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| The Lavra |
Kiev – a city of many faces;
a city hoping to forge ahead, a city that remembers. Again, as in recent years we spent several
days here, our main mission, delivering
a donation to a farmer living east of the city.
It was post-election day and interesting to observe people on the Metro
and riding the marshrutka. Resignation appeared
written on their faces – no heated discussions, just business as usual. No detectible embers of the Orange Revolution.
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| Dema & Rudy in front of the presidential palace |
The ruling party received just slightly over
30% of the vote and together with communists will form a majority. The Communist Party resurged from 5% last
election to 14%. This time, however, the
opposition will be stronger, thus giving some hope. A translator friend from the Intourist Office
told us last week, “it will take a generation or perhaps two for Ukraine to
change.” According to the demographic
breakdown of voters, it is the elderly who keep the current government in
power. They remember the “good old days”
when everyone had a job.
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| The Rada - Ukrainian Parliament |
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| Public park adjoining palace area |
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| Angels of Sorrow |
Ukraine has a history of
suffering. A national museum
commemorating the victims of famines in the 20th century was founded
in 2009. It depicts the tragedies of
1921-22, of the 1930’s Stalin-imposed genocide and the 1946-47 post-war
famines. Ukraine lost about 10 million
people while Stalin exported confiscated grains to the West.
It was a moving and
thought-provoking experience to visit this site. Angels of Sorrow guard the entrance leading
to the Candle of Memory, symbolic of a revived Ukraine.
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| Ukraine torn up by its roots |
A haunting
statue depicting a starving young girl clutching ears of grain in her small
hands. An underground memorial hall
displays art and sculptures, also video excursions depicting the scale of the
Holodomors. A National Book of Memory
lists names of the victims. It was stated that the preservation of these
memories serves to safeguard Ukraine’s future.
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| Sculpture created from beeswax |
For many of us also, memories
of our ancestral past spur us on to do good, to help the needy, to comfort the
sorrowful, to give to the hungry food. Remembering the words of Menno Simons,
“true evangelical faith cannot lie sleeping.“
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