Kyiv & Odessa; Ukraine

Alexzandra and I have just returned back home after nine days in Ukraine. It was our first visit to the country.

Kyiv (7-11 Aug): The first day in Kyiv, was very grey and rainy. It was not only the weather that was like this, it felt very awkward to be in a place where very few people smile and seem almost empty inside (shallow). It quite quickly started to feel like an emotional fight. I told Alexzandra that; ”it feels like our trip here has become a matter of survival”. I have traveled quite a lot in this world, met and lived with all different kinds of people in uncountable cultures, but I have never ever been to a place that is similar to what I experienced in Kyiv. After a couple of days things picked up and the sun pushed us to explore the city and just try to look at the inhabitants and the city through a different perspective. Except for having a really hard time trying to understand why most of the people in Kyiv are behaving the way they do, we found lots of wonderful things throughout the city; everything from cozy restaurants with really good local dishes to Orthodox churches with beautiful architecture. A favorite in Kyiv; a poor woman looking through thrash cans getting 20 hryvnia (approx. 2.5 US dollars) from us and getting so happy that she started talking to herself, smiling and waving good bye to us.

Odessa (11-16 Aug): We flew down to the city often called ”The Pearl of the Black Sea” and I didn’t know what to expect after our time in Kyiv, but I had hopes… After just a short time in Odessa, I realized that it was different compared to the capital. It felt cozier and had more charm. One thing that was still there was the depressing and ”down” mentality that surrounded us with very few smiles on people. We did get some answers why many Ukrainians are acting the way they are, by meeting with both local people and people from abroad living in Ukraine who were willing to talk about it. Just like in Kyiv we had really good food in Odessa as well. We also made it to the beach two of the days, which was relaxing.

A favorite in Odessa; before we left for Ukraine, Alexzandra insisted on that we should contact orphanages in Ukraine, to learn more about the vulnerable children’s situation in the country, and we turned out to be lucky to get in contact with an NGO in Odessa called The Way Home, where we were warmly welcomed to visit. So, on one of our days in Odessa we went to The Way Home headquarter and met with the Founder and Director; Sergey Kostin. It was very inspiring to meet with an individual with a great knowledge and interest to help vulnerable children (in 2003 Time Magazine named him a “Hero” and he’s also been invited and participated in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland). Sergey gave us an introduction of his organization The Way Home and the following day we were welcomed to join “Social Patrol”, which is an operation of the organization where the staff go into the streets to locate street children and provide them with basic necessary amenities such as food and basic medical treatment etc. We were fortunate and lucky to be part of this operation and Alexzandra, as a nurse, gave medical treatment to the street children.

While we were in The Way Home headquarters we met with another very inspiring and jolly person, an American minister named Robert Gamble, with a history as an Officer in the US Coast Guard, missionary in Nicaragua etc. He is working together with The Way Home crew and he has his own non-profit organization called This Child Here. It was a joy being around him and you can just imagine how interesting this all was for us, to be a part of it all.

Odessa holes (video on youtube showing street children in Odessa)

> Click here for our photos from Ukraine