Skills, Thrills and Other Surprising
Things I Found in Ukraine
In this blog, B arts volunteer Zakk Pea talks about his experience as a participant on an Erasmus Plus funded trip to Dobropillia, Ukraine, as part of the project - Reclaim the Neighbourhood: Active and Participative Citizenship of Youth in Post-Industrial Urban Areas.
Author - Zakk Pea, 1st November 2021
Team Magicians, my base group for reflection and small activities while on the project. The group is stood in front of a large mural. Our host partner informed us this was painted by a local mural artist, and represents a mix of Ukrainian stories and fairytales. Image Description: High quality photograph of 8 people stood outside, dressed in winter clothing, posing for a photograph in front of artwork.
I have always been creative, but never particularly expressive. Reasons for this are myriad, and frankly, don’t bear going into. Since I was maybe fifteen, I’ve been besieged by social anxiety. It has prevented me from making friends, enjoying social activities, and generally made it difficult to go anywhere without a rigid itinerary. Through persistent personal development, I have gradually broken down these barriers and rebuilt my confidence, but all from a position of carefully curated, social insulation. I would only go out with friends, to the same places, for activities I know I can enjoy. This worked, my confidence had grown, I had learned to express myself, and more or less had begun to understand my own skills. At the time, I didn’t quite understand why I felt so bored… I needed a challenge.
Georgia messaged me one morning, out of the blue, “Do you want to come to Ukraine on a fully funded Erasmus trip?”
I rubbed my bleary eyes and thought for maybe twenty seconds, “I’ll check my passport.”
I was nervous about flying, about meeting new people, about my general performance over the week. Travelling was predictably nightmarish, but once we met the Berlin team in Kiev, I started to relax. The Berlin team comprised three Italians, two French-folk and a Londoner. The Italians assured us that two of them were half German, tenuous, but we let it slide. We stayed a while at a restaurant in Maidan Square, swapped names and enjoyed a few drinks, before meeting Spain, Georgia and Moldova at the station. The next ten hours or so, began with a few brief introductions and a surprisingly good night’s sleep before some thirty of us descended upon a small coffee shop outside Kramatorsk Station.
The first train journey from Kiev to Kramatorsk, on a 3rd class sleeper carriage. Image Description: Medium resolution photograph of a sleeper carriage of train, with 2-tier bunk beds with upper luggage storage rack and a narrow aisle between the beds. Image shows people sitting or lying down on the beds.
By this point, the UK team had bonded through the mutual struggle of air travel, Milena gave me some kind of delicious, syrup-centred bread, but the nerves stayed with me until the first icebreaker. The rest of the week was a whirlwind. I quickly realised that everyone was nervous. The more I spoke, the more my confidence shone through. On the flipside, my predilection for lyrical verbosity and wry hyperbole tripped me up several times in as many minutes amongst those with anything but perfect English. I’ve always been good with words, but I never appreciated how complex this sounds to the inexperienced. I dialled it back.
Over the week, my previously self-perceived strengths and skills emerged. These initially came to the fore via several presentations, every time I was dropped into a circle of strangers, I would meet eyes with the group and ask, “Any ideas?” Often a sheepish response, people were always nervous to make the first offering. I would outline my understanding of the task, make a suggestion, ask questions, start a conversation and support their exploration of the task. We often arrived quickly at a group consensus and wrote it down. I ask again, “Anything else?”
Time and time again, I put people in motion. It was so exciting to understand my skills and see them validated in real time. I also discovered that my practical skills are a big weakness, and I’m exceedingly hard on myself, despite a successful outcome.
There were eight work groups on the community action project. Georgia and Reuben ran the B-Arts Lanterns workshop, there was Italian and Spanish food, some live music, and a little maintenance on the park. One group designed stickers with the local kids, another collected litter and turned it into art, and our group put together some fun photo frames with silly props.
Team at ‘Not a Wasteland’ the community park area. Image Description: A group of people outdoors in winter clothing, sat on decked area at a park, looking towards a sheltered stage. The stage has a microphone set up and music equipment.
The highlight of the trip is a toss-up between two events. The final reflection on the last day had everyone tape a piece of paper to their back, then we spent the next twenty minutes writing things we liked about each other, which we had learned over these short few days. When I finally got to read the paper, I cried. More than simply learning what I can offer to a project, I learned in no uncertain terms that I have significantly more value than I’ve ever given myself credit for.
This deeply personal revelation is in contest with that one night when Antonio, our gourmet for the week, dimmed the lights and broke out the saxophone. I was so off guard. It had been a long two or three days, I was flagging at dinner, but the saxophone gave me life. He played a few numbers then opened the floor for karaoke. I offered my powerful pipes to sing Backstreet Boys, which was a first on several counts.
(I know I said a toss-up between two events, but during the “Cultural Exchange” night we had an excellent party and got very, very drunk. Hard to pick a best of the three!)
Karaoke night and taking the mic! People singing from left to right - Dima, Alvaro, Zakk, and Reuben. Image Description: Four people singing, two of the people are sharing a microphone looking beyond the camera, one person is singing with their eyes closed, the fourth person is reaching out to hold the microphone.
This trip has been transformative. Perhaps it’s the accelerated nature of the program, or the volume of participants, or the optimistic novelty of being away from our natural environment. It’s invigorating. I can’t say my social anxiety has entirely disappeared but meeting so many people in such a constructive environment has dealt a massive blow to its influence.
I travel solo to Asturias next month, and whatever fresh challenges I meet along the way, I do so with a grin.
Full group visit to an open cast coal mine in Dobropillia. Image Description: Photograph of 32 people gathered in a group posed for a photograph. In the background, there are large mounds of slag (slag heaps), with a small amount of plant life growing through some of the heaps.