Valentina Chernova

Last week I went to visit Valentina Chernova at her home. She was doing much better than she was the last time I had seen her (in the hospital) and I was very thankful for that. Just over half of her 14-day chemotherapy treatment was complete. She was taking six pills a day during that time and should have finished treatment on Saturday. Honestly, she seemed much stronger than most of the people I have met who were in the middle of chemo (admittedly, this number isn’t very large).

As if the cancer and treatment weren’t a solemn enough topic, she pulled out the pictures she had of “her Sasha” at his funeral. He passed away this past May after a long battle with asthma and other health complications. It has been a tough year for Valentina.

We talked about the future. She was very interested to hear Laura and my plans for the next stage in our lives. She was also rather adamant about her own future plans. She wants to return to working at Good Shepherd Center, but not as the director. She wants to help in “any way she can.” She wants to help the kids with homework and just have time to talk to the kids. She wants to be the night watchperson (which seems to be about the last job anyone would aspire to). I could tell that she just wants to serve again, like she has been doing for so long. Most of us who know her have difficulty seeing her any other way.

Dave

Mikhail Ivanovich Vodalazhsky

The book in the picture is part of an amazing story. It is the sort of story that I have only read about and this was the first time in my life where I was able to hear it first hand. I will not do the story, or the storyteller, Mikhail Ivanovich Vodolazhsky, justice. But talking with him has been one of the highlights of my time here. I apologize about the quality of the photo, the book is amazingly small and my hands aren’t so steady when holding a camera.

Mikhail Ivanovich is either 92 or 93 years old. He was born before the Bolshevik Revolution on a farm in the Kharkov region of Ukraine. Around his eighth birthday his father’s farm and work were taken over by the government and became a part of a collective farm. Times were tough. Mikhail Ivanovich dropped out of school and moved, along with his two older brothers, to the city in search of work.

In his late teens he did his time of service with the Soviet army. His commanding officer fell out of favor with those above him and an order came down from above, requiring 100 men from his unit be sent to the “Gulag” labor camps. The officials searched through the soldiers’ personal belongings and found 200 “enemies of the people.” He had a journal in which he had written some of his favorite Bible verses and Sunday School songs so he was included in this number. He was sentenced to eight years at a Gulag 100 kilometers north of Magadan, in the northeastern part of Siberia.

Mikhail Ivanovich had not yet married his fiancé, and she told him she would wait for him “even if it took 10 years.” He was sent to a camp where he and many others prospected for gold while serving their sentences. Each was required to dig a hole, 1m x 1m x 1m every day, rain or shine, in the frosty soil and send it off to be panned. Fortunately, Mikhail Ivanovich was skilled at repairing the felt boots worn in the winter months and was therefore moved indoors during the coldest, hardest months. Many of the people in his Gulag died; almost all lost one or more extremities to frostbite.

He was released after eight years, but was forced to remain in the region for a period of exile. His fiancé learned of his release and exile and somehow, miraculously, traveled across the 13 time zones to meet and marry Mikhail Ivanovich at the train station, almost exactly 10 years after their last meeting.

They lived there for several years, and their three children were born there. At one point in time, they were told they could return home. They gave away or sold the majority of their possessions and packed the rest for the long journey “home.” Unfortunately, on the day they were to leave they were told they could not go. They went back to those who had their possessions and collected their things. Fortunately there were no problems with this because, according to Mikhail Ivanovich, after living through the hardships together the people there had become “closer than family.”

It became known that Mikhail Ivanovich was leading small church services in his home. He was immediately sentenced to another 10 years in the “camps.” This is where the Bible pictured above comes in to the story. During his first sentence he and 20 other inmates shared a contraband Bible which belonged to one of his fellow inmates. During his time of exile, his wife had given him his own Bible, which he in turn shared with around 10 others. He talks about how he was “overjoyed” to have the opportunity to have the Bible on Sundays, his day off. He would go off to some isolated place and read “under a blanket” as they often say here when referring to clandestine behavior.

Midway through this term, “Comrade Stalin” died and Mikhail Ivanovich and others were exonerated by Khrushchchev. The family left Magadan for the 9-day boat ride to Vladivostok, on the far east coast of Russia, then a 17-day train ride back to Kharkov in Ukraine. They have lived there until now. Now Mikhail Ivanovich (front left in picture) and his brother, Pyotr Ivanovich (front right), live in a small room built on to the house where his son Yura (back) lives with his family. The “grandpas” spend most of their time talking and studying their Bibles, now above the blankets.

Dave

November Economic Conference

November 17-18 we had an economic conference for all the MCC partners that I work with. The fact that I am posting a blog about it over a month later is either a testimony to how busy I have been or how lazy I am. I thought that some of you would be interested to see the “brothers” that I am referring to when I talk about “partners.” Representatives from 12 of the 15 loan funds and credit unions from different regions in Ukraine were in attendance, and presentations covered a variety of topics.

While I feel that my Russian continues to get better all the time, I am still not quite to the place where I can lead discussions well. I’m sure I said some stupid stuff when trying to explain some things but I did my best and already was acquainted with most of the people there. Fortunately, as the picture shows, Ionka Hristozova (our country director) also attended all of the sessions and led the discussion in what I thought was the most important session which dealt with planning and reporting. This encompasses the majority of my responsibilities and I was glad that she explained why we are doing it and what we are looking for.

The conference required a lot of planning and turned out well. It seemed that those who participated thought it was interesting and beneficial.

Dave

Partners visit

Last week Dave and I returned from a whirlwind “partners visit.” Now is the time when the loan funds MCC works with (run by Ukrainian Baptists throughout Ukraine) are writing year-end reports and plans for next year. The planning process has changed recently, so Dave has been visiting most everyone to help out. I had a one-week break from classes, so I went along for the first time. On this trip we took the train to Cherkassy (central Ukraine), then south to Odessa, took a bus west to the village of Kilia on the Romanian border, then the train back to Odessa, up to Kiev and home to Donetsk.

