Boom of National Pride

Boom of National Pride

This week has been especially important to me in terms of the feeling about Ukraine. First, I was blown away by some negative news from back home. While the amount of money people have been earning stayed the same, prices went up by approximately 90%. That means that whatever anyone was able to purchase, even in terms of elementary food products, diminished by two. There are projections that it will be that way and even worse for about 3 years. Moreover, who knows how quickly the economy will recover afterwards. And these are only the mildest effects. At the same time, sharing some positive news with you, I was overwhelmed by the amount of national pride young Ukrainians, who live abroad have, and the way in which they convey it to the world.

First of all, I will tell you about the presentation of Ukrainian students at the American University in Bulgaria during the International Week. Then I will share with you the unique story of Evheniia Melekhovets and her creative work that has helped the world to know what exactly is happening in Ukraine.

Saturday, February 21, 2015 was a long – awaited day at the American University in Bulgaria. The Taste Fest. Almost each of the nationalities represented at the university prepared dishes from their home countries and then presented them in front of the whole university and offered to taste them.  Each year, many students are as passionate about going at the event and trying various dishes, as the ones preparing them are.

Although, it is not an event solely about food. It is a way to present students’ national identity, customs and traditions, dances and much more. This is the day, when students at AUBG can take out their national costumes from the closets and proudly wear them around. This year, it was the day, when Ukrainians showed how talented they are. One more time, they proved that Ukrainians traditions are special and beautiful. Eight Ukrainian students prepared traditional dishes that everyone else could try and presented the national dance. The whole university clapped vigorously, while five Ukrainian girls and one boy moved proudly in the rhythm of the famous national song. Their dance, their energy and smiles gave me goosebumps. I was fascinated by the beauty those students have brought to the campus that day.

Here are some of the pictures from the event as well as the video of Ukrainian students performing the national dance.

Now, moving to another part of Europe, I would like to tell you the story of Evheniia Melekhovets , Ukrainian student, who is currently studying Contemporary Typographic Media in London. At the moment of the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict Ev (this is how people call the girl) was in Paris. Moreover, she has been a part of the European Youth Parliament, and this is how I met her. I remember, one day going on Facebook and seeing infographics, made by her, about what was happening in Ukraine.

She has seen everything with her eyes when she came for a couple of days to Maidan. When she came back to continue her studies in Paris, she felt very bad because she wasn’t in Ukraine with her friends and her people in such hard times. This is when her mother explained to her that, if you want to help, the only way to do it is through something, which you are really good at. So the girl started creating pamphlets, small brochures and other materials, which explained the situation in Ukraine to foreigners.

Ev on the Euromaidan, Paris. February 2014. Photo by Youry Bilak

I have been thinking a lot about how much potential Ukrainian people have and it seems that only right now people outside Ukraine can see that as well. In the time of economic hardship, when it is impossible to find simple butter or oil in the store, somewhere, on the other side of the war, dynamic positive changes take place. When I first went back to Ukraine a year and a half ago, I felt the beginning of those turbulent times. Our generation has an exceptional opportunity to be a part of such fascinating history. The history that has always been created on the grounds of Ukrainian power and patience. Today, the history that has reached the moment, when the patience is no longer applicable, and the only way to finally change something is to fight, not only on the military fields, but also in the information industry and media.

Ev has proven the point that today Ukraine is on its rise. She is in support of the current government and she has had a chance to interact with it through one way or another.Namely, once she was dealing with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and she was deeply facinated by their professionalism. “Not to mention their recent rebranding which is such a moder nstep. I’m just proud of my government at moments like this.” Evheniia also mentions some ecological, environmental and projects that concern responsible usage of energy that are being implemented in Ukraine. “In terms of numbers the situation is no tthe best, but in terms of perspective, it is very promising,” – she shares.

Design by Ev Melekhovets

One of the surprising things that Ev has told me about was the time, when she has created “Who is who on the Eastern Front,” describing different characters of the conflict. “It was supposed to be a humoristic thing.” The next morning, after Evheniia posted her infographics on Facebook, her polish friend called her and said that she saw her work on the Polish TV. Although, it was not represented as HER work, but that of the ministry of the foreign affairs of Ukraine. They used her inforgaphics without even mentioning her name. The girl thinks that “it was amazing, as it made it to the media, but completely unprofessional” in the way it was done. First, because they basically stole her work, and second, because it was her subjective point of view, which was represented from the national point. Later, the Ministry apologized and reposted the work with the girl’s name on it.

While creating her works, Ev had some help from her friends, who were in Ukraine. They helped her with brainstorming, proof reading and just different ideas about her work. One of the things that I personally liked a lot was the “Euromaidanner’s Alphabet”, created by Ev about a year ago.

