Traditional Ukrainian Images on Fish Part 2

We spoke of  our work with Oksana Osnach and Andrey Lopushinsky in an earlier post.  They have resurrected a traditional Chumak artform, images on fish.  Here is a video from a local television station in Kherson who covered their activities in a news report.  For those who do not speak Russian/Ukrainian you can click on the Closed Caption icon at the bottom of the video and then click on the Setting Icon (gear), click on Subtitles, Automatic Translation, and then select the language you would like to see.  It is not a prefect translation but it will give you a general idea of who Oksana and Andrey are and how they decided to do this traditional art.  Contact Oksana Osnach by private message on Facebook @oks.osn for more information or to place an order. Pieces can be shipped anywhere in Ukraine.

Window on America

Every Sunday Tom Laughlin and Sveta Zorina from Caravela host the Window on America meeting at the Gonchara library in Kherson Ukraine for cultural exchange between the United States and Ukraine.  Window on America sites are funded by the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.  You can see Tom on the far left and Sveta on the far right of the picture.

Business Club Kherson Ukraine

 Every Friday Caravela has a business club meeting led by Tom Laughlin.  The purpose of the meeting is to give business owners the opportunity to talk about their opportunities and challenges as well as get ideas and support for their business activities.  From left to right we have Oksana Osnach who is an artist and runs an art school, Tom Laughlin who has a training and consulting business, Sveta Zorina who has a English school and translation business, Oksana Voronina who has a custom embroidery and apparel business, and Aloyna Yashuk who is a yoga instructor.

Traditional Ukrainian Images on Fish

We are delighted to work with Oksana Osnach and Andrey Lopushinsky who have resurrected a traditional Chumak artform, images on fish.  The Chumaks were salt traders in traditional Ukrainian society who hauled salt and other goods in ox drawn wagons.  They painted religious icons on dried fish to protect them on their journeys.  Contact Oksana Osnach by private message on Facebook @oks.osn for more information or to place an order. Pieces can be shipped anywhere in Ukraine.

Financial Planning Class Kherson Ukraine

We were asked to give a financial planning class by Oksana Osnach who runs a art school in Kherson Ukraine.  Oksana organizes various events for her students that she feels might interest them.  Since Tom Laughlin has both an MBA and an MA in Human Development she felt he had the background to teach such a class.  Sveta Zorina is an interpreter so the class was present in both English and Russian.  Here is a video of our introduction to the class and a candid photo provided by Oksana with Tom sitting in a similar pose to the painting behind him while contemplating a question from the class.  Oksana has asked us to do a follow-up class on how to discuss finances with other family members.

English Proficiency Exam Preparation

Presentation at Window on America in Kherson.  How to prepare for the IELTS, TOEFL and other English proficiency exams.  English with Russian translation.

Custom Mask for Local Artist

Designs by Voronina did a custom mask for our office mate, Світлана Юр'єва (Svetlana Yurieva), a local artist in Kherson.  You can see examples of her work at https://www.instagram.com/svetlana_jureva/.

Bags for Kherson Chamber of Commerce and Industry

In cooperation with local artist Світлана Юр'єва (Svetlana Yurieva), Designs by Voronina embroidered special bags for the Kherson Chamber of Commerce and Industry with their logo and a sturgeon which is native to the Dnieper river that runs through Kherson.

Sewer Pipes and Ukrainian Neighbors

The majority of apartments in Ukraine are individually owned compared to the U.S. where most apartment buildings have a single owner who rents out the apartments.  In addition, many of the apartment buildings in Ukraine are Soviet era construction and are beginning to have significant issues with their basic infrastructure.  Finally, many apartment buildings no funds to deal with common infrastructure repairs.

My wife and I own such an apartment and are currently in the middle of a battle to replace sewer pipes which are beginning to leak into the elevator shaft which threatens to render the elevator inoperable.  Each of the apartments must pay to replace its section of the sewer pipe to remedy the problem.  After a month of attempts to get all of our neighbors to pay their portion of the repair, the building director has decided that she cannot allow the situation to continue because of the threat to the elevator so, as of noon today, she will turn off the water to our section of the building until the sewer pipe is repaired.

So, what's the problem?  Well, there is one old neighbor who lives alone and says that he simply doesn't have any money to pay for the repairs.  Another neighbor says that it is not his problem because it's not leaking into his apartment so everyone else should pay to fix the pipe.  Although this kind of battle is not unique to Ukraine, the way that everyone is dealing with the situation is somewhat different from what many expats might have experienced back home.  Everyone is filling their bathtubs and preparing for the water to be turned off for some period of time.

Although it's impossible to know exactly what everyone is thinking I can relate some of the sentiments that have been expressed to my wife as she tries to deal with this situation.  There are two primary categories of reactions.  A small number of residents feel that it's not their responsibility and the remaining residents don't want to pay more than their share to fix the pipe used by everyone in the building.  I offered to take a bucket of excrement to confront the neighbors who refuse to pay their share but my wife counseled against it.  The reason is simple.  That would be unacceptable behavior and turn everyone in the building against us, even the ones who are also suffering from the situation.

So, we sit here with a bathtub full of water waiting to see how long it takes for the situation to resolve itself.