My first car ride to my host family’s apartment captures a bit of how I felt during my Eastern European adventure… a unknown, wild ride. Working as a counselor for a Jewish camp in Dnipropetrosvk, Ukraine was the job description but what I ended up experiencing kind of felt like living a summer novel. My host family provided large, expressive characters that I got to know mostly through miming, translating, and smiling. My host mother, her 9-year-old daughter, my host mother’s parents, brothers, and the brother’s girlfriend. They spoke virtually no English but took a great interest in learning about America- engrossed in looking at my passport, asking me about “American business men,” and the cost of random items. They treated me like a queen on my birthday (a tiara, balloons, and cake!) and worked hard to finally find food I would eat since I declined their most generous gifts of pork, ham, and cheese. (By the way, since it’s very hot in Ukraine, imagine them all in their underwear most of the time.) The apartment was small, but clean and organized and definitely “a home.” The building on the other hand was built at least forty years ago. There was trash strewn everywhere, windows broken, and some walls completely bare of paint. It struck me that a sense of communal space was totally lost on its inhabitants.

Much of the city that I would come to see over the next weeks would also contain old, abandoned buildings, covered in trash- only to be found right next to a new modern looking apartment building or shopping complex. Nobody seemed to mind.

The other characters in this strange novel were my five fellow counselors, two girls and three boys, from various universities around the US, our respective host families, our school “family” of children (1^st-4^th grade), teachers and administrators, and the Jewish community.

Over the next three weeks we worked at the school from 9am – 4pm, assisting the ESL teachers, teaching English through games, arts&crafts, field trips, dance, and sports. Knowing no Russian ourselves, it was often frustrating and confusing to know if the kids were gaining much from our being there. As the kids became more comfortable around us and we around them, we realized that our presence was at least exposing them to non-celebrity status Americans that they seem to idealize on TV. We also hoped that immersing them in English would help them feel more comfortable being around English in general. A new dear friend and Jewish leader of the community referred to us as “angels” for teaching English to his children; a gift that would help them advance their jobs and income later in their lives.  What struck me was how deeply this community believed in what we were there to do. Their sense of immense appreciation clung to their sincere and humble words and eagerness to assist us in any way possible. Over the next weeks we were welcome into more than a half dozen homes for Shabbat meals, lunches, and even my 22^nd birthday party one week after we arrived.

In these homes we learned about the history of the city and life in Ukraine in general and for Jews specifically. We heard stories of pre-soviet union restriction and despair and how the only things Jews seemed to know about “being Jewish” was “Matzah” and the “problem” that it seemed to be for everyone else. I met Jews who homed crucifixes in their apartments out of what seemed a cultural Ukrainian habit and although they do not consider themselves Jewish by practice, send their children to the Jewish school because “at least it is safe and doesn’t have drugs.” We learned of the numerous Jewish projects and quickly understood the amount of energy, money, focus, and momentum the leadership appears to have in empowering and growing their community. We learned that thousands of Jews are still finding out that they are Jewish, and even more still do not know. I walked along the main commercial road, Karl Marx, acutely aware of the irony in that, and crossed the intersection of Karl Marx and Lenin with my mind churning through old history lessons. I also tried a few Russian delicacies, almost all including some form of potatoes, and learned a few phrases of Russian. I have yet to learn a word of Ukrainian, as it is not spoken in this city of mostly Russian immigrants.

I made some wonderful friends in my co-counselors and felt a sense of deep connection with the Dnipropetrovsk community. Their warmth, honesty, generosity, and love of life, freedom, and their families reaffirmed my deep belief that we really aren’t as different as our history books and politicians might lead us to believe.

This post was submitted by Faith Brigham who participated in JCRC’s Boston English Immersion Camp in Dnipropetrovsk in the Summer of 2010.

http://www.directlytravel.com/donetsk-city-ukraine.html

I paused to contemplate.

I contemplate the land and its changing contours.

I think about the changes this land has seen and the changes it has endured.

But the land remains.

It remains ever present, ever enduring.

I contemplate the Ukrainian culture and all its diversity,

a diversity that I can never totally experience nor understand.

But I enjoy all those cultural aspects that I am blessed to receive.

For the culture endures.

It remains as a rock,

a solid foundation for Ukrainian people.

I contemplate a history that is both sad and inspiring.

Ukraine has seen its share of history;

Ukraine has been history.

Its history has defined it;

Its history has shaped it;

Its history has changed it.

But Ukraine endures.

Its history is indeed before it.

The past is merely prologue.

