Tuesday June 13, 2006

Pastor Arkadij arrives early in the morning to greet us. The woman who served us last night with what appeared to be her children was there and prepared a tasty breakfast of omelets, cheese, bread, cukes, tomatoes. They had a novel rhubarb vanilla jam that tasted great. We carried on a lively conversation and left about 9:15 am for Kiev. Ivan's driving made for a quick journey of just a little over an hour. Our foursome enjoyed the big city hustle and bustle of Kiev as we drove down main street Khreschatik as well as some of the famous monuments. New construction abounds. There is no doubt that the economy is making a turn upwards from former trips of economic and mental depression as little as five years ago.

One item of business that we needed to resolve while in Kiev was to get the proper recredentialling for LifeNets which we have registered as a national charity back in the year 2000. It is so painful to get all the proper forms, stampings of signature, seals etc done. Now, we needed a relatively simple procedure which was granting of LifeNets International to give permission for Ivan Yurishko to carry on our work in Ukraine. All of sudden it has become a complex process of getting our USA documents notarized, legalized by Ukrainian authorities and into the complex court system.

We went to the main courthouse in Kiev and were given the runaround by being sent to about ten different departments before we found one that gave us an encouraging answer. But, so many people that could help us were either out of town or out to lunch (in every way) that we couldn't get anyone to notarize my signature and then "legalize" it. This is a verification that the government recognized the notary...it's like notarizing the notary.

After several hours of frustrating running up and down steps of two Kiev building that operated with the old Soviet look and feel (dim hallways, burned out lights, overcrowded rooms with many desks and people looking like they weren't doing much and talking to people who gave all kinds of excuses why THEY couldn't help us as they looked bored or looked away with rolling eyes.

We gave up in the city center of Kiev because we needed to make our way up to Chernihiv 90 miles north. We wound our way up around the north part of town and crossed the last bridge on the Dnieper River before Belarus. As we got out of town we spied another Notary Public office and thought we could run in and get my signature notarized. We thought with the information that we had received, this could be open and shut. Surprise! It wasn't. An officious woman started telling that just because I was in body in Ukraine and had a US passport, I didn't exist legally! We went round and round about how all we needed verification that I existed....my signature belonged to my body that was linked to my passport that was linked to the United States and to LifeNets. No luck. Ivan Yurishko who has learned to roll with the punches really became frustrated and angry at this lady who had no desire to help us move our documentation process forward. We had all our apostolized documents from the first registration plus a copy of our LifeNets US documents including registration, incorporation, and by-laws in hand. She examined them one by one and it looked like she was going to stamp the document. But, she quickly told me that I didn't exist legally (which we didn't understand) and that she wasn't going to stamp our piece of paper and help a process that helps Ukraine move forward. We gave up. When I return to the United States I'll have to send all this info to the Ukraine Consulate in Chicago which is actually more used to processing this process.

We started NE towards Chernihev and made record time with Ivan topping 180 km per house....we were telling him that we were approaching NASCAR speeds. We were getting anxious to get to Drs. Pasechnik and the "Revival" Center.

In Chernihev we wandered through the city and eventually got to the Center. We were warmly greeted by the staff and the Pasechniks. They gave Ivan Yurishko a turbo tour of the Center which now has 200 rooms. They have done SO MUCH in the past ten years...I'm so proud of the work that they have done and to be a part of this development process for the past ten years.

Ivan decided not to stay for the festivities. On the drive, the past four hours he was getting call after call on his mobile phone. He said he really needed to get back because of business waiting him. His construction company was building a car wash (the third in Khust) and he needed to direct his workers. He is amazing as to all he does plus taking the time to take us all the way from Transcarpathia to Chernihev....600 miles one way.

Vasyl and Natalya Pasechnik gave us their apartment. They both moved to his late mother's apartment. Kassy presented the Pasechnik's a sparkling Czech piece of crystal from the Snyders in the United States.

A dinner was organized at the rehabilitation center for all the guests from the United Kingdom and our group of four from the United States. There is a delegation of 15 from Essex and London who have contributed a major part in the development of the Centre. The name of the organization group is called Deprived Children of Chernobyl run primarily by George and Marion Mills. They are forming a new charity called the Felstad Deprived Children of Chernobyl who will carry on the work of Dr. Vasyl Pasechnik and his wife Natalya. Dr. P and staff make certain that we are cared for well. Superb Hospitality is a Ukrainian gift: everyone feels special and cared for.

We drank a few toasts with wine to bring us together and to be on task.

Just after dinner I tried to go to Dr. P's office to get on the Internet, but found that it was going to be a time-consuming proposition and take me away from being with people. I decided to give up all Internet access until we get to Estonia where Internet connectivity is better than in the United States.