their mother does this herself). The kids were supposed to be at home at 6 p.m.: as a rule, in such cases Andrii calls their mom and “reports.” Not having received any call from the kids the mother tried to get through to Andrii, but to no avail.
“At 18:05 my friends who lived nearby and I got into the car and visited all our acquaintances, their classmates, and the skating rings. We didn’t find the kids anywhere. Then I called my husband who is the head of Borodianka district traffic police department. First, he didn’t take it serious, but when he came home he called the police,” tells Liudmyla Zhovtonoh.
A tracking dog was brought into the search, but it could only follow the traces up to the road and it didn’t go further: that was the time when people came back from work, and they were a lot of them. The children went further following the path…
“Not far from the road there is a fire canal. There are two manholes on the surface. One of them was covered with planks; the other one with just a thin metal plate. The ambulance workers said that during that day they scolded the kids sliding on that hill. There was sleet that day — perfect for sliding. The little boy asked Andrii the permission to get down. He stepped on one manhole and didn’t fall, but when he stepped on the se-cond one he fell down. Andrii followed him at once,” continues their mother. “He was just going to call me to say that they had already crossed the road and that everything was OK, but… Later, after everything had happened, he said: ‘Mom, he fell down, how could I have called you — he couldn’t swim.’”
TO STOP HIS BROTHER’S CRYING IN THE WELL, ANDRII TOLD HIM FAIRYTALES AND SANG SONGS
Next is the conversation with the taciturn hero.
Please, tell us how it happened…
“Bohdan wanted to slide. He fell down into the manhole. I jumped to save him because he couldn’t swim.”
Did you jump at once? Didn’t you think to call a grown-up?
“No… Later I held him on my shoulders for seven hours. He started crying. I told him fairytales and sang songs.”
You were there for a long time. Did you think that you might be not found?
“We weren’t sure. We shouted, but nobody heard us.”
There aren’t many people there?
“No, there are a lot of them. But nobody heard because of the concrete and also there are the big premises there.”
Was it deep?
“Yes, it was. It was up to the chest on the sticks, and without them…”
How did they save you?
“A man from Berkut saved us by following our traces. He called the policemen: ‘Guys, come here! I found the traces! They might be theirs!’ then we started shouting and he heard us. He gave his hand to Bohdan and his belt to me.”
How are you feeling?
“Now I’m OK. Then I felt very bad, but I quickly recovered.”
How do you put up with your popularity? Do you like the attention or would you prefer to be left alone?
“It would be better…”
When asked, why he followed his brother instead of calling for help, Andrii answered: “What would you do? I couldn’t just watch a person die.”
Liudmyla recalls that Andrii later said that he felt embarrassed when he came to school and all the senior boys called him a “hero” and the girls called him an “attaboy.” He said: “Mom, I’m feeling so uneasy. There’s so much interest in me.” His mother reassured him saying that it would last for a couple of days and then everything will resume its normal course. He said after a while: “You said it would last for a couple of days, but it is going on…”
…The children were found only at half past twelve at night and were taken to the resuscitation department of the district hospital. In the morning Andrii was already moved to the children’s unit. By the way, he didn’t suffer from any fever and he wanted to go home. However, he had to stay in the hospital for a week to make sure.
“The doctors say they are shocked that a kid spent so much time in the icy water. I think, they were lucky not to fall into a pond, into open water, but into a hole… I don’t know how many meters deep it is. When the ‘Berkut’ policeman found them, his colleagues had to hold his legs to get to Bohdan and pull him by the hands; Andrii was pulled out with the policeman’s belt,” says Liudmyla.
She recalled that the night before her husband had a dream, and saw Our Lady’s icon. He attached no importance to it and mentioned it only after everything had happened and they went to Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to light some candles…
“HE IS THE LEADER IN THE CLASS. HE HELPS EVERYBODY…”
The Zhovtonoh family seems quite ordinary. It is well-to-do family where the children are well educated and learn to be responsible for each other. The mother Liuda works as a shop assistant and the father Serhii is a policeman. Andrii doesn’t do that well at school, he is better in sports and art (he is a member of the children’s folk group Kalynonka). Peoples’ relations and helping people is more important for him than grades.
“Andrii helps me in the house. When I am at work, he does the washing up, cleans the house, and puts away the toys. Then he scolds Bohdan who throws them about. They sometimes quarrel when Bohdan doesn’t want to make concessions. However, Andrii is very balanced. Before saying something he would think it over, the same for his actions,” Liudmyla describes her elder son. The woman says that he has chosen the folk group himself — he likes singing and dancing.
Andrii’s classmates speak very highly of him.
Tania Temruk, Andrii’s classmate, said that when the boy didn’t attend the school, everybody was very worried about him. Everybody wanted him back as soon as possible as they were bored without him.
“He’s our leader. He helps everybody. The whole class are Andrii’s friends. As for the star-fever, he doesn’t have it,” thinks Tania.
Andrii’s class teacher, Taisia Riznyk told us about the hero:
“Andrii has been studying in our school from the first class. He is thought to be an average pupil, but he tries not to miss a thing. He especially likes reading popular science and fiction books. Natural sciences are difficult for him. He likes sports very much and he is responsible for sports in the class. He took prize-winning places for Wushu in our district and region. He is able to protect himself and others; he is always first to tend a helping hand. Also Andrii is one of the most active and gifted members of the children’s folk group Kalynonka, where he upholds the honor of our school, district and region. He sings and dances there.”
Certainly, it would be better if such stories would not happen. Adults have to be heroes — adults and not children have to sacrifice themselves for others. However, since it happens (with a happy-end, thank God) it has to be a lesson to learn for adult men and women: repair the manholes, educate your children well, teach them to care not only about themselves, but also about their friends and family. Teach them to love people!
