Dear All,
Less than two weeks until I move into my own place. Yowza!
Ivanka is now VERY pregnant. She is out of the hospital but must take things very slowly and not do too much, or that baby girl will be here sooner than anyone expects and than she should be. This is very difficult for Ivanka; as I have said before, she is a very active individual. I think she is running out of things to do while sitting in a chair, although Michael keeps her very busy proofreading his latest tome.
Michael has been informed by his University that they are setting his department free. That is, they no longer will be funding him from the University’s general fund. It seems the University is growing and, as a result, must make some tough choices about allocation of funds. As his department is mostly about research, it looses out to capital improvements – not an unusual scenario. He gets to keep the space and the equipment but now must find the funds to support administration and research.
So I am going to help him with grant proposals although, as many of you know, finding organizational support from a grantmaker is hard these days. As the Uniate Orthodox Church is an affiliate of the Roman Catholic Church, he has some avenues open to him through Rome, especially since the Uniate Church was banned during communism and Rome wants to help it rebuild. And one of those avenues is an organization with the Archbishop of Seattle on its Board so, for what it is worth, I will be in touch with him to make the connection. Luckily this Archbishop has a history of working internationally (which is likely why he sits on this particular board), so I will write a letter looking for advice/direction. I know this is a long short, but anybody out there know a source of support for ecclesiastical research??????????
Separate from the exciting home life, things are pretty slow. This past Friday was Ukrainian Independence Day which, I believe, marks the end of summer vacations (not unlike our Labor Day). Mid-month I will be going to Kyiv for a week’s worth of training (ugh!); I don’t really need this training, but it is an opportunity for one of my counterpart organizations to take it as well. Dema, one of the co-directors at Unity, was elected to attend. This should be a trip (figuratively), as Dema is a Demon when it comes to frenetic energy. How this guy will sit still for lectures – or for anything that is not related to schmoozing and building business – is beyond me at this point. I expect either I will be surprised and he will make it through all four days OR he will use the opportunity to be in Kyiv to make more connections, which really is his specialty. At this point, the only good side of all of this for me is that I will be able to spend four days with my friend Mary, who now is in Novovolynsk (previous email).
I also have volunteered to serve on the Peace Corps/Ukraine’s Small Grants Program, which provides up to $5,000 to Peace Corps Volunteers in Ukraine for projects. The money comes from USAID. I am interested in doing this as it builds my experience working with grantmaking internationally and puts me in touch with Embassy folks (who have grant programs) as well as some international grantmakers. I figure the experience wouldn’t hurt, and it allows me to keep my toes in the grantmaking waters, so to speak. If selected, it also means I will return to Kyiv at the end of September - not something I would look forward to. Kyiv is just too big – 5 million people. Maybe I will feel differently about it after having lived in Lviv (800,000 people) for these few months. Previous experiences with Kyiv were in direct contrast to those in Chernihiv, which had a population of only 300,000. And those previous experiences also came when I was newer to Ukraine, and everything felt a little overwhelming. We shall see. At any rate, I am not looking forward to being away from my new home so soon after moving in.
Oh, before I forget, if any of you knows of or has children in school studying international history/issues/whatever and thinks the teacher would be interested in creating a link with me here in Ukraine as a tie to curriculum, please let them/me know. I’d be happy to participate. Peace Corps supports this sort of thing, and I would build it into my work week.
Finally, this Friday I get to go to the Opera – my first in Ukraine and my first opportunity to peek inside Lviv’s amazing Opera House. It is one of those that was built during Hapsburg reign; the architect also designed/built the Opera House in Prague and in Vienna. Am really looking forward to it!
Linda
PS. Very exciting – on my way to work this morning, I was stopped by a woman looking for the next tram stop. Not only did I understand her questions, but she understood my answers! FYI, I get stopped all of the time for directions, etc. Ivanka thinks it is because I look like I know what I am doing. Hmmmm, wonder how I pull that one off!
Check out this site to learn a little about my host mother's (Ivanka) grandfather..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Krypiakevych
Dear All,
In this letter I thought I would talk about living in the former Soviet Union. In fact not just in the former Soviet Union but in a country that was, and among some still is, considered an integral part of Russia. It won’t be so much about history as it likely will be about my reaction to history as I learned it and experienced it and as that knowledge is being challenged and/or complicated by the experiences of those I am meeting who live in this country.
