The famous Ice Bucket Challenge finally makes it to Ukraine. Celebrities as well as regular Ukrianians eagerly dump buckets of ice cold water on themselves to promote charity – or simply for fun.
The viral activity known as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, meant to increase awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has become very popular in the U.S. Among the people who have done the challenge and posted their videos online are Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, and many more.
The challenge may have never reached Ukraine if not for the team of Platfor.ma, a Kyiv city guide. Six staff members of Platfor.ma recorded a joined Ice Bucket Challenge video, but dedicated it to Tabletochki, a Ukrainian charity foundation that raises money for children with cancer.
“We chose Tabletochki because of its transparency. We trust this foundation,” said Oleksandr Akimenko, Platforma’s founder.
Original rules stated that one has to either dump a bucket of ice water on oneself and donate $10 dollars to the ALS charity organization or to refuse and donate $100. Also, the one who completed the shivery task has to nominate three others, giving them only 24 hours to do it.
The challenge’s Ukrainian version doesn’t specify the size of donation, leaving it to the donors to decide. The donors have turned out to be generous. In the 11 days since the Tabletochki Ice Bucket Challenge started, the foundation received Hr 110,000. The initiative also boosted the foundation’s popularity in social networks. The ALS Association claimed to receive $94.3 million in donations in two months thanks to the viral challenge.
In just a week after Platfor.ma’s initiative, the challenge was picked up by hundreds of Ukrainians, including celebrities.
Jamala, jazz singer of Crimean Tatar origin, was not risky – she dumped a small bucket of water on herself while wearing a bright pink dress. Her counterpart, pop star Svitlana Loboda, recorded her video standing at the poolside and wearing white – very appropriately.
Ukraine’s fashion socialite Daria Shapovalova, the organizer of Mercedes-Benz Kiev Fashion Days, took her bucket with grace.
“That was easy,” she giggled afterwards.
Shapovalova nominated Ukraine’s first lady Maryna Poroshenko to take the challenge. No word on if she accepted.
She wasn’t the only one to pass. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, front man of Okean Elzy rock band, was challenged by lawmaker Lesya Orobets and decided to donate money and skip the bucket dumping part. In U.S., the same was done by President Barack Obama.
Writer and singer Irena Karpa dedicated her Ice Bucket Challenge video to Ukraine’s Independence Day, celebrated on Aug. 24, and politicized her message. She did it while being on vacation in Spain, standing next to a fountain, with a nude male statue in its center.
“We are celebrating this Independence day in Catalonia. There is a beautiful fountain with this beautiful buttocks behind us, and that is where we want to send comrade (Russia’s President Vladimir) Putin,” she said before being splashed with water.
One of the most powerful videos so far was recorded by Newsfront PR agency founder Volodymyr Dehtyaryov. After being splashed with two buckets of water, Dehtyaryov casually made a back flip into a pond behind him – and did so wearing his classic business suit and shoes.
Find the best photos and videos of Ukrainians doing Ice Bucket Challenge in the online version of this article at www.kyivpost.com/lifestyle.
Kyiv Post staff writer Iryna Savchuk can be reached at [email protected]
