Ukraine Turns 20

as an independent country! I've been trying to help out with English Club in Lugansk, which is fairly established, led by Peace Corps Volunteers, and has a regular attendance of Ukrainian adults and university students. Last Saturday's topic covered how Ukrainians feel about their Independence Day as well as the differences between America's Independence Day (4th of July). I was surprised to see such mixed emotions; some felt it recognized the freedom of individuality while some just saw it as a day off from work. No one really talked about why Ukraine wanted independence in the first place. Before independence, Ukraine was apart of the USSR when Stalin was boss. The USSR spread ideas of class equality, hard work, and a strong military throughout but, like most governments, became corrupt with greed and power. Ukraine is no stranger to unfair treatment, the most well-known example being the Chernobyl disaster.

Info. on Chernobyl (skip if you're familiar):
In 1986, a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, a town in what-is-now-Ukraine, leaked radioactive material caused by an accidental explosion. The Soviet government knew about the leak but decided not to tell anyone about it, not even the plant's employees, until days later when the radiation levels set off alarms at a nuclear plant in Sweden. When a mandatory evacuation was issued in Chernobyl and surrounding towns, officials gave little information about why and to bring only three days worth of belongings. Today, the Chernobyl disaster's death toll reaches almost a million people who died from cancer due to radioactive contamination. Many died due to lack of information and to this day it's not recommended to go back to Chernobyl or even eat fresh water fish in Ukraine because of high radiation levels.

A less well-known but even more tragic example is Ukraine's 1932-3 Famine.

Info. on Famine (skip if you're familiar):
The Soviet government unreasonably collected all crops from farmers in what-is-now-Ukraine, leaving none to feed their families and village. If farmers hid food or disobeyed, they were immediately killed. Those who survived either hid food, bribed Soviet officials, or fled the country (notice how all of these options are illegal). I've heard stories about entire villages surviving off potatoes and bread for an entire year. It is estimated 8 million people, or one out of four, died in what-is-now-Ukraine. Also, there was a lot of mysterious disappearing of Ukrainian scholars and authors during this time. Throughout the world, it is widely accepted as a tragedy and some go further to recognize it as genocide. Many believe the USSR was making a point to attack Ukrainian nationalism, destroy the Orthodox Church (made illegal by communist rule), starve Ukrainian villages to death, and replace what-is-now-Ukraine with its overcrowding population. This is a controversial issue as a forced famine is only genocide if the reason was ethnically motivated and some non-Ukrainians also died during the famine. Only in 2008 did the Ukrainian government publicly recognize the famine as genocide, when all this time those responsible for the famine were not even punished.

Learning about Ukraine's past is frustrating as it's ridiculously unfair. Just to survive the famine, Ukrainians were forced to reduce their inner circles, resort to illegal activities, and accept that their government doesn't care about them. Even though Ukraine has been independent for 20 years, television channels are filtered by the government (except one as of 2008), top government officials are constantly in the news over corruption, and some government officials don't even speak Ukrainian! Maybe this lack of independence day pride stems from their belief that Ukraine's government doesn't reflect upon Ukrainian culture or that they are not actually free. "Old habits die hard" as I now know why inner circles are so hard to break, illegal activity is common, and Ukrainians hardly vote or know about Ukrainian laws. I'm generalizing of course, not all Ukrainians fall into this category, especially the new generation. Even though sometimes it's disheartening, there's hope through Ukraine's education system and organizations like Peace Corps that don't have ulterior motives. I truly believe the key to success is education and if Ukraine has survived this far, its strength will persevere through all this ridiculous-ness and come out proud!

Some personal updates:
The past 3 days I've had no water and I've already used all my saved water from the bath tub so that means no toilet water, no cleaning dishes water, and no hand washing water. Ok Ukraine, you got me! I'll take this as a learning opportunity that I need to buy more containers to store water. To get my mind off my water situation, I bought a watermelon and some lemons at the bazaar and pectin (thanks for the tip Amy!) at Metro to make watermelon jam! I'll let you know how it turns out...

Yesterday, I went to my first teachers meeting. I wore a freshly laundered outfit, put on my heels, and applied tons of makeup in my attempt to blend in, Ukrainian style! Trying not to mess anything up, I decided to take the trolley but accidentally missed my stop! I stumbled in late, looking frazzled, dripping with sweat, and with sore feet from running in my (ever so hated) 4 inch heels. All eyes turned to me and this wasn't the first impression I was hoping to make but I reminded myself there's only one direction in life, forward. After taking a long breathe, I introduced myself via power-point, threw in a joke, and hopefully the cookies I brought won them over. School starts next week, wish me luck!