After 10 years of living in the United States, I began to feel that the only way I could keep moving forward was to first go back. So in January 2011, I moved back to my hometown of Kyiv, bringing my new American husband along for the ride. I wanted to return to my roots and reconnect with the culture I grew up in, now coming from a more mature and fresh perspective.
“Here, you should apply for this. This sounds like you,” my husband said pointing to a Kyiv Post ad searching for a Lifestyle reporter. With no journalism experience,a ll I had to offer was my English, an eclectic travel blog and a passion for the arts.
Chief editor Brian Bonner and Yuliya Popova, who was then the Lifestyle editor, gave me a chance. Within days I was out talking to an eccentric street poet, a young contemporary art auctioneer, a Harry Potter translator and an Ohio-born Ukrainian filmmaker. During my seven months at the Kyiv Post, I encountered a rich chorus of voices, each in their unique way fighting to preserve and enrich Ukrainian identity and culture, breaking away from lingering Soviet shadows.
One voice in particular captured this bold national spirit. Andriy Shevchenko, a young designer created a new national typeface as part of a country-wide competition. The project was aimed to give the country’s professional identity a facelift. Andriy worked for months to manually craft each letter of the font, ultimately succeeding in developing a new typeface for Cyrillic alphabet withan elegance and lyricism inherent in Ukrainian character.
The city had flourished since I left it in early 2000s – new galleries, cultural spaces and music festivals were sprouting throughout the city. Artists and cultural entrepreneurs borrowed models from the West, but adapted them to the Ukrainian spirit and style. In the environment of prevailing bureaucracy and corruption,young people found ways to channel their creative energy through NGO’s and startups.
Although I initially only wanted to cover lifestyle stories, I’m grateful that I had a chance to work on other beats. While reporting on an unusually severe cold snap in Ukraine in 2012, I met people whose primary concern was survivaland feeding their families. One biting December morning, I ventured to Park Slavy to find a heated tent, one of many erected by the government throughout Kyiv to provide relief for the many homeless struggling to survive. A young man walked in wearing military-style coat and felt boots. After settling on the wooden bench near the heater and grabbing a cup of instant coffee, Volodymyr told me about leaving his small town, his wife and infant daughter to work in the city in the hopes of paying off his abundant debt. Although he did find work, a few months into the job his boss fired him, unpaid, leaving him without even enough money for a train ticket home. He was utterly distraught.
Volodymyr’s desperation put a human face to the issue and statistics I was aware of, but never had to face closely. His story, along with thousands of others, represents the pervasive injustice that continues to plague all citizens, but particularly hurts the vulnerable and the marginalized groups in Ukraine. This assignment gave me a glimpse into the pain and struggle that is often invisible.
Mariya Manzhos and son Ari on a recent visit to Kyiv’s Holoseyevsky Park.
Through reporting and observing the work of my colleagues, I discovered that Kyiv Post journalists play an essential role not only in documenting various aspects o fUkrainian experience, but also in shaping the identity of a people through writing truthful and independent narratives about them. I felt a profound sense of meaning by contributing to this important effort.
Upon my return to the U.S. I took a non-journalism job to pay the bills, but I missed the sense of fulfillment I felt working at the Kyiv Post. So this fall I will continue my journalistic career in a masters in journalism program at Boston University.
Being part of the Kyiv Post not only helped me find myself professionally, but also gave me new eyes and an insider’s view into Ukraine. The Kyiv Post continues to help me understand what it means to be a Ukrainian while living abroad. Today more than ever, the Kyiv Post is a powerful source of stories and voices that tie me to my country, my people and my culture.
Mariya Manzhos, a Kyv Post staff writer from 2011-2012, will be studying for a master’s in journalism at Boston University in the fall.