The enduring spirit of Ukraine demands as much.

I contemplate the character of Ukraine’s people.

God indeed must have decided to put the best of women in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian woman’s beauty is unsurpassed;

Her heart is exceedingly warm and exceptionally strong;

Her smile is a bright spring day;

Her intellect is Ukraine’s hidden strength.

Ukrainian men have been granted a country of beautiful women as a gift from God.

But God has exacted a heavy price from Ukrainian men.

Ukrainian men have died in tragic numbers and in tragic ways.

Yet, they are true patriots.

They are brave;

They are consummate hosts;

They endure.

They are many of my best friends.

I know that no better friend could any one man have but a Ukrainian.

I contemplate where Ukraine is going.

It matters not what I think however.

It only matters what Ukraine does.

But, Ukraine has history;

It has culture;

It has the land;

But, most importantly, it has its people.

I have seen its beautiful and irrefutably strong women;

I can call many of its men my friends.

I know Ukraine will endure.

It will do nothing less.

Rusty Brooks

October 2001

My first impression of Kiliya was very positive, and has remained so through these past months of my life here. The town is comfortable in its own skin —usually quiet, relaxed,  easy to traverse.  As I got settled into my flat, found my way around the town’s shops and streets, and met new people, I was very favorable impressed with the friendliness of this town, and the willingness of people to help me learn about it. I visited the bazaar, the museum, the library, the remains of the old fortress and bell tower, and the churches. There have been visits to the neighboring towns of Vilkova and Izmail.  All of these sites have been interesting and pleasantly surprising: I had no idea of the historic nature of this region of the Danube, and the dramatic events of the past. There have been many struggles between countries and empires, yet people of a dozen or more ethnic groups live side by side here in what was once called  “Bessarabia”.  I have learned that Kiliya is on the list of the ten oldest towns in Ukraine…. 2700 years of history is claimed by this pleasant place, dating from the trade routes of the Greeks and Romans.

This place is ripe for more tourism, especially for those who want someplace out of the way, pleasant and relaxing, but interesting.  The town is about 200 km south of Odessa so it is a bit of a jaunt to get here – but once you are here, there is a feeling that I can only liken to an experience from my home in Hawaii. Of the millions who visit Maui, several a certain percentage of people will make a long, winding 3- or 4-hour drive to the tiny village of Hana in a remote corner of the island.  Sometimes it is the journey itself that attracts the visitor, or the novelty of the remote. And sometimes it is the quiet satisfaction and charm of Hana that captures their souls.    Perhaps Kiliya is Ukraine’s Hana. It takes a couple-few hours to get here, but the trip is well worth it!

Welcome, visitors: come and discover the charms of Kiliya, as I have!

Barbara Trecker, Peace Corps Volunteer, Ukraine

Kiliya Travel Brochure

American Teacher Travels to Lutsk, Ukraine

You may not know it, but flowers are very important in Ukraine.  When you give someone flowers be careful, numbers and flowers mean something specific!  Never give flowers in even numbers, this is bad luck!

Here are some of the most popular Flowers of Ukraine

For more about the Flower Mart visit

http://dc.about.com/od/specialevents/a/NCFlowerMart.htm

or

FLOWER MART

By Harry Stevens, RPCV Ukraine

“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your” world.

In 50 years since the founding of the Peace Corps in 1961, economic globalization has become a fact of life.

In the next 50 years, a networked form of political globalization will emerge from the bottom-up, not top-down.

Two decades ago, Ukraine was the largest of the Soviet republics to become “independent” of Russia, even though it is still “dependent” on it for oil.

Before the turn of the next century, there is athreat of chaos if we are still dependent on nearly depleted fossil fuels. Threats of depleted fossil fuels causing economic chaos, of more wars being fought over oil, and/or of global warming causing catastrophic climate change – together or separately are calls to action.

Nuclear proliferation, fuel depletion chaos, climate change (or global warming), oil wars, and terrorism are uniting diverse nations in calls for political action, in Kyoto more than a decade ago, then in Copenhagen in late 2009, and potentially now in Yalta in 2011. The difference this time is that Yalta in 2011 is taking a bottom-up approach — thus addressing only the climate change threat, ignoring the other threats of fossil fuel depletion chaos, oil dependency wars, nuclear weapons proliferation, and network-based terrorism.

Adopt this 40-year-old slogan:

Think globally, act locally

Small hydro and geothermal as well as small wind and rooftop solar sources of renewable energy, in combination with energy storage batteries, some in the form of pluggable hybrid (electric + gasoline/diesel or other fuel) cars, now offer a total energy independent solution for everyone globally to consider.

