"Healthy Living, Starobelsk!"

flickr logo photo superimposed on photos of Sergei's class.

How can we help Sergei with his “Healthy Living, Starobelsk!” project? That question has been on my mind the last few weeks.

I've written about how one thing leads to another here. It’s part of the Peace Corps experience. It happened with Victoria NGO and the Starobelsk Library, and now it is happening with the Healthy Living class I attended at the University, taught by Sergei Budyonny. After presenting him with photos of his class, we talked about his project.

Sergei would like to offer more Healthy Living programs for at–risk youth and young adults, reach out into the community more, as well as teach at the University. Drug abuse, alcoholism, HIV/Aids, and family violence are major issues here like in other parts of Ukraine, I'm learning. “It all seems so hidden,” I said to Sergei. “Yes, it is, because no one talks about it. They pretend these problems don’t exist here, but they do. They do." Then I remembered hearing Vera, at Victoria NGO, talk about domestic violence, alcoholism, and the lack of any intervention.

Are there any social services or government help? Sergei shook his head. Programs are limited. The City's family services department has too few resources to address the issues adequately, and the schools spend little effort in reaching their students. What a shame.

Sergei's Healthy Living project, through the local chapter of the Ukrainian Charitable Fund and ARDA, the Adventist social services nonprofit, would address these “hidden” health and social issues through ongoing public education and prevention programs, and eventually more intensive and extensive youth outreach. As far as I know, Sergei and his partner Oleg, an equally personable and enthusiastic person, are the only people able and willing to do this.

Sergei wants to be “a roving Healthy Living ambassador.” ровинг профилактики посол. Посол здорового образа жизни. He wants to offer programs around town that engage people in real conversations about the devastating consequences of drug abuse, alcoholism, sex without protection, and other alluring but dangerous activities including the porn industry, which is very big in Ukraine. Sergei wants to be able to show his videos and DVDs, and some powerpoint presentations: “to show the reality of the situation” and “to sound the alarm that we as a community need to do something about it.” He is a very effective and passionate spokesperson.

So what do you need? “Simple,” he answered right away, “a projector, a laptop, and a screen!" He has a great collection of teaching materials. He said he can get supplies from agencies he works through (the Ukrainian Charitable Fund and ARDA). Oleg would work during the day when Sergei is at the computer store, and he would work at night.

That’s it? "Yep, I’d pack ‘em up, get help from the agencies for printing flyers and publicity, and off we'd go, into the schools, the streets, wherever.”

Public Education and Prevention. It can be done. I added it up in my head and figure Sergei needs about $1,000 to start, not a lot in American dollars but prohibitive in Ukrainian hryvnia at an 8% exchange rate. Actually, I'd like to add $500 for a good public relations campaign, big billboards and a media blitz. A little goes a long way in Ukraine.

Now I’m thinking about writing another Partnership grant. I don't have time for a Peace Corps Small Project Assistance (SPA) grant or I'd go that route. I've emailed PC about my intentions. I can’t promise anything, I told Sergei. But he's ready to go, bless his heart. His commitment is strong. No matter what happens, he will continue to fight for Healthy Living Starobilsk. I hope we can help. Your thoughts are welcomed.

No Planning, No Connecting, Maybe

Suzy Sunflower, a true super creative PCV, at her English Club's Halloween party. What we won't do for our projects!

It’s hard getting coordinated when you don’t have a schedule or plan or itinerary, but it’s “normal’no” in Ukraine; we accept it. Sometimes things work out, sometimes not, like when I tried to coordinate a visit with my PCV friend Suzanne on my trip to western Ukraine. We had emailed, phoned, skyped and were looking forward to seeing each other again.

I said I'd call when I got to Lviv, but I didn't know our schedule. No problem, she said, I don't know mine either.

Suzanne, a beautiful California woman in retirement, was the first person I met when we started our PC orientation on April 1, 2009, in Philadelphia. We were raw recruits, novices, unsure of what we were doing. We’ve kept in touch ever since, although we are posted in opposite ends of the country. I’m in the far east, and she is in the far west, in a small town an hour north of Lviv, Dobrotvir, where she works with the library, on an HIV/Aids project, and various other projects. It’s been challenging but she’s done great things, a real trooper.

