March Update

It is the middle of March and it feels as though spring has arrived in Ukraine. There is the chance that there may be another snowfall, but we are hoping that this does not occur. The birds are chirping, buds are appearing, and flowers are emerging. We expect that spring in Zalischyky will be lovely because of its location on the Dniester in the west.

January and February were not bitterly cold months, but for some reason the days seemed to be long and overcast. In January we attended a Ukrainian language refresher training in Kyiv. Our language skills are okay, but not fantastic. After the language refresher, we visited a PC friend, Mitch, in the resort/rest city of Mirgorod, literally translated means “peaceful town.” It was great to get the perspective of being in a different city in Ukraine where a volunteer lives. After 2 nights, we were back to Kyiv for a meeting to review grants from fellow volunteers. The committee is called SPA which stands for Small Project Assistance. These small grants help volunteers to encourage sustainable projects in their communities.

We celebrated Valentine’s Day, which is a holiday that Ukraine has adopted from the USA. Scott’s school hosted a disco for the children in the town, which we attended. The children at the schools sent valntines, recited poetry, performed skits, and the cutest couple. In many ways, the holiday was celebrated more than we remember it being celebrated in the States. Two days later, we celebrated the 27th wedding anniversary for Scott’s coordinator Olena and her husband Anatoli. They have been very welcoming to us and are our neighbors, living in the apartment building next to ours. We hosted Dima, our first host family’s son, during the last weekend of the month. He is a great guy who is studying at the National Economic University in Kyiv and is a security guard at one of the television stations there also. Dima says hello and wishes all our family and friends at home hello and good health.

March 8th is the International Day of Women and while there are many holidays in Ukraine, this is one of the biggest. Our town had half days on Wednesday and no classes on Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday afternoon, we were invited to a lunch with teachers from Scott’s school to celebrate Women’s Day. Four hours later, after dancing and visiting, we were exhausted and were happy to be on our way home.

We just returned from another conference in Kyiv, this time focused on Citizen Participation. One of the requirements was that a counterpart from our community would attend the conference with us. Much of the instruction was about the political structure of the country and how local groups can accomplish goals with funding from the government and local sources. There was some role playing and we were put in situations to make decisions. Our counterparts were pleased with the week of work and it was good for them to see the type of information and training that is available through PC. On the Saturday following the conference, we had a get together with other volunteers that are in the area. The meeting was relaxing and we all shared stories of successes at our sites and go to know each other.

Hope all our family and friends are doing well. We miss you and love you!