Everyone has a story worth telling. At least, that's the theory. To test it, Tempo is throwing darts at the phone book. When a dart hits a name, a reporter dials the phone number and asks if someone in the home will be interviewed. Stories appear on Fridays.

        Lev and Valentina Milaychev came to this country almost 12 years ago in search of opportunity.

        They brought their two young children and four suitcases. They didn't want or need handouts, just the chance to work toward a better life than was possible in their native Belarus, which was then part of the Soviet Union.

        In their homeland, both Lev and Valentina had earned master's degrees in computer programming. Even so, “It was just hard to provide for ourselves,” says 37-year-old Lev, a stocky fellow with discerning blue eyes.

        “Engineers and doctors are not well paid there,” adds 38-year-old Valentina, a petite woman who, like her husband, speaks with a Russian accent.

        Like many young families unable to afford an apartment of their own, they lived with relatives. Even more burdensome were the strict government-enforced rules. They couldn't choose their children's day-care center or school. They couldn't choose their doctor, or even the city where they would live.

Lev and Valentina Milaychev (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        They knew little about America, except that it was a free country, a land of opportunity. The Milaychevs arrived in Los Angeles in June 1989, unsure where opportunity would lead them.

        While Valentina cared for the children, Lev went to work for a house builder, earning $5 an hour digging ditches, hammering nails, hanging drywall. He attended English classes at night, returning to their North Hollywood apartment about the time prostitutes began roaming the neighborhood.

        The technical language of software developers wasn't covered in English class. So Lev quit his job after a few months, brought books home, and learned the terminology. Valentina, meanwhile, earned money by cleaning and cooking, and later worked in a Target store.

        The family had been in Los Angeles about six months when Lev landed a job as a computer programmer. Valentina found similar work after completing a class in resume preparation and interview skills. They moved to a better neighborhood in Sherman Oaks, San Fernando Valley.

        By 1994 they had saved enough to begin house hunting. But the morning of Jan. 17 changed everything. At 4:30, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake shook the Los Angeles area, killing 72 people and causing tens of billions of dollars in damage.

        For a few frantic minutes, the Milaychevs were trapped inside their severely damaged apartment building, only a few miles from the quake's epicenter. Aftershocks posed grave danger. But neighbors heard the family, and risked entering the crippled structure to rescue them.

        “Everyday heroes,” Valentina says.

        The quake added to their reasons to leave. Los Angeles, they felt, was too hot, too congested. It had too much crime and not enough trees. They could begin anew anywhere. But where?

        They listened as a young couple, newcomers to L.A., blandly described the city they'd left: boring, conservative, slow-paced.

        To the Milaychevs, Cincinnati sounded perfect.

        Lev and Valentina are sitting in the conference room of their office, which occupies four suites in the Reed Hartman Corporate Center. Lev hands over a business card: New Wave Software Inc., it says. His name is in the corner, next to the title President & CEO.

        It's a small company, with eight employees, including Lev and Valentina.

        “We worked always from the moment we came,” Lev is saying. “There were tough times, but we were always happy being here (in America). We've always been optimistic. We never thought we made the wrong step, no matter how bad it was with money. We always knew tomorrow would be better.”

        Tomorrow might be much better. Lev's eyes sparkle as he says, “We are very proud of what we have accomplished. We get so much satisfaction from the fact the system we developed helps people.”

        At medical conferences last fall, they introduced an information system designed for hospital emergency rooms. Doctors, nurses, administrators and clerical staff can use it to track patients, create electronic medical charts, place orders and more.

        Two hospitals now use the system; another is buying it; two more sales are close, the Milaychevs say. Maybe this product will make them rich. Maybe not. That's not the point, Lev says.

        “Our goal, my personal goal, is not complicated,” Lev says. “It's normal life. I want my kids to go to college, I want everybody to be healthy, (to) go on vacation twice a year as opposed to once, to have a house, just to have a normal life.”

        Their son and daughter are 17 and 13 now. The family lives in a nice house in Symmes Township.

        “We would sometimes sit and discuss,” Valentina says, “that probably a lot of Americans born here do not appreciate what they have.”

        From their first day in America, the Milaychevs could appreciate what they had. It was the thing they wanted most: an opportunity.

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