A fellowship of Ukraine’s rich and successful, the Kyiv Lion’s Club, celebrated Scottish poet Robert Burns’ birthday on Feb. 20 lavishly and in style. It was pitched as the biggest charity event of the year. A constellation of foreign men (many wearing kilts) and their Ukrainian dates rustled up some cash to have a good time and help a few orphanages along the way. I was totally impressed by the number of guests, supper and charity auctions. And I was also totally disgusted by the entertainment choice of the lightly clad go-go dancers. Men obviously had a different opinion on the matter. But this story is not about entertainment in Kyiv; it is about charity.
“In my country we run marathons to donate money, in Kyiv people go to night parties to do it,” said one of the foreign diplomats. It was a slight overstatement because volunteers have parties anywhere in the world. However, in Ukraine’s case, food, drink and, probably, women are the strongest, if not the only, aphrodisiacs that encourage people to share some of their fortune.
The concept of volunteering by physically doing something other than eating or watching a show has so far escaped most Ukrainians. I think the habit of cleaning someone’s yard, playing with children in an orphanage or throwing a concert for the elderly should begin at the school level.
In my high school in Ukraine we had so-called earth days when we would get out as a class and pick up garbage around the school or from the Dnipro River beaches. It was an obligatory exercise, disliked by the majority of students, despite it being held once a year.
Attending school in the United States, I was also obliged to do some volunteering to pass my exchange year program. I decided I would help the elderly in a nursing home. The required 12 hours could have been stretched over a year, but after one month I became addicted. Each Saturday, I was there because I made friends with patients and nurses. They would give me their lifetime wisdom, and I would share my energy with them.
The next four years in a Ukrainian university no volunteering was expected or encouraged. I turned to the American Councils student body to put myself to use.
The best understanding and appreciation for charity came to me in the United Kingdom. In March, England would be turning yellow not just with the first daffodils but also daffodil pins on people’s jackets. A bright symbol of bloom would cost you a pound or as much as you wanted to donate and carry the nation’s spirit in the fight against cancer. Television presenters, waiters and managers would wear these pins, raising awareness and cash for cancer research.
When it wasn’t daffodils, it would be poppies in return for a donation to the Royal British Legion, honoring the men and women who risked their lives in service for the country. When it wasn’t poppies, it would be awareness wristbands: pink for breast cancer, red for AIDS, or ocean blue mixed with white to help those who suffered from the Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. Costing as little as $1, those trinkets create a feeling of unity among the bearers.
Go-go dancers are cheap substitutes for charitable acts. (Photo: Natalia Kravchuk)
There are more ways to do charity. A lot of my friends abroad have found ways to help others by stretching their physical limits. Running marathons, cycling, or rowing, they ask friends and friends of friends to support them by contributing to the charity of their choice. Others brought fundraising to a new extreme. In Australia, men grow beards during Movember (comes from moustache and November) to raise awareness of men’s health issues.
This is still a strange concept in Ukraine. When my college mate climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to donate money to a Ukrainian orphanage, it made evening news on Ukrainian television.
He got mixed responses. Some praised him for the adventure and the noble cause, while others thought it was self-promotion.
Well, not only posh dinners where you pay $175 can make you feel good. In my British university, we once had a task to come up with a charity event which would not only get us in the news bulletins, but also help to raise money. We decided to become homeless by spending one night on the street in winter. Squirming on the cardboard paper under the rain and snow, the six of us raised something close to 400 pounds and were interviewed by the BBC. But what’s more important is that a week later, someone who wished to stay anonymous contributed a few hundred thousand pounds to the same shelter we donated to.
So a big round of applause to all expatriates, foreign missions and clubs for all their charity work. They contribute enormously to raise the notion of kindness, voluntary support and human “give-not-take” attitude. They play with orphans and buy wheelchairs. They deserve a celebration in their honor. However, next time I would rather see kids dancing on stage and orphans fashioning the new clothes collection if it’s going to be called it a charity event. We can all check out semi-clad women in the nightclub afterwards.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliya Popova can be reached at [email protected].