Design by Ev Melekhovets

First, started with just a few letter, with the help of her friend, Evheniia has created the whole Ukrainian alphabet with the illustrations that give authentic explanation to the revolution. “I love this project,”- she says. “I never translated it, because there is no way a foreigner will understand it.” True. Ukrainian language and culture is so unique, that there are things, simply incomprehensible to another culture. Perhaps this is the reason why Ukraine has survived so many hardships and still managed to be one of the most beautiful countries in Europe.

“I want to …” design by Ev Melekhovets. Visualization of what a Ukrainian girl really wants to see …

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Something we learned in class today

Hello guys!

Today I would like to share with you what we have done today in the Multimedia Journalism class. I was the five shot video explorer 🙂 It is something most of the professional journalists use all over the world everyday. Here you can see the complete explanation of what it is.

And here is what I have created over the break 🙂 Enjoy!

“We don’t speak the same language” or Is there understanding?

“We don’t speak the same language”

Here is the video address of Russian students to those in Ukraine. These young people gathered in one place, from various parts of the country, from different universities in order to send their message to Ukrainians. They communicated the idea that the whole situation concerns them and they, too, are against conflicts and misunderstandings. They are ashamed of the fact that Ukrainian citizen are illegally retained in Russia, that every day someone is dying in Ukraine. I have asked Katya Egorova, the Ukrainian student at AUBG to tell what she thinks about it. The girl has shared that it is a nice message, there are surely meaningful words in it, although it still seems to her that there is no understanding. “Even though we speak the same language, we actually do not.” She further explains:  “It is easy to just say that yes, it is hard, but you actually don’t feel it. Unless the situation touches your personally, your family, you are not aware of what is really happening.”

Maidan Nezalezhnosti. November. 2013.

The argument Katya touched upon has made me think about what it really means to speak the same language. I have personally experienced situations, where the person I am talking to is Ukrainian and we both speak our native language, but he or she simply does not comprehend what exactly I am saying. At the same time, while talking to someone on the other half of the world, I can see the perfect understanding of the other person. Of course, one may argue that it depends upon several factors, yes, for sure, but the idea is that one does not have to be talking your language in order to truly understand you or vise versa, speaking the same language does not always mean understanding each other. When the crisis in Ukraine started, one of the arguments was that person, who live in eastern Ukraine and speak Russian language absolutely want to merge with their eastern neighbor. If a person lives in Ukraine, but speaks Russian, it does not mean that she or he has the mentality of Russian people and views the world from the same point of view as Russian people do. Same applies to any country. Every single person has a right to make a choice. If people in Ukraine wanted to live in Russia, they would have moved there. It is their own right, but they chose to be in Ukraine, and deserve to be respected for such choice.

Further on, Katya told me about how she felt while being home this past winter. The girl is from the Central part of Ukraine, where there is no actual fighting. Walking on the streets of her hometown, Katya would see billboards with people, who got killed in the conflict zone. “This is something that strikes me. It gets me out of my comfort zone,” she said. Can one actually remain in the comfort zone, when the war is happening in his or her native country? That is the question, that, indeed, can be answered from two different points of view. She saw people walking by, in their own thoughts, getting ready for the Christmas celebration. At the same time, she saw those posters, that made her think about what is happening on the other side of the country. It really is fascinating to see that the war is so close to us, but so far away at the same time.

Katya Egorova. Reading an article about the ceasefire deal.

The last point we touched upon being the Minsk ceasefire deal negotiated on Thursday, February 17, 2015. The outcome of the meeting was that starting from Saturday, February 14, 2015 midnight (10pm GMT), the general ceasefire will be implemented. Other points stated that: both sides had to withdraw their “heavy artillery and rocket systems out of range of the front lines”; Kiev had to give amnesty to those involved in the separatist cause; Ukrainian parliament had to declare Luhansk and Donetsk as the “special status” regions. Even though it was agreed to do so, the next morning the fire continued. Katya has a skeptical approach towards the deal. She noted that “if the cease-fire remains during the first 48 hours, then it will be successful,” which is not the case we are experiencing.

At the end, as in any hard situation, there is only hope for the better. People all over the world are concerned about the issue in Ukraine and they hope that it will be resolved soon. I would like to thank those, who give us their positive thoughts and support.

To sum up, I would like to encourage people not to take the political situation in their countries, which most relevant to Ukraine, and bring it to the personal grounds. None of those, who suffer is guilty or responsible for what is happening. It is all about politics at the end of the day. Thus, it is crucial to keep good relationships with our dear ones, with our families, as this is where the support actually comes from in those though times.

Take care, my dear readers. I will talk to you soon.