The biggest impression the trip had on me was the contrast of life in the village to life in the city. Back home, in the part of the Midwest where I’m from, the standard of living in the “country” is no different from that of the city. That is not the case in Ukraine, and I often forget that. Running water is not a standard in the village, it’s a luxury. Hot water comes from the top of the stove after you’ve heated it in a pan. Houses are heated with coal or wood-burning fireplaces that double as ovens and sometimes as beds. (The traditional “Russian Stove” is a huge affair with a large flat space on top to sleep on). The toilet is usually, as they say in Russian, “in the street” (an outhouse). Potatoes, noodles or kasha (porridge made from grains or oatmeal) are standard fare – fruit is a luxury for special occasions.

People were very hospitable and I especially enjoyed meeting the people Dave has gotten to know since beginning this job last year, and putting faces with the names he’s talked about. The photo is a gathering of babushkas in a village north of Kiev. Notice everyone is wearing their coats, boots and headscarves. Although we sat around the stove (the small door in the wall to the left), it wasn’t warm enough in that house not to stay fully dressed.

Laura

Hospital Visit

Valentina Vasilovna Chernova is the director of the Good Shepherd Children’s Center, and one of the people responsible for the formation of the Good Shepherd organization. A while back she was diagnosed with cancer of the liver and thyroid with inconclusive test results as to whether it was malignant or not. A few weeks ago she went to a hospital in Zaporozhye, which is supposedly one of the best cancer treatment facilities in Eastern Ukraine. She had surgery two weeks ago today, and then began the recovery process.

The day after the basketball tournament I traveled to Zaporozhye for the annual MCC Economic Development conference. I brought pictures from the tournament as well as notes from almost all the kids and workers at the Good Shepherd center. I was excited to see her, but a bit nervous as to what I would see. The whole situation—no one really knowing whether the cancer was malignant or not or what the prognosis is and therefore assuming the worst—made me rather uncomfortable. It had all seemed very reminiscent of Solzhenitsyn’s The Cancer Ward and I feared that the hospital conditions would also seem eerily familiar.

We went to visit her on Thursday night in her room, which she shared with five other women, all of which I assumed had some form of cancer. They all appeared to be at different stages in the process. Some were rather cheerful and optimistic while others were quite grave. All were willing to participate in Valentina’s conversations with her visitors.

Being the selfish person that I am, I began to feel sorry for myself during this, the most difficult 30 minutes of my time in Ukraine up till now. While Wednesday had been a good day for her—with her being able to get up and walk to the washroom and clean up—Thursday had been difficult—she lacked the strength to get up and her fever had returned. It was really hard to see her like that, the optimistic woman who I constantly hear in my mind, reminding me: “Of course there are many difficulties in dealing with the kids, but we will not get discouraged.” Here she was saying: “I know everything is going to turn out well,” but her eyes and voice were lacking that reassuring quality that they always seemed to have.

Yesterday I was told that Valentina will be coming back to Makeevka on Friday, and I was so excited. Maybe her stay in “the cancer ward” will not be as indefinite as my reading of Solzhenitsyn had led me to believe. I know that I am excited to see her outside the confines of such a depressing place.

P.S. Sorry to those of you who haven’t read Solzhenitsyn. To find out what hospitals are like in this part of the world, read The Cancer Ward.

Dave

Basketball Tournament

Last week the kids from Good Shepherd participated in the annual basketball tournament. All the orphanages from Makeevka had been invited and eight teams (four girls, four boys) showed up. A family from St. Louis had come earlier this year and paid for the replacement of windows as well as some remodeling in the gymnasium. The administration was so proud that they recommended that the basketball tournament be held there. Seventy-two children participated.

It is not the type of coaching that I was used to in North America, with many of the kids not knowing where to stand during a free throw or even how/where to play defense, but Good Shepherd represented well. Each game consisted of two, 10-minute halves (running clock), making the games go rather quickly. It was exciting. The boys advanced to the championship with a 32-2 win over the team that ended up taking third place. Then the girls came back from a 10-4 second half deficit to win the championship 18-14 (in a five-minute overtime period). The boys also played well in the championship, but could not get their shots to fall. They ended up in second place.

It was exciting to see how much better both teams played when compared to how they played last year. It was also interesting to compare the behavior of the Good Shepherd kids to that of the kids from the government-run orphanages. Such comparisons always make me realize how great of thing is being done by the people at Good Shepherd.

Dave

Alexander Doroshenko

Alexander (Sasha) Doroshenko is a member of the church we attend here in Ukraine. He owns a small auto parts store and serves as a member of the board of the MCC-sponsored loan fund in our congregation. He never misses an opportunity to sing and play his guitar in church; rarely a Sunday goes by when he is in attendance and does not have a song to sing.

He is also an avid sports enthusiast, and loves hockey and soccer. He often tells me what’s happening in the NHL. Looking at him, however, I never expected boxing to be a part of his story. He looks nothing like Dolph Lundgren’s character “Ivan Drago” in Rocky IV (in my opinion the only Rocky movie worth watching).

From the ages of 13-20, Sasha was an amateur boxer in the former Soviet Union. In his own, disjointed storytelling style, he told me about living in trains, planes, and hotels for the majority of these years. He began boxing in the lowest weight category, 47 kilograms, but spent most of his career in the next class up, 51 kg. This is also where he experienced his success. In 1978, he participated in the USSR junior boxing championship in Riga, Latvia, losing the championship by decision to a Russian who would go on to become the champion of Europe. The following year, he again participated in the junior championship, this time winning the 51 kg division.

I could not get him to tell me his amateur record, but he was quick to point out that he never really liked boxing. His real love was soccer, but the region where he grew up in Western Ukraine did not have a serious coach. He became a boxer by default.

He spent his two mandatory years in the army in the sports academy, but upon release decided to hang up his gloves. He went to music school and learned to play the guitar. He joined a band and played, mainly at wedding ceremonies, while attending business school. He talks about these two degrees with a bit of pride, since he never really finished high school. He now has a grown daughter and is an active participant in our church.