We never did connect. We learned later that we had been only a few blocks from each other in the center of Lviv. She had been running around to get supplies for a project; the people she was with had scattered (gone shopping, she said); she was at a café waiting for the women to return when I called. She had no idea what was going on.

Well, frankly, neither did I. We had just had a great meeting of the Women of Ukraine at the medical university, heard Ospan on the bandoora, a treasured gift, and were going on a Lviv walking tour with Yaroslava from the University. I’ll call again, I told Suzanne.

We kept trying. Calls came and went. Time came and went. We couldn’t make it happen. “Oh well, we’ll connect another time,” we both agreed, as I was running with Olga, Tonya, Julia and Stefa to the Lviv theater, and Suzanne was running with her colleagues to catch a marshruka home.

“I’m looking forward to the day when I can understand what’s happening around me again,” she signed off at the end of one of our many phone calls. “Hey we’ve gotten really good at operating in the dark,” I replied. We laughed and knew we had connected afterall, just not in person!

For Loren's Birthday, November 12

With Loren in Tallahassee, at a favorite restaurant. Photo by sister Andy.

This is the blog I wrote for Loren’s birthday, exactly one year ago. I never imagined that Loren would not be here for another Birthday. In the scheme of things, his being 8 years younger than me, and five years younger than our sister Andy, the order would be reversed, and I should have gone first. Can anyone explain these things? I don’t think so. “God works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform,” some people tell me. Maybe. The Serenity prayer helps, but it doesn’t alleviate the grief, and it doesn’t explain anything. My cousin Kathy comforted me with this thoughtful message: “It was quick, Fran. Loren was active to the last minute. He spent no time in a declining state…It could have ended so much more badly. Be sad for yourself; but be glad for Loren. Truly, Loren’s heart spared him a too-long life.” A “too-long life.” Something to think about.

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

My brother Loren is in Tallahassee, Florida, but he is also here in Starobilsk, Ukraine with me. That's because we are soulmates. We share a way of looking at the world and a way of being that transcend space and time. Although eight years apart, we are almost twins, as my poet friend Anton would put it.Loren is having a birthday this week, 12 November, so I think of him a lot at this time of year. He's a Scorpio with compassion.

I also take him places with me. When he drove me to the airport to see me off on my Peace Corps adventure at the end of March, I took his spirit with me. When I discovered Chernigov during my training, he was there, encouraging me to forge ahead. When I got to Starobilsk, he got here too. When I broke my arm, he was with me in Kiev. Whenever I see the moon, I see Loren, because I know he is looking at it too, and glorying in the fullness of being and the grandeur of the universe.

As I get to know Ukraine, he is by my side, giving me the ancient history of this place. He reminds me that this geography and culture go back thousands of years, to the time Jean Auel describes in her best-selling novel (and Loren's favorite book), Clan of the Cave Bear. Olga is the name of that book's heroine. Other names of people I write about in my blog, Anton, Natasha, Lara, Anna, are characters in novels by Tolstoy, he says.

Loren is one with the goddess who watches over the earth with compassion and goodness, the female counterpart of God, who teaches us to live in peace, to take care of her planet, to see the oneness and unity of people and the earth. This spirituality informs Loren's environmental work, his work for the poor and voiceless, his belief in participatory democracy, in changing society for the better from the bottom up.

"All things are connected," Chief Seneca said, exemplifying the ancient wisdom of the Goddess and the native peoples of America. So, while I am in Ukraine and Loren is in Florida, we are really sharing the same place, mother earth.

Now Loren is writing his memoirs about growing up with Asperger's Syndrome. My brother is a fierce warrior who fought a beast that held him back all his life. He never gave up. He kept fighting, even when he wasn't sure what he was fighting against. There was no name for it when he was a child in the 1950s or a young man in his 30s and 40s. Loren searched for himself without a guide, on his own, with grit and determination. Only our mother took Loren under her wing and gave him hope. His story is one of struggle and achievement against the odds. He has come to understand himself and the path he was put on at birth. It hasn't been easy.

I am proud of my brother for making his life one of purpose and meaning. He is my hero as well as my soulmate. So Happy Birthday, Loren. Good luck with your book. You're in my heart and soul. Your big sister, Fran

Your book is out Loren, and it's helping lots of people, just like you hoped.