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“Every picture tells a story”

“Every picture tells a story”

“Some are kept in shoe boxes in a forgotten closet corner. Others are glued carefully into albums and kept on the family bookshelf. Many have been lost forever, destroyed out of panic or indifference. In Ukraine, whose tumultuous 20th-century history has spilled over into a bloody battle for its 21st-century identity, every picture tells a story.”This is how Daisy Sindelar’s post opens up, telling us 6 unique stories about interesting personalities in Ukraine in the My Ukraine article on RadioFreeEurope.

When talking about pictures, this is exactly how it is in reality. While visiting any Ukrainian family, besides the delicious dinner (Ukrainians are known to be one of the most hospitable nations in the world) you will probably be honored with a short trip into the history of their family. Usually, the mother is the one getting out an old favorite photo album and telling you all the precious memories related to each one of the photographs. Carefully turning the pages of the album, she is traveling through dear family moments.

This photograph is from the family archives of Andriy Sholtes, the 41–year old writer from Uzhhorod. Uzhhorod is a city in the Western part of Ukraine, neighboring with Slovakia and not too far from Hungary. It is one of the cities, which can definitely be considered European in Ukraine. Andriy tells us about how he has been learning three different languages while growing up. He has been raised in the diverse environment and his parents used to joke that by living in their city one could experience the culture of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the U.S.S.R., and Ukraine.

Anna Zahorodnyuk is a Ukrainian student at the American University in Bulgaria, who has read the story about Andriy Sholtes. She is originally from the Western part of the country as well and when she was five years old, her family moved to the Central part. She was a little girl, when they moved to Zvenyhorodka, although her mom told her that the adjustment was hard, as the mentality of people differed significantly from what they were used to back in the Western part of the country.  While giving her feedback about the article, she says that she understands Andriy. The man mentions that he is more attached to Hungary, even though it is a completely different country, then he is to Ukraine, because he has never been to the Eastern part and has no intentions in going there. “This shows the clash inside the country,” – Anna says. “He communicated what is the reason all this is happening right now in Ukraine. How the people feel.” Yes, it has been like that for a long period of time, that people from the Eastern part of Ukraine had a little bit different perception of the world than those from the West Ukraine did and it is a common trend today.

Frankly speaking, I myself have challenged that general idea that Western citizens are more prone to Europe than those in the Eastern part. Of course the issue is not simple. We cannot take one side or another. My point is that I have met many patriotic, intelligent and open-minded people from the east of Ukraine. I think that there are exceptions, as in any rule. The fact that they live in the Eastern part of the country does not mean that they necessarily want to join the Eurasian Customs Union with Russia. They live there, because their families are from there, and they still are considering themselves as Ukrainians and they do speak Ukrainian. At the same time, the majority of Ukrainian population from that region is believed to be pro-Russian. The conflict of this general belief became especially prominent to me when the Revolution of Dignity started. I hope to investigate this idea further and give you some more details and facts in further posts.

I also asked Anna about what her feelings were when the whole conflict started, as we have lived through those moments together, and are still living, although it was interesting to see whether her attitude has changed. And I can say that it surely did. “I kind of felt guilty in the beginning,”- the girl said. She saw how all of her friends back home were involved in the issue and she felt like she has to contribute as well. “I was very passionate about what was going on in Ukraine,” – she shares. “But when the war started, I stopped watching the news. I understood that even if I were in Ukraine, it would not change anything. Because this is politics and there is something big behind it. That no one knows, besides the people, who are involved in it.” Anna became much more skeptical now. She even said that she believes that Ukraine is going to be divided in half, as it was many years ago.

Historical events tend to repeat and Anna thinks that this is the case with Ukraine as well. “We had “Лівобережна” (Left-bank) and “Правобережна” (Right-bank) Ukraine. I think this is what is going to happen now,” – she adds. (Ukraine was divided into two by the largest river that goes through the whole country, called “Dnipro”) “We cannot change anything, we cannot understand it. The only thing that I understand is that nobody cares about the civilians, about the people.” That was Anna’s conclusion about the war in Ukraine. Many people would agree with that point of view, as it is clear that the human factor is disregarded in the war.

Daisy Sindelar, the author of the article about Andriy Sholtes started her post with an emotional picture and a sensitive title: “Charmed youth.” She ended it with the optimistic words by Andriy Sholtes: “But I have no plans to leave Uzhhorod. I like it here. As long as my children are healthy, the war ends, and my book gets published, I’ll have everything I want.” I would like to emphasize one more time on how much I admire the Ukrainian “Charmed youth,” who became so courageous during the past year and a half, who have shown the world how powerful people in Ukraine are, that their future matters and that they are ready to defend it.

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The Country of the first constitution in the world

Tonight the snow finally came to Bulgaria, which inspired me to write another post about Ukraine, as it reminds me of home, where we have very snowy winters (this is a photograph I took of the view out of my window).

I am very grateful for the comments readers are making on my blog, and I am happy to see that more and more people want to hear about my home country.