Dave

Trout in the Shape of a Squirrel

Throughout my eating-out experiences in Ukraine, the one thing I have particularly enjoyed is the English menu. Many restaurants don’t have it, but some do. And when they do, they are quite likely to be a source of entertainment. It seems that almost every restaurant that we’ve visited here with an English menu hasn’t bothered to have it translated by a professional – generally it seems to be translated by any Joe who has had a little English training, or maybe has purchased a Russian/English dictionary. Thus, the translations of food items and their descriptions on the English menu are generally accurate, but sometimes quite funny. I do understand that there is a special kind of language used on a menu that we don’t usually use in everyday speech. I say fried fish, the menu says pan-seared haddock. I say garlic potatoes, the menu says fire-roasted fingerling potatoes, seasoned with tender garlic scapes. So I do want to cut the menu translators some slack. But sometimes, rather than entice us to order their food, the English menu food descriptions make us laugh, or look for the simplest, most familiar food. Some favorites we’ve encountered: crabby salad, granny’s pickled products, tunny filets, chicken with fungus, salad from sea products, and the most memorable: Trout in the Shape of a Squirrel. The trout was found on the menu at a local Chinese restaurant. Perhaps serving trout in the shape of a squirrel in Ukraine (or in China) is an especially exotic or appealing way to eat it. Maybe it has some significance. Or maybe it’s just a bad translation. Anyway, a friend of a friend was inspired by the trout and wrote a poem about it, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Little do they know: not only are those menu translators providing us Anglophones with a general idea of what we’re ordering, they’re also inspiring art.

Trout In the Shape Of A Squirrel (A Poem)

“Do I eat nuts? Do I look like I eat nuts?”
I used to slalom to and fro
To flick in the air, a silver rainbow
Where the rivers bend. The world all seemed to flow
My way. I was king of the day.
(Do I eat nuts? Do I look like I eat nuts?)
As the evening fell, my luck did end
For a friend of a restaurateur‘s best friend
Dropped a net my tail could not defend
Away. Now I sadly say:
(I eat nuts. I must eat nuts)
I'm the trout they shaped like a beast of the bough
Don’t ask me where or why or how
One gets a feel for mixed-up chow
These parsnips in the form of a cow
Giraffe cakes, kangaroo pilau
A haddock which I swear meowed
To a lemon sponge who howled ‘bow wow.’
(It is nuts. Now I bid you Ciao).

Laura

Bug in the oatmeal

Today at breakfast Dave saw two tiny, black, pointy things sticking out of his spoonful of oatmeal. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be a pair of pinchers from a black bug. It wasn’t the small weevil-type bug that sometimes gets into oatmeal if you forget about it in the back of the cupboard. It was a fierce-looking bug. Actually it was just the pinchers from what we imagined was a fierce black bug. Thankfully, the bug was nowhere to be seen. After that, neither of us has much of an appetite for our oatmeal. But although this was a particularly gross example, this type of thing goes on frequently here – finding foreign objects that should not be in our food. Pieces of shell in the walnuts, rocks in the beans, sticks in the raisins, hulls (and apparently black bugs) in the oatmeal. When we first arrived, I bought lots of groceries, especially fresh fruit and vegetables, at the outdoor markets here. That included raisins and nuts, which are sold from various containers or bins. Either could’ve been raised, harvested and shelled or dried by the babushka selling them to you. I liked this idea of freshness and that my purchases were helping the producer directly. But after finding small sticks and rocks in the raisins I bought several times, I felt that babushka should’ve been a little more careful with her sorting, and decided to buy them in packaged, labeled and sealed bags at the grocery store. Surely these would be packaged by someone who was paid to pay attention at the factory, and thus my bag would contain only raisins and no other surprises. After my first raisin purchase, I was surprised to find that my reasoning had been faulty. I found the same sticks and rubbish in my packaged, store-bought raisins that I’d seen in my market-bought ones. Apparently quality control hadn’t branched into the raisin department yet. Or maybe they’re picking out the big rocks and sticks and just leaving the little ones. So I resigned myself to sorting the raisins before using them. It was either that or buy imported German raisins, which would entail spending my entire weekly grocery budget on just raisins.

So I’ve adjusted to the little ritual of checking certain foods before you eat them. Other foreigners have adjusted in other ways. I know of a person who brings a suitcase full of groceries back from the States whenever she’s there. Not exotic, hard-to-find-in-Ukraine things like peanut butter or brown sugar, but ordinary things like cheese and oatmeal. I admit that I found myself snickering about this in the past (Just eat it! All the Ukrainians do!) but maybe she’s had a “black bug” experience, or worse. Everyone is entitled to be comfortable with the food they eat.

I’ve decided that eating a stick, rock or bug, especially cooked, will probably not harm be a bit. I know fellow MCCers who are eating bugs on purpose in other parts of the world where that sort of thing is acceptable. And that makes me thankful that I’m in Ukraine. There might be bugs in the oatmeal or sticks in the raisins, but at least it’s not on purpose and it's culturally acceptable for me to pick them out.

Laura

Pumpkin Head

Today I realized that tomorrow is Halloween. It won’t make much difference, since Halloween doesn’t seem to be celebrated here at all. An elementary Sunday school class from Dave’s home church sent us a cute handmade jack-o-lantern wall hanging, which we promptly hung on our apartment door. That will probably be the extent of our Halloween celebration. Even if we wanted to, carving jack-o-lanterns would be difficult, since I’ve never seen an actual orange, round pumpkin as we know them back home. Most of what I use as “pumpkin” for cooking is butternut or other kinds of squash. In Russian, all winter squash, including pumpkin, is called the same thing – tikva.

But even though Halloween is not commonly celebrated here, it might have a future, thanks to Amstor, the local supermarket. Today I went to Amstor for a few things, and pumpkin was on my list. As I reached the produce section, I noticed a bin with a bunch of round, cellophane-wrapped objects, and above them a display a large sign that said “Halloween” in English. Upon further inspection, I realized that the round objects, though they were a greenish-gray mottled color, were pumpkins. And they had mean-looking, jagged-featured carved faces. Underneath the sign was an explanation of Halloween and jack-o-lanterns (translated into Russian as “pumpkin heads”). The sign, in addition to explaining the history of Halloween and the purpose of jack-o-lanterns, said Halloween was celebrated all over the world, which was an interesting statement, since if it really was celebrated here, they wouldn’t need a sign to explain the holiday and persuade customers to buy pre-carved pumpkins. Maybe its celebrated everywhere but Ukraine. Or maybe the Soviets nixed it – the bad spirit world could have been just as threatening as the good one. Anyway, after the initial “cultural moment,” I was sad to find that the carved pumpkins were the only ones to be found in the produce section, save three gigantic squashes that would, if stood on end, reach above my knee. Not good for bus travel. So I left without a pumpkin or a pumpkin head. I’d like to go back to Amstor in early November and see how many have sold.

