October 22, 2023

In preparation for this trip we had a tight schedule and a backup plan for every day except Saturday. So, of course our original Saturday plan got “Ukrained” at the last minute. I reached out to my friend Hymie in the UK and asked her if she could contact anyone in her vast network of medical professionals who could get us into a hospital or orphanage. Wow, did that pan out!

Her friend “Older Tanya” in Odessa contacted a woman in Kyiv named Natalya and explained what we wanted to do. Apparently, Natalya is very connected and put out a mass email all over Kyiv and got several positive responses within minutes. The first was from the City Council Of Kyiv and a Minister of the Ukrainian Parliment.

Natalya got back to me and said that what Sam was doing made them think, (within minutes it seems) of the possibility of having Ukrainian and American musicians team up and play in the facilities around Kyiv.

Natalya and the assistant to the Minister scheduled a meeting to discuss this potential cooperation. While this is an amazing opportunity that I am interested in examining for the future, my inside voice said, “Whoa whoa Natalya, slow your roll bruh.”

This is not the first time something like this has happened here. Ukrainians are enthusiastic and motivated people. Their love and appreciation for their friends, particularly Americans and British, leads them to sometimes put the cart miles in front of the horse, when it comes to making and implementing plans with them.

I explained to Natalya that we were only available Saturday and she immediately directed me to an IDP (Internally Displaced Person) shelter in the Obolon district of Kyiv. My contact was a woman named Galyna. Keep in mind all communication we do for this is over messaging apps that have to be translated on Google and then cut and pasted into the message. Of course things can be lost in translation. And it takes time.

Nevertheless, Galyna and I were able to come up with a plan. Of course Uber dropped us off in the wrong place again so we had to track each other on Telegram until a volunteer located us in the parking lot.

The residents of the shelter are women, the elderly and children from Kherson and Bakhmut. Kherson was flooded by the russians during my last visit, and Bakhmut has been the scene of 9 months of fighting and the city has been completely destroyed. These people have seen the absolute worst of humanity.

Galyna showed us the shelter and ushered us into what had been a dining room. Children ages 4 to 6 and one 11 year old girl filed in and took their seats. They were joined by a couple of babushkas, the mothers of the kids and two older men.

Sam played for about 45 minutes. People danced, moms swayed back and forth, and there were many smiles and a lot of laughter. Nobody spoke English but I was able to communicate with Galyna and even gave a little introduction in Ukrainian.

I have been studying Ukrainian for a year on two apps and a podcast. But this is the first trip where I feel confident enough to speak and converse. There is no substitute for this type of learning.

Galyna was so grateful as were the parents and staff and kids. One mom told us the adults wanted Sam to keep playing but the kids were ready to play and eat.

Galyna and I exchanged Instagrams for future ideas and I discovered that she is friends with Anna from Lviv who we had just spent a day with on Wednesday. Small world indeed.

We left the shelter and went immediately to south Kyiv to the apartment of a friend of my friend Pasha and his wife Olya. Pasha organized a music jam party and wanted Sam to join them.

I was the oldest person there by two decades except for one guy named Vlad who is an incredible folk singer. He and Sam literally captivated the kids with their music. We we made a ton of new friends. There was a crazy Brazilian Legionaire, a couple of Ukrainian soldiers, a former solider in the elite, controversial and misunderstood Azov Brigade who is now a author and publisher of military history and Ukrainian nationalism. Of course there were the usual IT engineers and other tech nerds. We were welcomed warmly and when we left everyone sang a traditional song for when guests have to depart.

Ukraine is bound by culture, tradition and a proud history of defiance and patriotism. Everyone knows the same songs, everyone welcomes strangers into their homes, feeds them and sends them off with hugs and gifts. It is truly amazing and unique in my experience.

More to follow.
Mark and Sam