Letters from Molochansk, October 2005
by Ben Stobbe
 
This week started with a Sunday morning baptismal service in the Molotschna River. For those of you immersionists who remember the Jordan near Yarrow BC this was a classic repeat. To get to the site I drove along a country road weaving the Lada through a herd of community cows. Shortly after going over a wooden bridge there was a goat-trail on the left that followed the river. I worked my way down a sharp drop off  and soon found a group of about 100 huddled along the river facing a brisk wind.  As soon as I wanted to step out of the car with my nicely polished black loafers a young girl came running up and kindly pointed out where a cow had deposited 2nd base. Nothing really changes. Mennonite boys are still trying to make spears out of the bulrushes and parents fear the water and keep a keen eye on their children.   I imagined that this scene has often been repeated on this river.
 
The service came to order with the clearing of voices, the gathering of some singers and the appearance of an accordion.  A song, words from the Minister, another song, more words, a poem, some shuffling, and then the appearance of the older candidates, older women, dressed in white.  There was a railing leading into the water and two wreathes of flowers anchored in the river which had a bit of a current.
 After the service I volunteered to take others in the car. Soon I had 4 in the back seat and an ethnic Mennonite woman beside me in the front.  She has returned from Kazakhstan to live in Molochansk instead of going to Germany.  This is where she grew up and this is where she is staying.  We quickly skipped over 60 years of English and Russian and conversed quite well in German.
 Other scenes from this week included very different groups who use the facilities at the Mennonite Centre. On Wednesday we had a mom’s group from the community. This is a group of young moms who come from the community with their babies for a time of visiting and support. The government recently decided to give an allowance giving families 8000 Grievnas for each baby born.  That is about $2,000 Cdn., a tremendous amount, and it’s a good time to be mid-wife or an obstetrician. The next best thing to selling strollers.  Even in sleepy Molochansk you see young moms pushing the future of the country in front of them.
 
In the afternoon the neighbourhood kindergarten teacher came in with her little charges and set them up in the computer room. Soon they were drawing away with their paint program.  Very few village kids in this entire country have the benefit of such a resource.
 
On Friday we had a special luncheon for the pensioners. October 1 is National Pensioners' Day, and to celebrate this the kitchen put on an incredible lunch of "ketletin", mashed potatoes, salad, tea and sweets for dessert. Ira, our cook who did most of the work herself, made 120 meatballs, 25 kilos of mashed potatoes, and a massive amount of salad.  She peeled all the potatoes--with a knife--by herself.  Her husband mashed them.  We couldn’t feed all the pensioners at one sitting.  Virtually none of them can walk easily; they hobble with canes, branches or sticks. A few fortunate ones have hand-propelled wheelchairs, the type where you pull two levers.  Some of them are bent over so badly it is painful just to watch.  Mostly women--men don’t live to this age. One woman walked sideways, hardly lifting her feet. None came by car. Some came and took the opportunity to use the phone, others sat outside taking in the warm autumn sun.  That’s what makes this place so dynamic. You can go from strollers to walkers, from moms-to-be to moms-that-were.  All have needs and all are thankful.

I did not realize how important the humble bicycle is until I saw the many different uses for a bike here in Ukraine. In the cities, buses and Marshruta taxis appear very well used, but here in the villages most people walk or ride bike.

 In Molochansk there are very few ( I have seen perhaps 3 or 4) North American-styled road or mountain bikes. The bikes here are sturdy, generally older one-speed working machines. These are draft horses. They can be used to carry heavy loads--just put the pile of wood, branches, sacks, etc., all on the bike and then walk alongside.  Quite an efficient way to carry a cumbersome load. Sometimes the loads are so big the bike can hardly be seen. Other times a person will carry 3-metre boards, pipes, etc., while riding the bike. People go fishing with their long poles sticking out behind their bikes. Or, cargo is fastened along the side of the bike and then the rider straddles the cargo. It’s also amazing to see what can be carried on the back of the bike, including such items as full propane tanks, not the smaller barbeque type we are familiar with, but long, one-foot-wide cylinder types. At times you see big sacks probably containing sugar or flour. I have seen two sacks plus the cyclist. Some people fasten a wagon-like device behind the bike to transport sand, bricks, or even vegetables to market. I suspect that at most, 15% of families in Molochansk have a car.
The bike is also used for family transportation. In the mornings mothers bike their youngsters to day-care/kindergarten. One youngster sits on the bar in front of mom; a second sits on the carrier in the back. There are very few children’s bikes. Young kids, boys and girls, will ride an adult girls’ bike where they don’t have to straddle the top cross bar.
Often kids ride an adult bike, always standing on the pedals because they are too short to sit on the seat. Some of these bikes have a carrier in front where a small child can sit. One of our staff has her two children come to the centre to visit her. The older boy who is probably 8 or 9, pedals with his younger sister, who is barely two, sitting in the carrier upfront. He has to look around her when he pedals. I want to get a picture of them.

The terrain here is prairie-like, and very flat. So a one-speed bike works well. Out in the field you can spot a person herding cows on his bicycle. He scoots around with his one-speed like a cowboy.

A new one-speed Ukrainian- or Russian-made bike costs around 300 UAH, about $80 Cdn. Many people still ride bikes they purchased during Soviet times. These bikes are very basic, easily repaired and last forever. Many of the seats have hardly any leather and people seem to be sitting directly on the springs. Occasionally the only part of the pedal that remains is the metal tube, no rubber pieces. And the bikes are ridden by all. Many older people, even some babushkas who have a hard time walking, still get on a bike. Often you see a husband and wife cycling off to work together on one bike.

To see a young man carefully trying to maintain his balance on the bike while obviously under the influence is quite hilarious. Generally those people ride slowly, carefully and deliberately, but swerve from side to side and are obviously a real danger to themselves.  The beauty of the bike of course is that it has it own test of sobriety. Even when really drunk, many can drive a car, but to balance on a bike is another matter.

 Bike helmets make as much sense to the locals as seat belts do. How can North Americans speak of freedom when they must bolt themselves to the car or put a rigid bowl on their heads? At night cyclists travel by braille. That must surely be the reason for having so many potholed roads. Once you hit a certain wheel twisting, denture creating, hole, you know where you are in this land of no lights at night. No wonder people see so many stars.

I do not wish for more cars in the villages. A great deal of village charm rides on the retro bike.