Laura

Another Gas Crisis

Shortly after we got here, I bought a chainsaw. I did not think that this was an absolutely necessary tool for what I was supposed to be doing, but we did have some ground to clear in preparation for the garden and greenhouse projects. Some people from our churches back home had given us a little money for “personal use.” The macho part of me has always been attached to chainsaws, so I just had to convince Laura that this was what they had in mind when they had called it “personal” money.

I used the saw a bit then, and have used it several times since then to prepare wood for campfires and “shashliks,” which are the traditional Ukrainian barbeque (very tasty). But I never anticipated that others would get so much use out of it.

In the past month, people have been repeatedly borrowing it after work and on weekends to “help a babushka from church get ready for winter.” It has gotten plenty of use.

Before this, I hadn’t given it much thought, but last week I had an informative conversation with Valentina Chernova, the director at the Good Shepherd Center. We were talking about the rise in gas prices. I told her that my dad was paying about 20 percent more for propane this winter in Minnesota. She trumped that, saying that natural gas cost 147 percent more this winter than it did last winter. She said that the average pensioner receives $60-80 per month and, if winter temperatures are similar to last year’s, it will cost around $70 per month just to heat one of the small houses pensioners typically live in. Taras Dyatlik, the academic dean, told me that his in-laws have figured out that after both receiving their pensions, they will have $40 per month to live on.

I now understand why so many people are cutting wood.

Dave

Grape Season

I’ve written about the fruit in Ukraine before, but I never about the particular fruit now in season: grapes. Grapes were not a very big deal to me until I came to Ukraine. They were a salad accessory, that’s all. Here, in September and October, they are the glue, together with the standard cookies and tea, of social interaction.

Everyone who has the space has a grapevine, and about this time, they are overflowing. Because of this, we have been the lucky benefactors of several large bags of grapes. The first ones were dark blue, almost black, with a dusty haze that had been barely smudged when they were picked. They really were beautiful. And now I know where the taste for artificial grape flavoring comes from. These grapes were intensely flavored and were the perfect blend of sweet and tart – nothing like the one-dimensional, bland green or red table grapes in grocery stores at home. Since our first bag, we’ve sampled several other varieties, and I see many more at the market in all hues and shapes. Some have familiar wine names, like Muscat, and others are named after their looks – the other day someone told me about “Black Ladyfingers,” named after their elongated, pitch-black fruit.

The one thing that keeps me diligently eating more than my share of grapes every day is the fact that they have seeds. Dave is a bit of a seed snob, and would rather pass on these grapes, rather than sort and spit every mouthful. There is a seedless green variety of grapes from Turkey available at the local grocery store, but for some reason lack of seeds seems to mean lack of flavor. So when at home, I eat grapes by myself, although that’s certainly not the best way. Because it takes time to eat grapes with seeds, it can become a communal activity, like sipping tea or cracking nuts at Christmas, well-paired with a leisurely schedule and good conversation. Grape season corresponds well with birthday season among the English department staff - birthdays happen to be plentiful in the months of September and October. Olga, our resident grape supplier, never lets us down, and so we take some time to sit together, talk, eat birthday cake, and grapes.

Laura

Humanitarian aid

I've been meaning to post this picture for awhile. It's of the MCC container of material aid - canned turkey, clothing, health kits, etc. being unloaded at DCU in August. For the past several years, DCU has received a container like this one every fall, and this was the first time we happened to be around when it was unloaded. Recently each employee at DCU waited patiently in line to received a case of tushonka, (canned turkey) which was a blessing for everyone. This time of the year is always difficult financially for DCU, and since teachers haven't received their salaries for a couple months, they were especially grateful for the meat. Earlier this fall, both staff and students took their turn going through the clothing received in the shipment, also timely at the time when kids were needing back to school clothing and the season was changing. After being on the North American side of MCC's material aid projects - buying supplies for health kits and school kits, and helping with meat canning in SD and MN, it's good to be on the other side - and see it being used and appreciated by the recipients.

Laura

Anya

I’m missing Anya. She was my student last year, and a dedicated one. Every Saturday, even when the freezing temperatures kept most other students home, she would come to class. Her English was already quite good, but it improved because she worked hard. She had a goal in mind. I don’t remember when we became friends, but eventually I was introduced to her boyfriend and we started spending time together. She was in the process of applying for a visa to work in the States. She had a good job in Donetsk, but wanted to improve her English and get more work experience in the service industry. She had a Ukrainian friend who was already living there, and she set her up with a job and a place to live. The job was waitressing at Outback Steakhouse. One night Anya came over with several pages of colorful pictures and food descriptions – the restaurant’s menu, which she printed from the Internet. Things like “vine-ripened tomatoes” and “a twist of lemon” and “Bloomin’ Onion” were highlighted in yellow, and we went through the menu, I explaining what each one meant while she took notes. Then it was the visa application and interview questions. She filled out forms and I checked them, and over and over we practiced the questions that might be asked during the visa interview at the American Embassy in Kiev. Meanwhile, we also did other things, besides filling out forms. A highlight was a trip to a nearby village where the parents of her boyfriend’s best friend lived. They treated us like kings and we stuffed ourselves with Ukrainian delicacies to the point of illness. We also tossed a Frisbee on a grassy hill, standing in a circle around a tethered goat, wandered through a nearby marsh and listened to Sergei’s endless music collection. And then she had her interview, got her visa, bought a plane ticket, said goodbye and left. For the first few weeks, we talked on Skype, but now that her documents are in order, she’s working two jobs – the steakhouse, plus a department store job, and has little time to do anything but eat, sleep and work. We’ll be back in the States before she comes back to Ukraine, and if she had the choice, I think she might stay. I’m happy for her, but am sad that she’s gone. Meanwhile, her boyfriend has taken a new job that involves a lot of travel, and is working like mad to fill up his time, so we rarely see him. He studies English in the leftover minutes of every day and hopes to join her as soon as his English is good enough.

