A funny thing happened on the way to the Mayor’s office

Dear loyal readers,
I cannot think of a way to apologize for abandoning my blog for the last three months. I have been writing things down on paper so I can share them with you later but I’ve been so busy this summer that I never could find the time or the cleverness to sit down and write to you all. Today, however, something glorious happened...the type of thing that when it happens, you want to call everyone you know and just squeal and giggle with them about it….but since that would be awfully expensive, I decided I would do it via my blog!
One of the reasons that this past few months have been so busy is that in June I received word that a local organization that I visited 4 years ago, a special rehabilitation center and social club for children in Artemivsk with disabilities, was closed down because of lack of funding. It was at this club 4 years ago that I first thought about the dream of coming back to work for a while in Artemivsk. When I found out they were closed down I was heartbroken for the children and their families. This was the only organization anywhere near the city that offered affordable support (both medical and psychological) to disabled children and their parents.
So, along with a partner here in Ukraine and some friends back in Omaha (Artemivsk’s sister city), I embarked on a quest to find the club a new home and fine funding to keep it going. This leads me to another reason I’ve been so busy the last few months….For the past year or so a good friend of mine (also an OT who graduated from Creighton) have been organizing a service-learning trip for OT students in the Omaha area to come to Artemivsk, learn about Ukrainian culture and work with a few community organizations here. They arrive on Monday (in two days!!) and I am so excited for them to get here. It has been a tremendous amount of work to get everything organized for them. The group signed on to help with the kids club project and were able to secure numerous donations from Omaha organizations…something I never could have done from way over here. It is because of their hard work that this project has come to fruition…and so quickly!
Basically what my Ukrainian partner and I had to do was find a space, find out how much it would cost to renovate it, search for sponsors, start the renovations and…and this is the biggy…get permission from the mayor of Artemivsk to let us use the space that we found. The timing was stress-inducing because as of the date we stopped talking and starting acting on these items (July 14) the Mayor left for summer vacation (usually one month long) and we had until August 10 to get everything finished (that is when the group from Omaha comes to see the finished product).
So for the past 3.5 weeks I have been having all sorts of “grown-up” experiences like interviewing general contractors, getting estimates, checking for quality of materials, overseeing construction, writing official documents for sponsors and the mayor. Finally, today I had a face-to-face meeting with the mayor during which he had all the power to completely shut down our whole operation and lose thousands of dollars of sponsors’ money on a project we didn’t have permission to complete. I wore my best dress and did my hair really nice…all to have it ruined by the 100+ degree weather we are having here, and marched into the mayor’s office. We lucked out because he is technically still on vacation but happened to be in his office for a couple hours on a Saturday morning so we sort of ambushed him (the man, whom I’ve met a few times and have never seen in anything but a full suit, was wearing a t-shirt, shorts and sandals). I struggled to follow the rapid-fire Russian that was hurled back and forth across the table and tried my best to intelligently answer any questions that he asked of me (terrifying!!). Finally, I crossed my fingers as he rustled around on his desk and found a pen….I kept them crossed until all 6 copies of our program agreement were signed and he stood up to shake my hand. Those of you who have been to Ukraine and know this man (or men like him) know that it is a big sign of respect if the mayor shakes a young woman’s hand. Every other time I have met him he greeted me with the culturally accepted greeting of a kiss on the hand.
I’ve been reserving my excitement just waiting for the other foot to drop on this whole project but now I can firmly say YIPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
Hooray for the women that lost their jobs and are now re-employed, hooray for the children who again have one place to feel safe and learn from others who know what life is like to be handicapped in Ukraine, hooray for the parents who can go back to work while their children have a safe place to hang out and learn, Hooray for Occupational Therapy!!!!!