This becomes what might be called a bottom-up solution to the combined threats of global warming or climate change, eventual fossil fuel depletion, more oil wars in the meantime, network-based rather than nation-based terrorism, and proliferation of nuclear weapons along with nuclear power plants.

About a decade ago, Peace Corps volunteers, led by Peter Foley and Sandra Tacina, proposed secondary projects focused first upon seminars for attracting foreign investment in the free-trade zones of the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine. The first of five seminars was held in a city having abandoned building a nuclear power plant that was discovered to be located on a geological fault that would likely cause a future earthquake.

Upon completion of those seminars, we joined forces with an NGO called Ecology and Peace to sponsor what we called a dialogue ballot in newspapers that attracted a dozen of the nearly 100 participants in a bottom-up Yalta conference focused on “clean energy for Crimea.” That clean energy conference included breakout groups on solar energy, wind energy and energy conservation.

Now, in 2011 celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the Peace Corps, again from the bottom-up in this largest Peace Corps country, a combination of current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and Returned PCVs (RPCVs) are organizing another “Yalta conference” to help launch an energy corps to support achieving the goal of energy independence globally. Initially forming within AmeriCorps in the US, this needs to be multinational.

Recently, in late 2009 the U.S. Congress authorized the doubling of the Peace Corps back to its largest previous size.  Now, some of us who urged that doubling have turned our attention to this symbolic three-part effort:

GLOBAL DECLARATION OF ENERGY INDEPENDENTS: Harvest our own renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal, small hydro) to achieve energy independence and participate in grow-your-own & buy-local efforts.

ENERGY CORPS: initially within US Peace Corps (EC/PC) and AmeriCorps to become multi-national, among the eight current nuclear powers (US, Russia, China, France, Great Britain, India, Pakistan and Israel) and others who may be represented within our bottom-up Yalta Conference in 2011, within reunions of various groups (celebrating Peace Corps at 50 years, the US Declaration of Independence at 235 years, etc.) to adopt a “Global Declaration of ENERGY IndependenTS”. This is being pursued by EC/PC in the form of secondary projects, such as when Ukrainians met with PCVs, RPCVs and experts from the State of Washington in 2001.

EARTH YEAR 2010: Let Thomas Jefferson’s first once-every-ten-years peaceful revolution begin beside his DC statue at the Cherry Blossom Festival in April 2010, led by visiting Ukrainians – Tanya, Olga & Misha* – from Yalta recruiting participants for a 2011 Yalta Conference & Reunions from among those they meet in DC and elsewhere face-to-face and via Skype connections on the 2nd Saturdays of the 1st month of each quarter.

Check out the Movement!: http://co.net, http://ukraina.ning.com, http://PeaceCorpsconnect.org http://www.facebook.com/

In the summer of ‘08 and ‘09 I had the pleasure of teaching at and directing environmentally focused summer camps in Western and Southern Ukraine, for students 14-20 years old.  During the 8-day camp sessions we shared about environmental issues, waste management and project planning.  The students would then decide on a project to implement in a nearby town.

I have never been so impressed by young people as I was at these camps.  Usually, at the beginning of camp the students would be unsure of ever seeing any actual outcome or improvement from a project that they themselves were in-charge of.  However, by mid-way through the camp they were the ones teaching me about enthusiasm and leadership.

This past summer we came across a situation at camp that had never arisen before: The mayor of the village where we wanted to do our clean-up project did NOT want us cleaning up the town. There were several moments of frustration and arguing between the counselors, at the end of which we decided to ask the kids what they thought we should do.

We were nervous. We thought the kids might just give up when they heard the town administration was against the idea of a community clean-up project.  We were wrong. Within three seconds of announcing the problem to the students, six of them had volunteered to go talk to the mayor themselves.

I walked with the self-chosen “delegation” of students the 3 miles to the town administration building and knocked on the mayor’s door. The students (all of them around the age of 16) shocked me with their poise. They would not and did not take no for an answer.

The next day we implemented the project as originally planned.  Just as we were heading out for our celebration hike and barbeque the mayor pulled-up to our campsite in his truck. He had come to personally thank the students for their hard work and for their achievement. He could not believe how much trash we had picked up and was thoroughly impressed.

Ukraine may have its problems and may have a long way too go. But with students like the ones I came across all that needs to be done and to show them they CAN do things and progress will not be far behind.

DRUNK CREW