Laura

Canning

This summer I learned to conserve vegetables, Ukrainian style. With the help of my friend Olga Fyodrovna and a couple others we canned over 30 liters of pickles and over 35 liters of tomatoes. Hopefully that will last Laura and I through the winter. I was also told that, using cucumbers from the greenhouse, the DCU cafeteria canned over 500 liters of pickles this summer. In the last couple of weeks they have also been canning a lot of tomatoes and salads (from the garden).

Canning here is very common because produce is so incredibly cheap in season and very expensive in the off-season. For example, tomatoes sell for around $0.05 per pound now and were around $1.35 per pound last winter. Therefore, fruits and vegetables (of the non-root variety) are not in the typical Ukrainian’s winter diet. By canning some fruits and vegetables they are able to supplement their diets a bit and save a little money.

Dave

Conservation and Recycling

Something that has bothered me ever since we’ve been here has been the attitudes toward conservation here. Every time I throw away a glass jar, tin can or a 1-liter foil-and-cardboard milk box, something inside of me cringes. I can’t pinpoint the time or place, but the recycling habit took hold of me a long time ago, and it doesn’t want to be broken. But there are virtually no recycling options available here, save turning in empty pop and beer bottles so they can be washed and refilled.

I understand that Ukraine is an economically struggling country, with an infrastructure permeated with corruption and a government prone to infighting. There are seemingly bigger things to worry about than whether or not average joe can recycle his plastic pop bottles. And I think the attitudes created by a communist framework die hard. Why conserve water or electricity when you pay pennies a month (or nothing at all) for unlimited amounts? Even now, most people don’t pay much for electricity or water. I think our monthly electricity bill is about $5. Most people here wash dishes by turning on the faucet and letting it run while washing each dish. Kitchen sink plugs are hard to find, and having dishwater that sits in the sink through a whole batch of dishes is just too dirty – why not constantly replace it with clean water, fresh from the tap?

Ukraine is just behind. Like so many other things here – education, technology, medicine, innovation, Ukraine seems to be about 30 years behind the modern world. In some areas, more. So hopefully it’ll be just a question of how long it takes until things catch up here. And I guess that depends on if the country can work through its current difficulties and move forward.

In the meantime, I was feeling powerless to change my lack of recycling existence in Ukraine, and I remembered a conversation that took place several years ago at an extended family holiday celebration. It was about how big of a “footprint” you make on the earth. This relates to how much carbon your existence on earth produces. Recently, I’ve been hearing a lot about it – high gas prices seem to be making being “green” cool in the U.S. So I went searching for a website to take the test. There are many, but my favorite was at www.myfootprint.org. My quiz made me feel somewhat better about my wayward recycling here in Ukraine. I took the quiz twice – once based on my Ukraine lifestyle and once based on my lifestyle in Phoenix before we came here. The results of the quiz give you a number of acres of biologically productive land (and ocean) needed to sustain your lifestyle. My results in case you’re curious: to support my current lifestyle in Ukraine, I need 8.15 acres of land. That’s very close to what an average Ukrainian uses: 8.40. In the States, even with recycling, I would need 13 acres. The average American needs 24. In the world, there are 4.5 biologically productive acres per person. From what I can tell, the biggest difference is transport. Here I always use public transport, and in Phoenix I never used it. Even though we had a fuel-efficient car, it still makes a big difference when you drive yourself. So the quiz made me feel a little better, but still frustrated that recycling in Ukraine still means using your plastic grocery bags for garbage bags, or reusing that glass jam jar as a pencil holder.

Laura

Communications

Earlier this week we were graced by a visit from MCC communications. A writer and photographer made the trip to Ukraine from Winnipeg and Akron respectively. They are here for around 10 days and will be traveling around Ukraine to interview people and see a part of what MCC is doing here.

After spending their first couple of days in Zaporozhye they traveled to Kharkov (in the Northeast corner of Ukraine) to meet with some of the partners; the goal being to interview them and write an article on economic development and loan funds for The Common Place, the MCC news magazine. There were three interviews there: one with the manager of the loan fund and two with loan recipients. The two recipients were a family that is farming around 11 hectares of land and another family that is growing tomatoes in a greenhouse.

We then traveled to Donetsk/Makeevka and spent another half-day interviewing another loan fund manager and three more recipients. These recipients were a guy who raises roses in a greenhouse, two ladies that have a large garden and raise ducks and a guy who runs an auto parts store. This was especially interesting for me because MCC didn’t give a grant to this fund this year, and since I have been mainly working with those who were given grants, I did not have much first-hand experience with this loan fund.

We spent the second half of the day talking to people at Good Shepherd. It was very interesting to participate in these interviews because I was given a forum to find out some answers to a lot of my own questions.

I think the experience was generally positive for “communications” and was also interesting for me. We wanted these people to see and hear the best of what is going on here and I found myself reflecting on that a bit. One can make direct correlations between communications and fund raising, and we want our supporters to hear about all the good things that are happening here. But most things are more complicated than the “Wow, look at all the great things your contributions have done.”

I’m glad to show mainly positive things, but sometimes it upsets me that that is all we talk about. Focusing just on the positive results and thinking that if we don’t see them, the negatives aren’t there, results in an oversimplification of many situations. I am sure this will continue to be a difficulty in the future for me. In thinking back on time in Ukraine, I will probably glaze over the complications and remember only the positives, which is natural. And that is most likely a good thing.

Dave

Parents' visit

Last week we said goodbye to my parents. They spent two weeks with us, traveling, sightseeing and seeing Donetsk, Makeevka and DCU.

We started the trip by meeting in Warsaw, Poland, and immediately took the train to Krakow, where we spent several days taking in the sights of Krakow’s historic Old Town. We also visited the WWII Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, not far from Krakow. We haven’t spent much time in Eastern Europe beyond the Ukrainian borders, so it was interesting to see another Eastern European country, and enjoyed the variety and change of pace from Ukraine. Poland joined the EU not long ago, and is significantly ahead of Ukraine economically, at least in the areas we visited. We enjoyed the comforts of produced by Poland’s economic stability, without having to pay Western European prices – a nice combination.

After Krakow, an overnight train took us across the border to Lvov, Ukraine, in search of some remnants of our Mennonite heritage there. We ended up touring the village of Odinoke, formerly inhabited by Mennonites in the 1800s. Lvov is famed for its beautiful buildings and variety of architecture, and we took in some of that on the one day that it didn’t rain.