Learning the history of this country has been an eye-opener. Learning about myself and my own predjudices has been equally surprising. Like many of you reading this, I grew up in the era of the Cold War and still remember the ‘duck and cover’ drill I was taught in grade school. My perceptions of this place – Ukraine - were pretty general (think Soviet and all that can imply) and pretty two-dimensional (no exceptions; no depth; no separation between Russian and Soviet eras). Growing up in the 60’s, I thought I had grown beyond all of the ‘propaganda’ about the Soviet Union. (Interesting, the word propaganda is a Ukrainian as well as a Soviet word; here it means publicity. And, for the record, Ukrainian is a separate language – it is not Russian. I am learning Ukrainian; I cannot understand Russian. No judgement here; just fact.) Well some of the propaganda about the Soviet Union stuck and stayed put despite all of the learnings I thought I had experienced since that time.
My first surprise was my visceral reaction to seeing the huge statue of Lenin still standing in the central park of Chernihiv. Not only was I surprised, I also was a bit judgemental that the Ukrainians would still have the thing standing in such a prominent position – you can’t miss it. Then came my response to those military (and now police/militia) uniforms with the disproporationately large hats. Why were they still around. Why did they make me uncomfortable. And why did I resent all of those folks in Chernhiv who insisted on speaking Russian when, in fact, they were Ukrainian. And why did I feel such a real sense of relief my first week in Lviv, when I finally heard the national anthem and saw Ukrainian flags flying along an entire boulevard, where everyone spoke Ukrainian and where they did not waste a moment pulling down their statue of Lenin.
In Chernihiv, I was generally uncomfortable in the culture. People there were conflicted about their current position as an independent nation. I couldn’t understanding their perspective. After all, Chernihiv experienced some of the worst of Stalin’s imposed famine of the 30s. What’s to like about that history? Come on people, just think “Chernobyl.” And why weren’t folks more enthusiastic about their independence. After all, now they could determine their own history.
Coming to Lviv, I felt a great sense of relief. Sure it feels European, but that has never necessarily been a comforting feeling for me. I usually feel more at ease in non-European cultures. As I was talking with Ivanka about the country’s history – she wants the country to remain together – she was telling me about an article in this week’s Lviv daily newspaper. The article spoke to differential memories based on differential experiences. She wants to understand why folks in the West feel so differently (on the whole) than folks in the East. The article addressed the different memories different parts of the population have about their history, particularly as it relates to the Soviet Union.
And there is a clear difference between most of the rest of the country and the western third of it. Here folks, appreciate their Russian as well as their Polish and the Austro-hungarian history – and they are relieved, excited and ready to explore themselves as independent Ukrainians. There is a clear distinction for them between Soviet occupation and Russian rule. Here Stalin and Hitler are hissed in the same breadth.
Back east in Chernhiv, folks are proud of their Russian heritage (most of them are ethnic Russians); they also feel sentimentality towards the Soviet Union because it was the Soviets who kicked out the Nazis - this despite their rough treatment later by Stalin. (In case you don’t know about it, Stalin created a famine in Ukraine through centralization of farming. It was intentional. Ukraine was very attached to the idea of private farm ownership; individual entrepreneurial farming and marketing were core to the rural economy. Stalin’s policies around centralized agriculture were not well received or followed; and the Chernihiv region was particularly independent. Finally, to break the independent farming system, Stalin raised the grain quotas so high over several years, that no food was left for the population; folks died in the tens and hundreds of thousands. Many of those who didn’t die from the famine were relocated east. Ethnic Russians then were relocated south to take over the vacated land.)
So, in Chernihiv and other parts of the East, the population remembers the horrors of Nazi occupation; this coupled with the fact that most of the population is actually Russian of direct and relatively recent Russian decent translates into folks feeling a deep bond with Russia. The only thing that might have underminded that bond was a another major act of betrayal by the bretheren up north - and that was Chernobyl. While the accident itself was not intentional, the withholding of information about its impact on those living in the area was. Folks were traumatized by the betrayal. It was the West (Ukraine) that stepped in and pushed for complete independence. As some time has passed, Chernobyl has not been forgotten but the sentimentality in the East of the previous bond also has resurrected. The conflict – in individuals and in the country - comes, in part, from this dilema.