Today, I would like to start with a few interesting facts that most people probably do not know about Ukraine, and to continue with what professor Jean Crombois, the Political science professor at the American University in Bulgaria, has to share about Ukraine.

The first fact, as you might have guessed by the title of this post, is that the first constitution in the word was created by hetman Pylyp Orlyk in Ukraine in 1710. It is a unique document in Europe that established democratically elected Cossack parliament and separated governmental power between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches.

The second fact is that Ukraine is the biggest country in Europe. Its area is 603,550 square kilometers. It was exciting to see that my first interviewee: Professor Jean Crombois knows that. (By the way, if you would like to read about some of the other interesting facts, please view the following article.)

Professor Jean Crombois has done some research on the eastern parts of Europe, “Eastern neighborhoods,” as it is referred to in the EU terminology. He points out that at the time of his research, the “image of Ukraine was already a bit ambiguous; people did not know exactly where Ukraine stood.” Meaning that there was a discrepancy between how people felt about joining the European Union or the Eurasian Customs Union, which would bring the country closer to Russia. The first one has been preferred by the Western part of the country and the second –  by Eastern.

While talking about the current situation (which has started with the Revolution of Dignity in November 2013, when President Viktor Yanukovych abandoned a free-trade agreement with the European Union and shifted the focus of Ukrainian politics towards Russia) professor says that “it has obviously has put Ukraine under the spotlight,” pointing out that the whole world is now talking about the war in Ukraine. I have personally experienced that myself when I have been asked about the situation in my home country while in France this summer and in the US during the fall. Even though some people might not know the exact condition and why the crisis has occurred, they are concerned and eager to show their support. Professor Crombois confirms my point by saying that “the nature of the events made it so that people are now much more sympathetic to Ukraine than before.” And the fact that many more people know of Ukraine right now is a good sign, I believe. That might be the only positive outcome of the whole situation: other people’s awareness, because so many mistakes about the facts of Ukrainian history have been made (which I will talk about in the following posts).

The key idea that I have got out of the professor about the political situation is that “There is a very complex game being played by all those political figures.” Obviously, Ukraine itself has gone through some internal political manipulations. Although, it is also happening in the international arena. Just thinking about the legality in relation to the war, Jean Crombois points out that: “Russia has clearly violated a number of international treaties that Russia signs and ratifies.” He gives the example of the treaty that guarantees security of Ukraine. (The treaty that is mentioned is The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. According to this agreement, which was made in 1994, Ukraine became party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, abandoning the world’s third largest nuclear weapons supply to Russia and in return, Russia, the U.S., the UK is supposed to: “1. Respect Ukrainian independence and sovereignty within its existing borders. 2. Refrain from the threat or use of force against Ukraine. 3. Refrain from using economic pressure on Ukraine in order to influence its politics.”)

The second one, mentioned by the professor was the Charter of Paris of 1989, by which all the parties, including Russia agreed on the fact that the borders in Europe could not be changed by the use of force. As Crombois explains, Russia submits a commitment there. He points out on the irony in the situation, as Russia was the one that demanded such a treaty. According to the professor, when the Cold War ended, the Soviets were very afraid that all the internal Republics within the union would break away. Also, as there are some republics within Russia, they were afraid that this will eventually lead to conflicts. So, they wanted to have some guarantees that the borders cannot be changed by the use of force to protect the borders of Russia. “This is something that people have forgotten. It is quite ironical that this was something that the Russians demanded at the time and that is the thing that Russians are violating openly as we speak along.”

As you can see, my post got much more serious towards the end. I hope you have found this informative. Looking forward to hearing back from you. Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Talk to you soon,

Kate

What is happening right now?

Hello my dear readers!

In this first post I would like to share what my blog will be about. For a long time, while traveling outside my country, I have been meeting people, who do not know much about Ukraine. Moreover, most of them would call it not “Ukraine” but “the Ukraine“. Although, the events that have started since last November have brought awareness to many almost all over the world. I felt such a pride when I saw the young Ukrainians, who finally felt empowered.

Coming back home in December 2013 after being abroad for three years was life-changing for me. The central part of our capital city Kyiv changed so much. All those people, who protested there, had a flame in their eyes. They’ve created an incredible atmosphere. I remember an old man delivering a poem on the stage, a younger man playing the piano nearby, little kids listening to all this absorbing the joy and dignity older people showed to them. Ever since that time I will never look at my country the same way again. It was the beginning of outrageous events that have changed the history of Ukraine forever.

Inspired by these events, I have decided to write about people, who have something to tell us about the situation in Ukraine. I will interview Ukrainians, who are back home, those who are abroad and other people, who are passionate about the current situation in Ukraine. I hope to communicate what is happening right now, and finally answer that question everyone has been asking me: “So, how is Ukraine doing right now?”