Mom and Dad got a true taste of train travel, Ukranian-style, on the 25-hour ride from Lvov to Donetsk, the last three without air conditioning on a hot afternoon. We then spent several swelteringly hot days in Donetsk,
showing my parents the city, our work, friends, church, etc. The rest of the time we sat inside, in front of the fans, drinking black currant juice (Dad’s new favorite).

For the last part of our trip we headed to Kiev and saw the main sights there, including Orthodox churches and the long and winding cobblestone street, Andrevsky Spust, which satisfied our souvenir needs. While in Kiev we discovered Puzata Hata, (which means “fat house” in Ukrainian) a cafeteria-style Ukrainian restaurant, the best way to try as many different kinds of Ukrainian cuisine as you can eat, all in one meal. Dave and I returned to sample more the day Mom and Dad left. The name is appropriate, because if you ate there too often, I’m afraid you would become as fat as a house.

So now we’re back in Donetsk and getting ready for the school year. It’s the season of meetings, so they takes a lot of my time, but my classes don’t start until Sept. 9, so summer’s not quite over quite yet!

PHOTOS: In Krakow's main square, Dave and Dad with a Mennonite-built village well near Lvov

Laura

Kiliya Trip

A while back I took a trip to Kiliya (Ukraine) to visit the loan fund there, and to see several of the projects that the fund has lent money to. The board of the fund there consists of the pastors of three Baptist churches in that area. Kiliya is in the somewhat disconnected southwest corner of Ukraine. Just across the river to the east is Romania and Moldova is a short drive to the north. Even though it has a moderate-sized shipbuilding factory, statistically it is located in one of the most impoverished regions of Ukraine.

Wages from the factory are very minimal and those who are not employed there are hard-pressed to find another source of income. One member of the fund’s board told me that both his son and son-in-law are long-haul truck drivers, based 800 km away in Chernivtsy. Both of them have young families who live in Kiliya and had last seen their fathers/husbands about two months ago.

Needless to say, most people are looking for a way to earn/save money. One way that is currently very popular, especially among the Baptist community, is to purchase small plots of land to raise strawberries. These plots of land are usually around 250m² and a poorly kept one will sell for around $100. I was told that, with work, one of these plots will produce enough strawberries to earn $50-250 per year.

I was shown around 20 plots of land that have all been purchased in the past five years using loans from the loan fund. I was also shown several plots that the Baptists hope to purchase in the future. Based on what I saw, it requires a lot of work. First they have to clean up the brush and till the plot the first time. They then plant small, healthy offshoots of their own or their neighbors strawberry plants. In the picture, Stas and Pavel (sons of one of the aforementioned truck drivers) are working to replant a freshly cleared patch. These are not the traditional strawberries that produce for 3-4 years, but instead are dug up every summer after production has ceased. The small, healthy offshoots are then replanted and will produce again the following year.

So many people there have taken out small loans ($100-350) and put in a lot of labor to receive significant returns (especially by their standards). It is an exciting process to hear stories about their projects and even more interesting to see them in person.

Dave

Economic Development

The majority of my responsibilities of my relatively new job in economic development involve taking trips to visit our 14 “partners” (groups of people who operate loan funds and credit unions) throughout Ukraine and one in Russia. Each year we have “projects” with (which means we give small grants to) 5-6 of these partners, so the number of trips is manageable. During these visits we talk about questions and concerns that MCC and/or the partners have. These conversations are usually about 2 things.

First, they are about the operation of the funds. This is a difficult discussion for me to participate in because I am not a specialist in running loan funds or credit unions or economics in general. However, I am trying to be helpful by learning as much as I can, especially about what seems to be standard here. I am also responsible for networking partners. Often a partner has questions and finds it helpful to talk to other partners who may have more experience and be able to advise the next step of development. This networking is also done at an annual economic conference, this year scheduled for November 17-18. MCC covers the bus/train fares of two people from each of the funds to get together (in Zaporozhye) and talk about issues with their funds.

Second, we talk about MCC’s strategic planning process. This is a relatively new process for them (and us) and has proven to be a bit difficult for many. I have not yet had the privilege of writing the original project “plans” (for the 5-6 projects mentioned above) with the partners, but I have my first round of this to look forward to in December. After that, twice during the year the partners are asked to submit “progress reports” which let us know how they are doing with their plans. It takes a lot of time and encouragement to get reports back, especially clear and open ones that provide sufficient answers to all of the questions. It has been my experience that many partners have a fear that MCC is looking for reasons to sever the partnerships and therefore documentation of struggles/failures with the plan will be punished. So another responsibility of mine is to encourage them. My feeling is that we look at things realistically and, as long as they are deliberately trying to make their funds function better, we will continue to work with them. The final step of the planning process takes place at the end of November. We sit down and write an “end of project report.” Reading this terminology also frightens many of the partners and they need reassurance that even though the “project” is ending, the “partnership” will continue.

During my visits, the partners and I travel around to the different loan fund recipients. I take pictures and talk to the people to try to document what is going on. This has been a great experience for me, even though I feel like kind of a tag-along. It is so interesting to see how far they can stretch such a small loan (usually between $200 and $1,500) and how helpful these loans are. These people have had little to no access to capital in the past and they are so incredibly thankful for this opportunity. I am by no means an expert in the area of economic development, but I am learning a lot and meeting some great people. The job has its difficulties but, after almost half a year, I am enjoying it.

Dave

Summer English

This month has been a blur of English Intensive. Six teachers and 20 assistants from the U.S., Australia, Canada and the U.K. came to DCU and have been teaching English all month for six hours a day during the week, plus evenings twice a week. On weekends, we've toured Donetsk, taken them to church and on trips to a monastery and the sea. My job has been to coordinate the teachers and assistants time here, from the meals they eat to the activities they do in class to the places they go on the weekend. It's been fun, but also quite tiring. I've been living this program every day, and now we are in our final week. On Sunday, everyone leaves and the DCU will be quiet again. It's been a good Summer English Intensive.

Laura

Camping

This past week I went to the Sea of Azov and helped lead a camp for the older kids from “Our Home” children’s home. It was great to be able to interact with them for a more significant amount of time than the typical 2-hour block twice a week.

