How It Was, Ukraine Treasured Memories - Maie Ayoub von Kohl

Six years to this month, on 19 April 2016, I headed for Ukraine as a member of an inter-agency team of external experts representing the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) members. The team was charged with assessing the Ukrainian response to the vaccine-derived polio virus outbreak announced in September 2015. Together with Ministry of Health, WHO and UNICEF in-country colleagues, the team broke into smaller groups that travelled to the field to meet local officials, health staff, families, and other stakeholders implicated in the response. In addition to appreciating the handling of the response, the team was to make programmatic recommendations to the Government of Ukraine and GPEI members and advise on whether the transmission of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus in Ukraine was stopped.

After a day of briefing in Kyiv, our small team headed to the Zakarpattia Oblast region in the southwest of the country, near its border with Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland. Its capital Uzhorod is a mere 4h 16 min drive from the now too familiar city of Lviv which has become the hub for the international press reporting on the war in Ukraine. From Uzhorod we headed to the nearby city of Mukachevo and the village of Zarichovo in the vicinity of which two acute flaccid paralysis cases, a four-year-old boy and ten-months old girl had been reported, and where we conducted our fieldwork. We then returned to Kyiv for a series of (tough) meetings with Ministry of Health officials, GPEI and other stakeholders, at the end of which the expert team issued an analytical report and conclusions and recommended that the outbreak be considered closed.

In addition to the work directly at hand, the mission was a precious opportunity for me to experience Ukraine the country, its people, its culture, and its traditions. As the eyes of the world are on Ukraine, I suggested this photo essay to share my memories and special features of the country in times of peace. For those who have not been there, and for those who have, I offer this very modest collection of photos, taken during my short stay: The opening photos of this collection (photos#1 through 12) are taken in Kyiv on the Sunday before the start of our working meeting.

As I wandered out of my hotel after a restorative sleep following a night flight from NYC to Kyiv, I realized that there was a large open air market taking place right around the corner from my hotel! There could have been no better abridged introduction to the country, with people mingling, artifacts on sale, barbers shaving face hair under the amused looks of passersby; foods, and flowers everywhere you looked: decorative flower crowns, dried flowers, fresh flowers, embroidered flowers… flowers everywhere.

As I walked further, I came by one of Kyiv’s landmark eateries (photos #7 - 9) offering a choice of savoury and sweet roulades and staffed by friendly and happy staff in a cozy space marked by creativity, such as can be seen from the hanging lamp made of rolling pins!

Photos #10 to 12 taken upon our return from the field, show more of the amazing food scene that we discovered, including the artful display of fish in one of Kyiv's bustling markets, and cups of pure chocolate heaven that can be consumed across the street… Chocolate, I was about to find out, is an important national feature as well as an object of competition between cities and regions.

Chocolate Display, Zakarpattia’s Uzhorod

Photos #14 -18 show samples of the communication material and posters produced for the national polio vaccination campaign exhibited in health centres, as well as women and children we interviewed in the village of Zarichovo. The community we visited included some Roma populations, to whom we were granted access thanks to the trusted relations of the health worker, shown here in white, with the people in the village.

The remaining photos #19 - 31 were taken on the last day of our mission, when we were given time to visit Saint Sofia’s Cathedral with its amazing arches and art. We strolled through the city’s streets and squares where we saw murals and a street exhibit of the famous “painted eggs” prepared in celebration of the upcoming Easter feast. As you scroll through this last set of pictures, I recommend that you take the time to zoom in on photo #23 of what looks like a large mural of the Virgin Mary, so you see that the said mural is made of painted eggs (the mural is partly hidden by the railing of the walking gallery…). That final day ended with a team dinner, and an evening at the Opera where we saw an enchanting performance of Verdi’s La Traviata which had some of us singing softly from start to end.

I left Ukraine enchanted by my experience and hoping I would go back one day, en famille, to visit other historical cities and beautiful countryside. We can collectively hope and pray for peace to return to this beautiful and rich country and its suffering population, and that one day, free of COVID…, we might think perhaps of holding our next XUNICEF reunion in a peaceful Ukraine.

Maie Ayoub von Kohl may be reached at < mavonkohl@gmail.com >