OCC In The Crimea
Our first stop was Sakalina, a village on the road that leads to Yalta (where Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin famously met in 1945 to plan Hitler’s final defeat).
“It’s the last village in this area,” says Igor, the church pastor who’s coordinating the gift distributions we’re observing today. “People are very poor here. On the way here, you see lots of empty fields, all bare.”
We visited an ‘internat’ (a sort of cross between a boarding school and an orphanage), which caters for both orphans and children from dysfunctional families. On arrival, we were greeted by Alexandria (the assistant director of the internat) and Sergei, the student president.
In the assembly hall, Alexandra introduces us, Trevor talks about why we’re here, and then Igor addresses the kids. They’re shown a puppet show telling the Christmas story. Then the gifts are handed out, to much jubilation. A couple of kids are up for chatting after getting their shoe boxes, so we chat.
Kirill (right) is 12. He’ll be leaving school in four years time, and ultimately wants to study medicine. “I want to be the man who gives presents like these to other children,” he says.
I then made friends with 14-year-old Gena (pronounced “gee-yana”). He’d opened his shoe box and found a set of juggling balls inside—and, it turns out, was quite a skilled juggler!
“My big brother taught me,” he said, and proceeded to help me brush up on my juggling skills. “It’s all in the hands. Put two of them in one hand and just start throwing—like this.”
After lunch, we set off for the second distribution of the day in a village called .
This is one of many places in Eastern Europe that got left behind when Glasnost happened. In the days of the old regime, the village thrived. It was a huge tobacco growing area; it also produced lots of fruit and a thriving bee-keeping industry. All that went into steady decline from 1991 onwards. These days, the village’s only employer is a military storage center, and we hear even that is set to close soon.
The apartment buildings we visit resemble a run-down council estate (that’s “the projects” for any Americans reading this). The place looks grim. Later on, I ask Igor why he chooses to stay and work in such a place with no prospects. His answer is simple: “God has called me to be here.”
The distribution takes place in the cultural centre, which was built in 1984 and is used for a variety of community events. The guys give out 240 shoeboxes this visit. After they’re done, I chat with a couple of young mums, including Marina. She’s married to a fireman and brought her 18-month-old baby girl along.
“You know,” Marina says with a smile, “it’s very important for our village that you people came, because our children here don’t get to meet many people, and don’t get much from people around here. This is a big support for us. It’s a big help. It shows our kids that there’s something more than what they have here.”
Read more about George Luke's trip at http://georgeluke.wordpress.com.
Photos courtesy of David Lund
