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ents, and while standing all night long on their return trip, were extremely glad to find a place to sit on the last leg of the journey back to Chernivtsy in Ukraine, another 12 hour ride. Our three train rides lasted less than 24 hours, but they provided us with scenes and lessons which will last a lifetime. In Lviv, the capital of Western Ukraine, we waited for our relative to take us on a car ride to the resort city of Truskavets, known for its mineral springs and healing waters. The tourist population of the town far exceeds the locals, as visitors from all of Soviet Union come to this health resort. I managed to buy ice cream cones for my kids and while they were eating at least twenty peo ple asked me where I had found the treats. While we were occupying ourselves with mundane things, we did not known that just hours ago Ukraine had proclaimed itself independent. Our relative who met us at the train greeted us with this news. The feeling, the indescribable feeling, that Ukraine is free at last, and on the day of our arrival at that! It was overwhelming. August 24, 1991, the day of our arrival in Ukraine, the first day of Ukraine’s independence since January 22 , 1918 ! Over and over in the course of the next ten days we heard the same sentiment expressed everywhere: thank God for the putsch and its failure, as only now that the Communist party has been discredited, can there be reason for hope. The put'schists had ordered 250,000 handcuffs for the leadership of the opposition and its suspect popula tion. The putschists, attempting to bring the people to their knees, literally took railroad cars full of chickens, produce and consumer goods and burned them. I often wandered if the stories I had heard on the days after the failed coup would dared to have been told had the event not occurred. Teachers we had met told us that every lesson had to include something about the “great” Lenin. On Christmas Eve teachers had special assignments, they were required to spy on their students to make sure they would not go caroling, go to a religious service or enjoy the traditional Christmas Eve supper. To insure a successful report, a teacher who was not a party member was accompanied by one who was. For a teacher to take part in any of these forbidden activities was un thinkable as well. In villages, the party “Raicom” was someone who held your fate in his hands. We had occasion to meet with relatives whom my husband had not seen nor had any contact with since 1844. We even travelled to the village where he had spent vacationing during his childhood. There he found boyhood friends who now had their own children and grandchildren to introduce. The warmth and hospitality that was showered on us knew no bounds, though we, a party of five, had arrived on their doorstep unannounced. Almost fifty years later, the streets were still unpaved, the water was drawn from a well with a bucket, and there was no plumbing in the house. There was electric ity and a requirement in the past for a radio and a TV to serve as a propaganda tool. In spite of these hardships, our newly rediscovered family smothered us in friend ship and generosity. The wife slaughtered a chicken, cooked a delicious broth, made homemade noodles, which would be the envy of “Muellers" or “Old fashi oned Pennsylvania Dutch” and served as a scrumptious meal. This was the fruit of her labor, supported by a small plot of land which sustain the family. Unlike the city folks, people in the country have easier access to food. Most also keep a cow for milk and cheese, a few chickens, geese and ducks. The residents of the cities are more dependent on the stores for their supply of food. The stores are color less outside, while inside the shelves are sparsely stocked or empty, a sad monument to a bankrupt sys tem. In order to survive one has to develop a network of acquaintances to help with getting the basic necessities. Even then one is relegated to waiting on lines for milk, vegetables or for the rationed gasoline. It sometimes seems as if all effort was expanded toward that goal, possibly deliberately so as to keep the people at a level of basic survival which allows them no time or energy for other pursuits. My daughter had misplaced her toothbrush and we asked the phamaceuticai distributor in Lviv, a city of 750,000 people to assist in locating another one. A five hour search ended without success. Pharmacies have "Mother Ukraine — we are not slaves, we are free”. Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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