«Ukrainian Action - 2010: Healing the Past», №2, 12-22 June 2010

Editor’s letter

12th of June – a very important day for the participants of the project «Ukrainian Action 2010» – we have finally started our journey! The first interviews with interesting people, the first questions and answers, the first impressions… The journey began in the eastern Ukraine – the city called Kharkiv. That was the city that in 1930s was the capital of USSR, always different in its revolutionary views and approaches to problem solving. Now, just like at the time when the city was a capital, Kharkiv’s people are not afraid to express their thoughts, which for the government could be uncomfortable and unpleasant. They struggle for a peaceful existence for the Ukrainian people in their country and they impress with stories of their lives. During the 12th and 13th of June a box of priceless stories of the project was added to by stories from producer of the theatre «Tymur», whose name is Sydin Vasyl Evgenovych, from priest Igor of Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church and from a revolutionary, founder and worker of Kharkiv’s Literature Museum Olga Ivanovna Klyushkina.

On the 13th of June participants of the project made their way to Lugansk oblast, to find out about difficult, but incredibly amazing fate of generations of mining and metallurgical families.

On the 15th of June we saw sunrise near Zaporizhia. We made our way towards the Cossack’s island Khortytsia, to find out about its beauty and to research the mysteries of pagan beliefs of ancient Slavs. By the evening we were already on our way to the south of Ukraine. Next stop was Simferopol. Here our team spent a week – from 16th

to 22nd of June. People we interviewed here were Crimean Tatars, Greeks, Ukrainians - those who lived a hard life in the south of the country.

21st of June was a special day for the project – first press conference in Info Press Center Haberler Matbuat Merkezi.

Today Crimea is behind us. From 23rd until 28th of June our destinations will be – State Archives in Kiev, Cherrnobyl and village Baranivka in Poltavska Oblast. About them in our next issue.

«Uncomfortable» person Vasyl Sydin.Vasyl Evgenovych Sydin, producer of Kharkiv's Children theatre

«Timyr», was the first one to give an interview to the participants of the project.

In his own words, he's never talked so sincerely about his life.His life was never easy. Workers of a theatre for «difficult»

children found little Vasyl on the street and took him in. Since then he fell in love with the theatre.

Vasyl Evgenovych raised more then one hundred good people from those who had a tough childhood. Now kids from boarding schools, disabled, orphans are acting in a theatre. For them theatre became a real salvation. A place for meetings, communication and even a place that could change their personal life.

He was always «uncomfortable» for his surroundings – soviet power, stereotypes, «grey crowd», always raising painful questions and putting himself forward to solving them. That’s how he remains even today, rejoicing at every victory – his own or others. And never never giving up.

Dzvinka

In spite of rather than because ofOn the 17th of June we went to the village Ozerne, near

Evpatoria, to the national center «Ukraine». It's the only place in Ukraine that has facilities for training and recuperation for people with disabilities.

Many perceive disability as having a life ticket into arranged life, «all inclusive». The state obliged, surrounding people guilty. People with disabilities are often opposed to the usual, «normal» people. But Mariana Terlyuk and Oleg Kolpakov, rehabilitologists of the national center «Ukraine», say that people with disabilities are exactly the same ordinary people, they just appear to have special needs. Like those who have large feet need special shoes, or pregnant women – special clothes. So people with disabilities need special approach.

By themselves, Mariana and Oleg established rehabilitation centre for people with spinal injuries, and called it «School of independent living». There's a flat for training and a workshop, which helps acquiring new life skills. In the centre they teach people to live in the society and not to exist on the sidewalk of life.

We felt the process of such rehabilitation during a «walk» with wheelchairs, when we were asked to try the role of people with disabilities and “drive” to a nearby building in a wheelchair. A lot of

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«Ukrainian Action - 2010: Healing the Past», №2, 12-22 June 2010

AlchevskAfter visiting Kharkiv it was time

to move on to the Lugansk region. The city that I got a chance to see was Alchevsk.

The first thing that struck me in Alchevsk - is air. A dirty, dusty industrial city. I really felt what it must have been to be a factory worker and to live in such conditions. No wonder that people start thinking that its hard to work in a industry. In Alchevsk we lived with a family of engineers Buynytski. In the evening we met the mistress of the house Natalia, and the following day – Volodymyr Grygorovych.