Bonfires Around the World: Fall on Panfelova

Bonfires. It's an Autumn thing. Burning leaves, twigs and branches. A burst of fire towering into the night. A stream of charcoal smoke trailing into the heavens. Orange and gold flames glistening against black skies.

It’s universal. The Autumn poems we read in English Club mostly all refer to them. Here's Robert Lewis Stevenson, born in Scotland:
In the other gardens
and all up the vale
From the autumn bonfires
I see the smoke trails....
Sing a song of seasons
Something bright in all;
Flowers in the sumer,
Fires in the fall.

Katherine Mansfield, from New Zealand, paints an image of "children's noses...red as roses..." in the fires of an "Autumn Song." Mary Oliver, Ohio and Provincetown, USA, in her "Song for Autumn," sees “the piled firewood…longing to be on its way." And Roselynn Curro, in Rochester, NY, tells about a night “trick or treating” with her young son:
It is dark, crispy cold.
A silence fills the trees.
Soft sounds, faint lights,
The smell of burning leaves.

Bonfires around the world, connecting us through the senses, and bonfires here in Starobelsk, Ukraine.

So Princess (приинчесса), Luba’s cat, and I watched Luba build a bonfire in front of her house on Panfelova street last night. She added twigs and branches, stoked the fire, broke more branches off nearby trees, piled them on, and set the night aglow. The flames grew higher and higher, brighter and brighter, against the blue-black sky, against the backdrop of a gold weeping willow tree, one of the most beautiful I have seen. We stood mesmerized. Luba satisfied. We watched the fire crackle, sparkle, and shoot up into the sky, the unforgettable sights and sounds and smell of Autumn. Fall on Panfelova. Bonfires everywhere.

Sergei's Healthy Living Class

flicker photo superimposed on photos of Sergei's class, November 2010.

I went to a Healthy Living class at the university a few nights ago, taught by my friend Sergei, who manages my favorite computer store. I expressed interest and Sergei invited me. This class is given every year for incoming freshman. Drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, family violence, and alcoholism are major problems in Ukraine, and Starobelsk is not immune. Many PCVs work with these issues and at-risk populations. I've wanted to do something here too but have been unsure where to begin.

So I attended Sergei's class. He is an excellent teacher, informative, calm and confident. The class of 20 freshman, average age about 17, featured good discussion. I think there was more give-and-take than is usual in a Ukrainian classroom, lots of interesting conversation (in Russian but I got some of it) The DVDs that Sergei shows helped stimulate discussion. They are contemporary, fast-paced, full of rap, rock and animation, with serious and graphic messages against drug use, violence, disrespect for others, sex without protection. "Drugs and the porn life equal death" one documentary warned, showing relentless images of beautiful young people who have died from overdoses, violence and drug abuse, a message punctuated by thumping rap music.

Sergei's list of the “10 Most Important Things for a Healthy Lifestyle” contains all the usual prescriptions: Eat well, exercise, don't smoke, don't drink alcohol, don't do drugs, practice safe sex, moderation in everything. I added “have positive attitudes and strong values.”

Like everything else these days, Sergei’s class reminded me of Loren. Loren was not in good health, and maybe we didn't do enough to help him. Heart disease is the #1 cause of death in the US; here in Ukraine too. Loren’s death was avoidable, but he could not control his weight gain. His eating habits were bad, his cholesterol high, his blood pressure high. We knew he had these issues, but I guess we didn’t know how bad they were. We reminded him about them, though, time and again and again, but Loren couldn't do it alone. It makes me sad. Loren was not healthy, and as I’ve written before, his overburdened heart overcame his impassioned will.

We did get him a physical trainer at Gold's gym, Steve, who was fantastic, devoted to helping Loren. But Loren could not or would not change his bad eating habits, no matter what Steve tried. Andy was there, right on it, checking with Steve and Loren almost daily. I reinforced Steve’s mighty efforts, cheering Loren from the sidelines. Could I have done more? My daughter Elissa said, "Mom, Loren was an Aspie, but he was an adult," reassuring me that really there wasn't much I could have done to prevent Loren's heart attack. I don't know. I have deep regrets about this, and about the loneliness he assuaged with food. Ah Loren, how could I have been a better sister? How could I have helped? Maybe I should have stayed home, in Florida? If only you knew how loved you were.

