Life in Ukraine

A typical day in Ukraine was quite different. We did not have running water the majority of the time, let alone hot water. Electricity was spare. We relied on candles or a fire for our light. Food was very scarce. We only ate what we could grow. If it was a bad growing season, we didn’t have much to eat. Clean clothes did not exist. We rinsed our 2 or 3 outfits maybe once a week in just cold well water and hung them out to dry. Everything in our home was manual. We did not have a dishwasher or oven or microwave. We only had a fridge, stove and bread-cutter in our home.

Instead of having 3 or 4 meals a day, I was lucky to get one sufficient meal. I could not afford to go to the store and buy anything or go to even a market to buy a snack. There was no money to do so. We lived in a one-bedroom apartment with 4 people. The kitchen was big enough to fit a small square table in it and that was it. We had no furniture except for one bed. We lived in very close quarters. At the time I did not think our house was dirty, but now that I see it after I lived here, its filthy. No one shold have to live in that. It is not sanitary for anyone to live in. This is one reason why sickness is rampid in Ukraine. Everyone lives in such close, dirty quarters that sickness is spread so easily. We lived in poverty our whole lives, struggling to make enough money to come close to being able to supply our necessities. As a child I did not understand, which made it that much harder.

Not only did we not have anything, but crime swarmed our town. People were forced to resort to crime in order to meet their necessities. People had to steal, because the prices of everything were so high that no one could afford them. The reason why people resorted to getting involved in organized crime was because they weren’t making enough money at their real jobs to support their families. Being part of organized crime was seen as a second job. In Ukraine you weren’t considered a criminal, just another person trying to support their family.

This is just a brief overview of life in Ukraine, but as you can see it is very different. We had limited supplies of everything and had no luxuries like people do here. The worst part though is that is how the majority of the population lives. In america, the majority of the population lives above the poverty line, but in Ukraine it is the opposite. It is impossible to get out of that lifestyle. The people have all odds against them and no one there to help.

-Oksana

Apartment Complex in Ukraine - would you want your family living here?