the de Vuyst Pages      

Culture Clips

Below are some interesting stories and facts about life in Ukraine.

FAQ

Here is our own little compilation of frequently asked questions about life and ministry in Ukraine.  If you have a question you would like an answer to, email us!

What languages do you speak? - Ukrainian is the official language but Russian is very widely spoken as well.  In the region where we live, Transcarpathia, Hungarian is spoken in many villages because this region once belonged to Hungary.  We speak Russian and Hungarian.  George is fluent in Russian and able to preach without any trouble.  We both speak Hungarian at a high-enough level to communicate without difficulty but still with mistakes.  We plan to learn Ukrainian when we can enroll in a course.  Children tend not to speak Russian so it's better to know Ukrainian in order to work with children.

What do you like the most about living in Ukraine? - We love the Ukrainian culture and the hospitality of the people.  We learn something new every day.  

What do you miss the most from the U.S.? - There is very little we actually miss.  Sometimes we crave a nice juicy steak or a sip of Dr. Pepper but for the most part we don't even think about those little things that we don't have here.  More than anything we wish our children could spend more time with their grandparents.  Living outside the U.S.  also causes us to appreciate our country - it's justice system, educational system, medical care, general respect for others, law and order, etc.  The breakdown of society in Ukraine is so apparent and widespread.  We long for a day when Ukrainians can taste justice, equality, and a functioning society.

What  is one of the biggest needs you see in Ukraine? - Family.  Everywhere we look we see the brokenness of families.  Alcoholism, divorce, abuse, and neglect have destroyed the family in Ukraine.  Communism has created a society where the State raises the children.  In all of our contacts in Mukachevo, we can only think of two families that we would call "healthy".  The church has a huge opportunity to transform lives by modeling a healthy "church family" and working to restore the family.

What is the weather like? - Where we live on the western edge of Ukraine the weather is similar to the mid-west of the United States.  For the past few winters we haven't had too much snow and the temperature is around freezing in winter and in the 90s in summer.

How long do you plan to stay in Ukraine?  - We are very happy to live in Ukraine and would like to stay here a long time.  We serve on a two to three year contract which means every two to three years we spend about four months serving our partner churches in the United States and the rest of the time in Ukraine.  As missionaries, our goal is to work ourselves out of a job by training and raising up local people who can do our work.   New ministry opportunities continue to arise which may one day lead us to something new here in Ukraine.

What is a typical day like?  - A typical day in Ukraine means that there will always be something unexpected.  As much as we try to plan and schedule, rarely does it work out like we might expect.  It takes a lot longer to accomplish anything here than it does in the U.S.  Even grocery shopping can be a lengthy process as you go from shop to shop in search of something.  However, that has just got easier with the newly opened supermarket on the edge of town.

Stories of medical care in Ukraine

Consider these true stories:

    *  "My friend just had a baby.  The next day she was told the baby was dead."

    *  "A few years ago my best friend had her third baby about a month premature.  The doctors set the baby aside while they tended to the mother.  The baby died.  Hospital officials refused to let her hold the baby or to bury it.  You wouldn't imagine what I went through to get the baby so we could bury him."

    *  "My sister-in-law has had three babies die after birth.  The twins died because there was only one incubator and later a slightly healthier baby was born and so they gave the incubator to that baby.  Her other baby was born healthy at over 9 pounds and the following day the nurses told her the baby had died and to this day she doesn't know why."

    * "I needed an emergency appendectomy and was given a local anesthetic.  After three hours of waiting on the operating table, the surgeon came in drunk.  The anesthetic had worn off but he proceeded to do the operation.  I, literally, nearly died of shock.  I can still remember the sounds much less the unbelievable pain.  This surgeon still does operations today." 

    *  "I had just given birth to my second baby and was still in the delivery room while the woman who shared the delivery room with me was having an especially difficult delivery.  I had my cell-phone with me and called my doctor to come help this woman.  Her doctor couldn't seem to do anything for her.  My doctor came back and ended up doing a c-section.  He told me that if I hadn't called him the woman and her baby would have died."

10 Ways I know I'm raising a missionary kid

1) Pretends "border crossing"

2) Can speak 3 languages in one sentence

3) Going to McDonald's is at least a 3 hour drive

4) Has a birth certificate written in a foreign language

5) Presumes peanut butter is a novelty

6) Can identify the town we live in by its castle

7) Has had a frequent flier card from the age of one

8) Believes bread is something you buy at the baker's while it's still hot

9) Can say "I need to go potty" in a foreign language

10) Knows not to drink water from the tap or "you could get sick"

Wedding: Ukrainian Style

Turkey-Kiev (2005)

While the rest of you were feasting on turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, we were working!  That's because Thanksgiving isn't a national holiday in Ukraine - although many have said they'd like to have such a holiday here.  We decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday by inviting friends over (most of whom had never had a Thanksgiving dinner) and preparing a traditional, American Thanksgiving.  Sarah's mom brought the ingredients we couldn't buy in Ukraine or Hungary (pumpkin, evaporated milk, pecans, corn syrup, cranberries).  But no Thanksgiving is complete without a turkey.  George searched and searched for a turkey but there was none to be found.  We got rumor that turkeys could be purchased in Kiev so we asked a friend in Kiev to look into it for us.  She found a turkey - a 24 pounder - and it cost $60!  She salted it, wrapped it up in cloth, and stuffed it into an old Jansport backpack.  Then she took it to the train station and asked a conductor to hand it off to George when they past through Mukachevo.  So, 17 hours later George picked up the turkey at the train station, gave a few bucks to the conductor, and we had our turkey!  It made for a great feast - and a good story too!

Holiday celebrations

Here in Ukraine New Years is a bigger holiday than Christmas.  In fact, for most people, Christmas isn't celebrated until January 7.  What we call a "Christmas tree" for people here is a "New Year's tree."  This is all routed in the Soviet past when religious holidays were minimized and secular holidays took their place.   The tree standing in the center of town is adorned with rubber balls, blow-up animals, and fake presents.

Green with Chicken Pocks

When you come down with the chicken pocks in Ukraine, every pock is painted daily with green iodine and you are not allowed to bath or shower.

Religious-Cultural Context

Although 96% of Ukrainians consider themselves Christians, (the majority are Orthodox and only 2% of the population is protestant), by far the vast majority rarely, if ever, attend church.  It’s not easy to evangelize a country that thinks baptism and a few religious traditions are all that is needed for salvation.  When it comes to prime religious traditions such as surround Easter-time we make a point of emphasizing our God’s sacrifice and triumph over death.  This year the Mukachevo congregation held a Tenebrae service, showed a powerful allegorical film, and enacted Jesus’ resurrection in a skit.  Most importantly, we preach that if we claim to know God then our lives will not be the same.  It’s only outside of church that most Ukrainians will hear the Easter story and see how God transforms lives.

Mailing address:  Ilona Zrini 10/2, Mukachevo 89600, Transcarpathia, Ukraine

email: gdevuyst@crcna.org

Links to: Christian Reformed Church in N. America   and  Christian Reformed World Missions