So the difference in history between the east and the west has created very different perceptions of the value in being independent. The west had a succession of overseers, most of whom allowed the area to develop in its own direction under outside political oversight. People in this area have the perception if not the history of being Ukrainian for quite a while now – hundreds and hundreds of years; often they can trace their ancestory back quite far – sometimes it goes to back to Russia, sometimes it goes to back to Poland and sometime it goes farther south, but, ultimately, it always is perceived as a being a contribution to/integration with being Ukrainian.
The East, on the other hand, really had only one overseer – Russia. This was interrupted by occupation by the Germans. And it was Russia (as the Soviet Union) that returned to rescue them. Because of this and because of the population relocation, the East essentially is Russian. No wonder they are having an identiy crisis!
Folks I met in Chernihiv don’t have a problem considering themselves Ukrainian and appreciating close ties to Russia, although the residue of how they finally separated (Chernobyl) has left a really bittersweet after-taste. So why do I feel it is it more important or better to be staunchly nationalist ala the Western part of the country - without that sentimental attachement to Russia? And wasn’t my house father in Chernihiv being nationalistic – the difference came from his inherited memory of the region’s history – and doesn’t he have as much right to his feelings as do my family in Lviv? What does being nationalist really mean? And how were/are my impression colored by my own percpective, which is decidedly more comfortable with the Western side?
My first look at Lviv was decidedly romantic – the beautiful, albeit crumbling, architecture is impressive. And – there was no statue of Lenin; the militia with their Soviet-style headgear was less obvious; and there even was a statue against Soviet atrocities. No ambivalence here. When I travel around town with Ivanka and her mother or her husband and here the stories of which buildings were occupied by Gestapo headquarters and which by the KGB, when I hear the stories about Soviet oppression and when I consider Lviv’s history of independence despite political oversight from without, I can understand why the West not only wants independence but demands it, expects it and won’t settle for anything short of it. And for many from this area, they question association with any other part of the country that isn’t as clear on this issue as they are.
My discomfort was emanating from my own assumptions about Russia, the Soviet Union and the value of independence – much of it formed in the 50s and 60s and the Cold War era. Additionally, given I was relocating to a different culture, I was not too pleased that the folks living their weren’t excited about the possibilities for their future. Perhaps I needed something a bit more concrete to land on than the ambivalence in Chernihiv.
Well, all, thanks for putting up with this ramble. Hopefully you found something interesting in it all. I expect I will return to the topic more throughout my two years here – at least until I work out how my own assumptions around prefered ways for being are coloring my experience.
A few more thoughts, especially for you guys over 35 - the hot casual item for seemingly upwardly mobile/established career, middle-aged and slightly older guys is a photographer's/safari vest. But you must be slightly balding, a little paunchy and have obvious grey hair (a lot or a little) AND... lots of these guys carry a European Carryall (ala Seinfeld) - or should I just say a man-purse!
My best to you all.
Linda in Lviv
Just met with my second partner, the City of Lviv/Dept of Culture and now know more about what I will be doing with them. 3 foci:
1. Lviv has been requested by the European Cultural Foundation to participate in their process/program for developing the city's cultural plan - this request comes with both money and technical assistance. And is heavy on public process. I have been asked to sit with the Department Director on the planning committe, which includes someone from the national government in Kyiv, a woman from Vilnius, Lithuania who has a model she has shared with City folks, a rep from Foundation (in Holland) and some folks from various sectors in the City. It is expected to be a 10 month process, at least for the planning phase. More for implementation, of course. And the Fund is hoping we will kick out a model that can be used throughout the CIS. Should be some good networking opportunities with this one!
2. Lviv will host the European soccer championships in 2012. Along with this comes some $$$, and the city wants to develop cultural components - not unlike what Seattle did with the Goodwill Games (and they knew about this...). I have been asked to be an advisor in the process and in program development.
3. Lviv has received USAID money to begin moving its budgeting process towards line item accountability insteading of what they do now - which is dump it all into a department fund which mysteriously gets transfered to projects after the fact. The move is supposed to direct the City towards accountability and transparency with a shift to budgeting based on specific goals. Hmmm, think I know how to do this as well. They want me to help them as they are clueless about this form of budgeting.
Last night we made homemade Vareniki stuffed with cherries - sprinkled with a little sugar - REALLY good.
I'm happy!
Linda in Lviv
Linda Knudsen McAusland (OSR 12) writes from her Peace Corps posting in the Ukraine.