Twelve kids and four adults went to the camp, where we slept in tents and cooked our food over the fire. Our campsite was located about 500 yards from the sea, so we spent a lot of time there. We swam a lot and played a lot of soccer, ultimate Frisbee, and Rook. We also had a lot of quality hangout time on the beach and around the campfire. It was a really good time.

We were advised to always keep a close watch on the kids because they may try to sneak away periodically for a smoke break (which is VERY forbidden in the Baptist community here) and I was surprised how few times this seemed to happen. I won’t go so far as to say that none of the kids were able to sneak away for this, but I was very impressed. The kids at “Our Home” (also called Good Shepherd) are a bunch of really great kids.

Even though Our Home isn’t formally written into my job description, I find myself wanting to spend more and more time there, and maybe wishing it were my full-time “job.” I remember how impressionable I was in my teenage years and am so thankful that I had great role models to look up to. It is my hope that by spending my time with these kids, and especially the boys, I am able to be a role model for them to look up to. The nationals who work there are doing a great job and I am so glad that I have found a place where I can plug in a bit and really believe in what is happening there.

Dave

Coalition politics

The other day Dave went to buy train tickets for a quick trip to Kiev, and found that train tickets had almost doubled in price. A one-way ticket used to cost $12.50, now it costs $21.50. We went to our Russian lesson directly after buying the tickets, and broke the news to Marina, which provoked an outburst of political frustration. She said she heard the minister of transport say in an interview that Ukraine’s tickets are the cheapest in Europe, so that justifies the price hike. That may be true, but Ukraine’s salaries are also probably the lowest in Europe. She went on to vent about the political “circus” currently taking place in the government. March 26 was parliamentary elections. Three parties got significant chunks of votes, so they have to form coalitions. That was supposed to take a month, but at that point they were still fighting about who will align with who. Meanwhile, not much got done in the government. Marina says it’s because most of the politicians are really businesspeople who got into politics simply to gain some influence in order to increase their profits. So no one could agree, because everyone is out for himself. Since then, however, we’ve learned that there has been a coalition formed with the West-leaning parties, including the current president’s “orange” party. Maybe now some progress can be made.

By the way, we’ve since learned that the government has been meaning to increase train ticket prices for a long time – prices haven’t gone up in six years – and has just now gotten around to it. One reason given was the March elections. Last year the Ukrainian railroad company lost nearly $500 million dollars, because they were subsidizing the cost of train transport. Tickets are expected to increase another 30 percent next year.

Laura

Accent game

I play an ongoing game with myself when out in public, and speaking to strangers in Russian. It’s a test of my Russian communication ability, and a way of encouraging myself to work on my language skills. Whether or not I win is based on the response of those I talk to. Here’s how it goes:

1. I say something in Russian.
2. If whomever I talk to listens to what I say, then tries to respond in their broken English, I lose. This means they can tell I’m a bumbling American. Which I don’t like to be. And it usually insults my knowledge of Russian, since many Ukrainians don’t know much more than their numbers and basic greetings in English.
3. If the listener simply responds to me in Russian and goes on his/her way, then it’s a draw. (This is the most common response. I take it to mean that they can hear my accent, but aren’t interested enough to ask about it or try their English skills.)
4. If the person listens, responds to my question, then asks if I’m Polish, Czech or from another Eastern European country, then I win. That means (to me) that although they hear that I have an accent, it is not obvious that it’s an American accent, and I’m a little closer to being, if still a foreigner, a foreigner with a difficult-to-recognize accent. Maybe even a Slavic-sounding accent. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen very often.

I really don’t know why I care about what my accent sounds like, or why I don’t like to be identified with an American accent. I guess it’s the ever-present desire to fit in. Instead, as an English teacher, I probably should be happy for the people who get to practice their English on me – it’s probably exciting for them. I doubt they get the opportunity very often.

Laura

New Feathered Friend

We’ve welcomed a new pet into our lives for the summer – Sonny. Sonny is a cockatiel who belongs to an American family who’s in the States for the summer. Since we already had Petey, we agreed that having one more bird wouldn’t make much difference. So far they're are getting along well, although Petey seems more enthusiastic about their relationship than Sonny. He frequently hops over to Sonny’s cage to play with his toys, while Sonny indifferently moves to the opposite side of the cage. Sonny is more people-tame than Petey, so he’s actually likes to hang out with us - especially when we watch movies. It's a nice contrast to Petey, who’s scared to death of us. In the photo, Sonny’s in the foreground.

Superstitions

Something that’s very prevalent in Ukrainian culture is belief in superstitions. Superstitions affect many parts of life and people take them quite seriously, so as a foreigner, you need to be aware. Never buy an even number of flowers for someone, except for a sad occasion like a funeral – it’s bad luck. Don’t whistle inside, you’ll lose your money. Don’t shake hands over a doorway, it’s bad luck, etc.

The other day in my English class my students were learning “first conditional” sentence structure, i.e. If/will statements. If you eat 10 hot dogs, you will get sick. If you toss a penny in a fountain, you’ll have good luck. Perfect for superstitions. So I gave them a list of American superstitions and we talked about them. Then they wrote down their own Ukrainian/Russian superstitions, and shared with the class. The activity could’ve lasted all afternoon. Even after the written lists were exhausted, the superstitions kept coming. If you meet a person with an empty bucket, you’ll lose your money. If you sit on the corner of a table, you won’t get married. If you forget something and go back home to get it, you’ll have bad luck. If a pilot says goodbye to his friends, he won’t come back. And on and on.

So here was my golden opportunity to ask for clarity about a few “superstitions” that had proved to be particularly strange to me. So I asked about my favorite – If a woman sits on concrete (such as a step or ledge), she won’t have kids. (Apparently they say your ovaries will freeze). The prevalence of belief in this superstition was experienced firsthand by friends of mine who were sitting on the steps at the train station, enjoying the nice warm weather, when a babushka scared them away with her fury. I figured this was maybe a superstition of the older generation and that my young, intelligent, educated students could give me some background. My students’ explanation? “That’s not a superstition, it’s medical advice.”

Ok, so I won’t be sitting on cold concrete anytime soon. But hopefully my students know first conditional.