And so I left Sergei's class hoping these young students get the message, and wondering how I might have helped Loren get the message. Sergei and I walked home together in the silence of the night, gold trees shimmering against a black sky, beauty everywhere. Loren’s spirit everywhere. Sergei’s good work a shining light. Everything is bittersweet these day, but Sergei's commitment to addressing a serious social problem brought me back to the present. It's important work, and Loren would have thought so, too. Now I wonder if there's more we can do in Starobelsk to bring Sergei's class to a wider audience.

Library on a Roll: E-powering the people

"Integrate Into the World!" The English Books Collection. Below, "Creative Ukraine" Exhibit.

The Library is on the move! Its English book collection, under the great slogan “Integrate Into the World,” is mostly up and being used. The Library is refreshing not only its collections but also its exhibits. It put up a new “Creative Ukraine” exhibit of books, arts, crafts, and photographs. Beautiful and inspiring. The library reading room is full of things made by English club members, like colorful posters, photographs, masks and origami pumpkins. The Library is looking more festive and welcoming than ever!

Best breaking news of all: The Library is now applying for the final stage of the Bibliomist project: getting 15 computers, support for internet connectivity, and training on how to use the new technology.

Bibliomist is the multi-million dollar project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to bring computers and internet access to 1,000 libraries throughout Ukraine. It is managed by IREX, an international management NGO. We have worked for over a year to make sure Starobilsk is one of those libraries. That dream is closer to becoming a reality.

“E-powering the Library will e-power the people,” I wrote in my letter of support for the Library’s application.

It’s been a step-by-step process leading up to this proposal. First the Library started an English Club, which has been a great success. Then it established an English language books collection, thanks to donations of books from Toledo, Ohio, and gifts of $900 from American friends to a Peace Corps “Partnership Grant.” It is considering a work-study program with the University, a new collaboration, to insure ongoing assistance with the English Club. Next it applied for and received a Bibliomist grant for community outreach to English teachers and increased promotion efforts. During this process it acquired a “sister” or partner library with the Boyd County Public Library in Kentucky, with the help of Amanda Stein. New computers and internet access will increase opportunities for information exchange between our small library and the award-winning Boyd County library. These things take time, but the foundation has been laid. They are all FIRSTS for the library.

Continuing to build on these evolving projects, the library has just applied to the US Peace Corps to get its very own Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). That’s why Marat Kurachevsky’s visit a few weeks ago was so important. I’ve done a lot with the Library (a secondary project) but my primary assignment has been with Victoria NGO, and for that we developed the “Know Your Rights!” project and got a SPA grant to implement it and have done some work in organizational development for future growth. Another "democracy" grant is underway.

A new PCV specifically assigned to the Library would be another first and ensure the sustainability of the English Club and English books collection. Most of all a new PCV will be able to provide ongoing support for computerizing the Library, cataloguing and uploading its collections, getting online, and training the librarians in using the computers to better serve their visitors. And maybe if (or should I say "when"?) the Library gets those 15 computers with internet access (and hopefully WIFI connectivity) the new PCV can help create a real Internet Café for the Starobilsk community, too.

It's been a dream since my first visit that the Starobilsk Library evolve into an exemplary Bibliomist site, getting computers and using them to modernize, reach out, and provide free public internet access. The Library is on its way to becoming a more entrepreneurial, more modern multi-purpose community resource for Starobilsk and the entire rayon. This is a wonderful achievement for the Library and its director Iryna Andreenova. The Library is on a roll!

How to Give and Receive

As part of our efforts to share American traditions, I use this photo of my great grandson Philip, the cutest child ever, dressed up as SUPERMAN, going door to door with his mom on Halloween night in Toledo, Ohio. Gran-E went along too, and took this photo. I call this a "how -to" photo: how-to go trick or treating. Dress up in a great costume, I explain, put on a mask if you like, like the ones we made in English Club, and be sure to have a plastic pumpkin, or a nice bag. I'm holding up the photo to illustrate. I tell them some people even use a pillow case. Yes, that's right, a pillow case. Very big, to give the message that the person wants lots of candy. Not just a few pieces of candy, many pieces. The latter, I say, is an example of American greed. I don't have photos of that, and I don't know people like that, I assure them. This lesson in cross-cultural understanding, though, has a mostly positive spin: Thanks, America, for showing us how to give and to receive, and for promoting the fun side of American traditions.

Sure, Fran, any excuse to show us Philip!