Anyone who lived during Soviet Union had a difficult life. It affected the Buynytski family as well. Natalia Oleksiivna and Volodymyr Grygorovych are divorced. When Natalia Oleksiivna was telling us about the life story of her parents we sometimes had to turn the camera off to give her time to calm down. I realized that it is particularly difficult to talk about difficulties in life of your parents or grandparents. Maybe the things that they always heard from their relatives affected their own history. They still feel the pain of their ancestors…

The following morning there was a new event – we had a guest from Romania, Diana. It was a good start to the day.

Shukri

Difficult fate of Crimean Tatars on their own land

During our stay in Crimea, a young girl Aishe Yakybova, our host, in the first day told me the story of her family. The first word that I heard was «deportation» (for me it was something new, because I only knew about Holocaust and Genocide) – hardship

fear and shock for me was being in a role of a blind person with a stick, walking down the street and having a car passing by very quietly. In moments like these we just want to feel sorry for people with disabilities and are ready to give away our last possession for them. But in fact, they don’t need overcaring. The care that makes them into girlish and greenhouse plants is choking them. Such people are a lot stronger than us, «normal» people, because they know the price of life and achievements. They take life steadily and with humor, and are not embarrassed to have a motto on the wall in a dining room: «When I eat, I'm like always». (There exist a Russian folk proverb for children to make them eat quietly: “When I eat, I’m deaf and numb”.)

Zoya

Bakhchysarai Garden-city

On the 18th of June we visited one of the most beautiful cities in the Crimea – Bakhchysarai.

Our first meeting took place in a unique Crimean Tatar workshop. There we met a jewellery master, whose family have been in the trade for generations, Aider Asanovych Asanov. Aider manufactures silverware and teaches youth the art of filigree.

Afterwards we went to a pottery studio, where we listened to life stories of ceramists and were finding out the intricacies of making pottery. Inside the gift shop we couldn't resist buying something to remember the trip.

After having lunch in a Crimean Tatars restaurant and enjoying the wonderful views of Khan's palace, we went to meet the family of Crimean Tatars Aishe and Zinyr Yakybov. They received us like close and dear people. The family sincerely shared with us their life history, introduced us

to all their relatives and neighbors, showed us many photos, letters and telegrams.

Galochka

years of soviet life in Asia like a white semi deserted stain in life. And after she told me about the long awaited and difficult return home, how the neighbors would not accept them, continuous rejection of any work. But they managed to get a foothold, withstand all the problems, survive and hide their pain. When I ask Aishe about the language, she smiles. Within the family, they speak Tatar, in order not to forget the mother language. And that's to be respected by Kharkiv's Ukrainians, because it must be understood that family is the cradle of the nation.

Mykhailo

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«Ukrainian Action - 2010: Healing the Past», №2, 12-22 June 2010

Did Cossack's Sich 1 exist in Khortytsia?

The first thing that struck us was the positive plaques, with which the island was kind of «communicating» with its visitors: «You are in Khortytsia, be happy!», «Khortytsia is pleased by your presence». These little signs along the road created the impression, that Khortytsia is a living creature, that react to our actions.

The island struck us by the variety of landscapes – rainbows of wildflowers, the majestic Dnipro river with its rocky shores, with its huge trees… The special mystery to the island of Khortytsia is given by the discoveries provided by Ukrainian archeologists, who found the sanctuaries of Slavic neopaganists.

But Cossack's Sich in Khortytsia Island is a beautiful legend. Scientists proclaim that they haven't found any signs of its existence on the island.

In my traveling diary the city of Zaporizhia and Khortytsia Island left unusual marks: unknown purple flower, yellow yarrow grass and a cannabis leaf…

«You felt your happiness!»Khortytsia Islandhappy with everyone – Lissa

P.S. We’ve made it through most of our difficult and exciting journey. But the project still needs support. If you want to learn more about how to help, contact us!

Info: Tel. . +38-063-1428922Additional: +38-067-5266968,

+38-097-98-14-372E-mail of the project:

ukrainian.action@gmail.com Web-site: www.f-4-f.org

1 Cossack's Sich, in other words Zaporizhian Sich, Cossack Republick - various fortified settlements that existed sequentially from the 16th through 18th centuries on the famous Khortytsya Island in the middle of the Dnipro River.

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