Laura

Graduation day

Tuesday was DCU graduation. Members of the very first Theological English class I taught here at DCU were among the graduates, as were many members of our prayer group, so we had a greater connection to the grads than last year. Graduation festivities include a big meal in the cafeteria for all who attend graduation, and an evening party in which the grads break out their formal wear. This year a drama was part of the production – well done, and fun to see our co-workers and friends show their acting talent. Now begins my full-time work with the Summer English program. Saturday is my last community English class, then I can spend all my time on summer program plans. So far we have a good team lined up – 27 native English speakers joining us from the States, Australia, Canada and Great Britain. (We could still use more if anyone’s interested!). We’re hoping for 200 total students during our intensive summer session, which runs throughout the month of July.

Laura

Retreat in Crimea

This blog is a bit belated. We spent the second week of May near Yalta in Crimea (southern Ukraine) with the rest of the MCC Europe team, at summer retreat. Although the setting was beautiful - our balcony overlooked the Black Sea - the weather was cold. Perhaps ok, though, since most of our time was spent inside in meetings. We had a good time nevertheless - it's always fun to connect with other MCCers from other places. It was also great to see a different side of Ukraine - mountains, winding roads and the sea, compared with plains, coal mines and smoke-belching factories. As everyone back in Donetsk advised, we breathed deeply and got our fill of fresh Crimean air. A few photos:


Even though it was freezing cold and cloudy, Dave and David Martin (Serbia) had to take a dip in the Black Sea, just to say they'd done it.

At a scenic spot along the coast.

The "Swallow's Nest" castle near Yalta.

Greenhouse Harvest I

We returned from retreat and I was pleased to find that the greenhouse looking good. Most of the plants are around 5.5' tall and we have already harvested over 200lbs. It is rather exciting.

Flowers in bags

One interesting cultural trend in Ukraine (and certain other Eastern European countries) is that everyone carries plastic bags. Women have a purse, plus a plastic bag to carry whatever doesn’t fit in the purse. Men also carry them. Shoulder bags, briefcases and backpacks are around, but not as popular as the plastic bag. And it can’t be any bag. Usually they’re bags made of more durable plastic than a typical plastic grocery bag, with name brands and bright colors printed on them – Calvin Klein is a big one, also Boss. Some say random English words and phrases like “Scotch Whiskey” or “Thanks We Invite.” The grocery stores all sell them, for a few kopecks more than the ordinary plastic shopping bags that you get with your groceries. You can also buy them at the market, where whole kiosks are devoted only to plastic bags. It’s no small task to pick the right one, since you can use it for several months before it wears out. Durable nylon-weave bags are also available to tote your stuff around, but are generally only appropriate for pensioners to carry. The rest of us should strive to be more stylish.

Anyway, as people carry their bags around, I’ve noticed that you can tell what season it is by what sort of plant or flower is sticking out of their bags. In general, Ukrainians have especially green thumbs, so plants and flowers are very important – both indoors and out. Daffodils bring the first signs of spring. On Easter weekend pussy willows and weeping willow branches seemed to be the greenery of choice. The first few weeks in May are full of holidays, so tulips are especially plentiful these days. After that will be lilacs, then daisies and other summer flowers. Meanwhile, flowers are interspersed with young trees, rose bushes and garden transplants like tomatoes, all of them peeking out of the plastic bags. Fall brings mums, which last into October. Then at Christmas, evergreen boughs are common, on their way to a decorative centerpiece at a holiday celebration. Bagged plans are pretty scarce in January, February and March – I guess then it’s too cold to carry plants very far in a bag. So my bag-watching tells me it’s spring again, and I’m happy that it’s finally here.

Laura

20 years since Chernobyl

Yesterday marked the 20 year anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which took place in Ukraine in 1986. Much has been written recently in the media, and rememberance services have been held in Kiev and in the towns surrounding Chernobyl (north of Kiev). The photo shows the abandoned town of Pripyat, completely evacuated after the disaster, with the nuclear power station visible in the background. For more about Chernobyl, BBC News has an in-depth look at the tragedy.

Photo courtesy of BBC News

Easter weekend

Today is “Easter Monday” in Ukraine, following the Eastern Orthodox church calendar. Following are a few Ukrainian Easter celebration traditions. The majority of people in Ukraine are Ukrainian or Russian Orthodox. Protestants make up a small minority, and it’s interesting to see how the different traditions of celebration intermingle.

Chisti Chetvirg – “Clean Thursday.” In Ukraine, the Thursday before Easter weekend is a day of cleaning. Orthodox tradition says that you should get up before the sun rises, and thoroughly wash yourself. Then you’re supposed to clean your apartment and get ready for the holiday, since no one should once Easter weekend has begun. Cleaning apartments and washing yourself probably stems from spiritual cleansing that also takes place in preparation for Easter. Some people fast on this day as well. Even though lots of people aren’t religious, the cleaning habits have infiltrated the culture enough that on Thursday, people everywhere could be seen washing windows, sweeping sidewalks and streets, and painting. In the Baptist tradition (the church we attend is Baptist-affiliated), churches have communion services on Thursday evening.

Easter – There are two times a year when the Orthodox church has all night services – Christmas Eve, and Easter Eve. People gather Saturday night and don’t leave until Sunday morning. (And they stand all night – no benches in Orthodox churches!) They bring with them wicker baskets of food – bread, sausage, cheese, even vodka – to be blessed with holy water by the priest. Sunday morning we saw many basket-toting churchgoers, heading home for an Easter feast of “holy” food. Protestant churches have a regular Sunday morning service (maybe a bit longer than usual) and everyone greets each other, saying, “Christ is Risen” “He is risen indeed.”

Paska – This is Easter Bread, and also the translation of “Easter.” It is a sweet raisin bread, baked in a can, so it’s tall and skinny with a round top. The top of the loaf is frosted with white icing and colored sprinkles. About every store/kiosk that sells food has paska for sale on Easter weekend. Some say the top of the loaf symbolizes the cupolas of Orthodox churches (though I don't think the Protestants would say that), others say paska bread originated with ancient Slavic pagans. Wherever it came from, it's tasty.

People also decorate eggs, but more popular than colored dye are little plastic sheaths with colorful designs of flowers, birds and Orthodox churches that mimic real decorated Ukrainian eggs.

Laura