Information Related to "Letters From Ukraine"
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There
are life-changing opportunities that only come along once. LifeNets' Chernobyl
Trip 2003 was one such opportunity. On Jan. 12, our team of seven set out
from Indianapolis International on a weeklong trip that would change our
perspective on life, the world and each other.
Jan. 13: We landed in the Ukrainian city of Kiev late this evening, and after we got through customs, we were met by Dr. Pasichnyk, director of the "Revival" Center for the Medical Social Rehabilitation of Disabled Children. The center is located about 40 miles east of the doomed Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The seven of us had already begun to bond by the time we landed in Kiev, some 20 hours after our first takeoff. We were tired, dirty and the only ones in sight who spoke English.
The airport in Kiev was small and intimidating, filled with uniformed personnel who looked like soldiers who directed our every move. I felt uncomfortable in our first moments in Ukraine, but when we walked through the customs gate and saw the gracious smile on the doctor's face, it was the last time any of us felt any awkwardness or inhospitality.
It
took us about three hours to get to the rehabilitation center in
the neighboring province of Chernihev. As chance would have it,
we arrived on the eve of the Ukrainian new year, and although it
was getting late, the festivities in the town were just beginning.
Holidays are celebrated by the Julian calendar, which is 13 days
behind the Western calendar.
When we arrived at the center, the staff was waiting to begin their celebration, not only for the new year, but also for the "good friends" the new year had brought. We were greeted with a program they had been preparing the entire day before—with gypsies, costumes, dancing, singing and Ukrainian folk songs. Even the doctor joined in the dancing, and soon they invited us to join them. After the program was over, we sat down to our first dinner in Chernihev where we were able to get better acquainted with the doctor, his wife, Natasha, and the rest of the center's staff. The food, along with the company, was wonderful, but we were all tired and ready for bed.
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