Igor and I both have new jobs!
I have accepted the United Nations Volunteers Programme Officer position in Kyiv. I’ll be overseeing the UN Volunteer program in Ukraine, helping to recruit both international and national UNVs, supporting all UNVs in Ukraine, and promoting volunteerism throughout the country. I officially start on June 1, but they wanted me to attend a couple trainings in Bonn, Germany, that were already scheduled. So, I arrived in Bonn last night, after a 4-hour layover in Prague during which I got to hang out with my buddy Hana.
Can I just say how nice it is here? Smooth, well-paved roads. Signs that actually provide directions. And the hotel! I’d nearly forgotten a hotel can be so luxurious – and clean! A bathroom that doesn’t scare the bejeezes out of you. And the efficiency is so impressive – the lights in the hallway turn on as you walk down the hall, and turn down as you pass along. Brilliant! It’s rumored there’s even a swimming pool on the grounds; I’ll check that out later tonight. I’ll be here for 10 lovely days – woohoo!
In the meantime, Igor has officially moved to Kyiv and started his new job last week. He is the Interim Executive Director of a new project sponsored by the German-Polish-Ukrainian Fund, a center for Kyiv street children called “Our Kids.”
The project concept is to create a home-like, family-like experience for street children. The center is located in the three buildings of an old kindergarten on the left bank of Kyiv (Dniprovske neighborhood). The buildings are being renovated into 4 large apartments in two of the buildings (8 apartments total), and the third will be an administrative building. Within each apartment will leave one married couple with 8 children, aged 6-10 years old. The couples will either have no children, or they can have adult children, but they should have no dependent children. The wife will be paid a monthly salary by the Center and will work as a kind of “house mother” for the 8 children; the husband will work part-time outside of the home, and will also receive some financial support from the Center for working part-time at home as a caregiver within the “family unit”. The parents and children will all receive special trainings and support throughout the years they live in the Center. Over the course of three or four years, the hope is that the couple and the kids will form a real family bond, and eventually the couple can adopt the children.
The renovation of the first building will be done sometime this summer, and the center will be ready to accept children by September. In August, when the new Executive Director arrives from Germany, Igor will take over as the Center Director, which is the job he’s really excited about. He will oversee the recruitment, hiring, and training of the married couples, social workers, and all other Center staff. He’ll design and organize trainings, special programs, and all kinds of other interesting things.
Until then, he is overseeing the renovations of the first building on the site. He took me there on Saturday for a quick tour. There’s a lot of work still to be done, but judging by the architectural plans, it’s going to be a beautiful complex.
As Center Director, Igor is expected to live on site, so as soon as the first building is ready, we will be moving into the Director’s apartment. We’re excited to be getting free housing in Kyiv! We walked around the neighborhood for a bit on Saturday, too – checked out a nearby market (it has a fabulous Asian stand!), and a café just across the street from the Center. We were both stunned by the prices – geez, all we did was cross the river, but prices here are so much lower than in the center of the city. A multi-course lunch (soup, meat dish and side dish) costs just 15 hrivnas ($3), and a beer just 5 hrivnas ($1). At the café near my office, a salad alone costs at least 20 hrivna.
Aside from the awesome prices, I enjoyed walking around the “bedroom” neighborhood – lots of little parks and playgrounds, beautiful trees and flowering bushes (on the Center’s grounds alone I counted a weeping willow tree, chestnut trees, some maple trees, lots of gorgeous lilac bushes, and some other flowering bushes I couldn’t identify). We are both looking forward to living in the quiet, family-oriented area.
I’m excited about my new job opportunity, too. I will still be involved with the Chornobyl Programme, as the majority of UNVs in Ukraine are currently affiliated with that project. I’ll also be involved in some new UNDP projects that plan to involve UNVs. And I’m looking forward to being involved in the “Our Kids” activities, and I hope to organize a Peace Camp next summer for the kids.
So, big changes in our lives are happening. I’m thrilled that Igor is finally in Kyiv. And although I’m delighted to get to travel to Bonn (don’t I deserve a nice business trip after a year and a half of traveling throughout some of the most depressed regions of Ukraine?), it’s a pity that I had to leave just a few days after Igor moved in. Maybe it’s good for us in terms of “easing in” to living together – it was a bit strange to have him around during the week, and odd that we both had to get up and go to work instead of lazing around like we usually do during the weekends.