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virtually empty shelves. I needed aspirin, but there was none to be had. I repeated my quest in various cities and found that to fill such a simple need is impossible. Tylenol, antibiotics such as ampicillin are non existent. While driving through the country of Western Ukra ine, several scenes emerge. The trees and folliage are grey from dust and controlled pollution. The fertile “chornozem” for which Ukraine is so famous, stands uncultivated and the few people working on the collec tive farms are mostly old and resort to primitive manual labor. On the other hand something new has emerged since the onset of perestroika and glasnost. Almost every village is building a new church. It seems like a symbol of hope, for during the communist regime many churches were closed, converted to storage warehouses and desecrated. Almost every village has an elaborate monument which had been erected to the Red Army “ liberators” and these I must say, are very well maintained. There were also monuments of Lenin or an empty space where he had just recently been removed. I heard one young woman remark: ” lt is such a pleasure to be standing here on this empty spot." In the meantime, new memor ials are being put up dedicated to the memory of victims of the communist regime. A comfortable overnight ride of the train from Lviv took us to the beautiful capital of Ukraine, Kiev. Our family of four was able to purchase first class accomo dations for this trip for a total of six dollars. Kiev is a very old city. Its setting on the banks of the Dnipro River is truly enchanting. With out host as guide, we toured the city and admired the remnants of the Golden Gates of Kiev dating back to the 10th century, the landmark St. Sophia Cathedral, visited by President Bush just a few weeks ago, the Pecherska Lavra Monastery, and so many other majestic monuments. We also took a 200 km. auto trip to Kaniv, where Ukraine’s national bard. Taras Shevchenko is buried. Almost 140 years ago he wrote “When, will we have our Washington, with a new and righteous law? But we shall have him one day!” Possibly because of these words, today there is a monument to this great champion of freedom in the capital of the United States in Washington, D.C. We laid flowers at Shevchenko’s grave overlooking the mighty Dnipro River and paid homage to one of Ukraine’s beloved sons. It was a lovely afternoon and our trip back to Kiev enabled us to drive through a historic country side resplendent with black rich soil which the Nazis attempted to take out in carloads during World War II. The highway which took us back to the capital was lined with tall and slender poplars on one side, and graceful weeping willows on the other. The culmination of our stay in Kiev was the opening of the first day of the Parliament, which recently had proclaimed Ukraine’s independence. We came to the Parliament building and saw a sea of blue and yellow flags blowing in the wind, carried by a mass of human ity. The people stood quietly, respectfully with hope in their hearts that this flag which so many of them dared only acknowledge in their hearts would be hoisted on top of the Parliament building in place of the red and blue one with the hammer and sickle. Their dream came true two days later. These people standing there did not know that the night before the convening of the first independent parliament, the statue of Lenin had been removed from that august chamber. Having obtained permission to be spectators at this first meeting of the Ukrainian Parliament, we witnessed the fact that the hall stood empty of this ubiquitous statue, a symbol of oppression and untold suffering for millions. We left the Parliament, seeing how quickly the communist majority was shrinking, and hoped and prayed that the next months will be a time of healing and nation building, as there is so much to be done. Again, greeting us was a sea of blue and yellow banners, with one Canadian and one Polish Solidarity Flag flying in support. We left Kiev on that day. With tears in our eys we said farewell to people who were strangers only a few days ago. However, in that short time they showed us so much kindness, hospitality and warmth, that they made our visit one to be cherrished forever. “Independence".
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