PROVALSKI STEP INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEER WORKCAMP

Provalye village, August 14-28, 2004

We'd like to share with you our joy and impressions of us falling into Provalye ("hollow" in Russian). A group of 15 international volunteers participating to a volunteer workcamp of SVIT came to the quiet sleepy village located not far from Russian border, to spend two weeks in Provalski Step reserve, department of Lugansk Natural Reserve of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. This camp has been organized by environmental NGOs – members of SVIT working group on volunteering, "Zeleny Svit Lugansk" and ECC "Bakhmat". The aims behind the project were to assist the reserve with environmental activities (cleanups, sanitary and anti-burn cuts of karagana bushes, collecting hay, preparing trenches for scientific research of rodunts) and renovation of reserve’s office. The group consisted of 15 people, including volunteers from Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine, and campleaders Andrey Denshik, Julia and Eugene Myasyshchevy.

Despite having too many lazy people in the camp, who sleep a lot, including the nasty campleaders, the camp was great! The moods were positive and relaxed, we were working with "No woman, no cry" in our ears, breathing fresh steppe air with odour of herbs, absorbing local exotic while enjoying a lift by an oldy motorbike with a sidecar, equipped for transporting piggies, potatoes and families. Locals greeted us smiling with lots of gold teeth, offering help and sharing vodka.

The group was self-organized and self-providing. We were cooking for ourselves, doing dishes and maintaining basic sanitary conditions; together deciding on evening and free-time activities, helping each other with work, celebrating local holidays (visiting church cermon and enjoying the meal prepared after it by wife of local priest Vladimir, playing football with locals on Independence Day of Ukraine, sitting together with local bard, dancing with locals at the disco and visiting piggies we were feeding with leftovers of our meals during the whole camp, riding through the steppe on Katya’s back, and bathing in ponds together with hords of geese and ducks).

The work occupied about 4 hours a day, often consisting of two parts, with siesta during the hottest hours. We were cleaning up the reserve and protected territory around it from trash, left by visitors; cutting karagana (as a sanitary and anti-burn measure, because this bushes supress all other species and grow with thick layer, which can burn fast and easily); preparing trenches and digging in cones for research of rodunts; collecting hay at sanitary mownings; making the pavement and stairs and tidying up the territory around the office of the reserve.

And now the voices come:

JOHAN

A very social group with every person participating socially and in the work. I loved it to live a lot outside: working in the reserve, eating, washing dishes… We even had our little cat who walked in just some days before the work camp started. In those to weeks she was growing twice as big…

ROB

I live in a totally different culture than here in Provalia, and therefore I opened my eyes coming to this place. I love the friendlyness and attitude of the people here. Although some of you might not believe it, I`m not narcotic?. Much respect goes out to all of you for being yourselves. Ukraine is a cool place!

ANNELIES

It was a very relaxed working camp, sometimes too much relaxed. It is a very nice environment and I enjoyed staying at the house of the reservate.

STIJN

This work camp really gave me a good feeling. It let me meet new people, volunteers as well as local people. The nature reserve was amazing, certainly in the evening. I am not used at all to the wide space we could enjoy here in Provalski Step. They should keep taking care of this beautiful piece of nature as they do now. The whole crew here is doing a wonderful job. The village of Provalia was also very interesting. We were able to enjoy some of the local Ukrainian culture, which is great. Friendly, simple people who work good to make a living and enjoy life.

I think more work camps can be done here. There is still a lot of work to do. Also things which retrun every year I guess. The next work camps will also be more efficient because the crew of the reserve will have experience. This year you could sometimes feel they had difficulties in coordination everything. But near the end of the camp it was much better, and we did some great stuff.

NELE

I would like to write something useful, I really would, but unfortunately I am totally not concentrated and people are annoying me about the music/ my hair and the attempt of Olya to paint everyone (make-up). The Boss called me Sweatheart, so I am feeling pretty insecure – like the singer of Linkin Park is shouting all the time through the boxes of this NARCOTIC laptop. Anyway, mayby I should be a good girl and start typing something useful for your reports, no? Mayby I can start a story about some Belgian students who decided to go to Ukraine to do some volunteering there, but mayby that would lead us to far…Pffff, feeling a bit numb to go home actually, would have liked to stay a bit longer…inhaling the smell of the grasses on the steppe (high? No, just drunk! Thank You Rob!), getting bored and start teasing others by waiting for nothing, destroying the company car aka tractor in an attempt to drive it, drilling 2 liter volume holes for scientific research, getting amazed by the people around…and a lot more like kicking off from a cookie addiction …I can thank a lot of people, who were able to realize this very nice and Pretty Cool or BETON – as they say in Romania - Camp! ThanX Julia for everything, also for giving me my little necklace\rope back in these last and very hard hours before our departure! Protected by the condoms of den Andrej and blessed\showered by the local priest – The Walter Vanbeirendonck of Prevalski Steppe! We will get the bus or mayby some freeride from the Cartofli Ambulance tomorrow…;-(

Get kicked off the computer, pffff, life sucks!

HANNA

I really enjoyed this camp. New people, new experience, completely different way of life.

WIM

It was my first real workcamp and I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere in the group was fantastic (without becoming to emotional). The fact that I even enjoyed the waiting for, let us be honnest, everything, can prove this. We could have done more work. If there had been more material, this wouldn’t have been a problem. Maybe the neighbours? It was also nice to have the village so close by. In this way we could hear, smell and taste how people live/survive here in the far east of Ukraine.

LENA

When we first arrived to Provalia I thought: "Whow this is a nowhere place… we’ll see how creative this group will be to have a good time here". And as I already felt when we met part of the group in the train from Kiev to Luhansk, this was a great group with a lot of different caracters who made our living together always fun and interesting.

CLAUDIA

This was my first camp, I find it a very intesting experience and now I’m thinking about my new one camp!!! We were a nice group, and everyone was working to gave some kind of help (I think that I can do better….sorry for my terrible english…), A great new experience with new people and in a completelly different way of life.

ANDRIUS

The camp really good! Maybe the best thing in this camp was that there was 15 people from 6 European countries so it was really interesting, funny and fascinating. Conditions were also unusual for the most of participants and this was good backgroung for group building and success of the camp. The weakest thing was organization of the work in the camp. A lot of time was spent just for waiting for any job.

Free time was organized well, we get closer with local people, area, their culture, way of life, traditions. We have tried all the ways of transport which is used in Provalje (starting from old tractor and finishing with horse), we ate national food, tried drinks, heard local music, saw oll the intresting places in Provalje.