District Administrator of the Little Leagues in Ukraine (1995)
When we last met, (UO April issue), Harold Weissman and I had just returned from visiting orphanages in Makiivka, suburb of Donetsk, and Orphanage #1 in the city of Donetsk. The children in Makiivka are just beginning to learn the basics of throwing, fielding and hitting while the residents of the orphanage are now into their second year of baseball play, veterans if you will. This two day visit confirmed the expansion of Little League (LL) in Donetsk Oblast. For 2006 there are now over fifteen teams participating in the LL program.
One morning during our visit, I received a call from a parent, speaking in Russian which I refuse to understand for some reason, and asked how to sign up his son for LL. This was a first for me. A phone call concerning LL baseball in Ukraine? Well, somehow we got to speaking in English. It turns out that I was speaking to Kent McDowell, a missionary, and an ex-college pitcher from Colorado. He has lived in Donetsk for the past five years and has a son entering his LL years.
I arranged for Kent to meet with local LL people who will now start a tee ball program for kids 6 years of age and older, a first for Donetsk. And at the same time, I persuaded Kent to provide technical and coaching help for the expanding LL presence in the Donetsk Oblast.
March 22 brought us back to Kyiv to attend the mandatory Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), observer training session to qualify to serve as official Parliamentary Election Observers. Upon arriving in Rivne, our assigned destination for observation, I attempted to reach our local liaison for UCCA. This proved to be extraordinarily difficult since the man had passed away on March 8 and no one had advised UCCA of this fact and potential problem. However, with the help of a local road map and guidance from Dima, our local LL coach, we located 8 polling sites near the hotel.
Our responsibility was to be present at the opening of the polling station to watch as the sealed safe was opened and to watch as the ballots were counted and sorted. We were there at 6 am at a polling place a mere 10 meters (30 feet) from Hotel Myr.
As we walked up the four flights of stairs to the polling area, I realized that we were in a small hospital, a maternity ward for eighty-two registered pregnant voters. No one else was registered to vote here. I do not know why this is the case. Our first three future mothers arrived to vote holding onto four different ballots, one of which was about 2 feet long listing the names of the forty-six parties vying for seats in the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.
I was impressed by the seriousness and professionalism of the election committee. They followed the proper protocol for the handling of ballots and in checking the documents provided by the voters. They were paid a mere 47 hryvnia, about $ 9, for what turned out to be 24 hours of work. Of course, if they were paid that amount every day, that would amount to something closer to a decent wage for most of these people.
Everywhere we went we saw orderly long lines of citizens, all with Ukraine passports in hand as required for proper identification and holding four long ballots. Twice we witnessed eighteen year olds casting the first ballots in their lives. These teenagers were congratulated by their parents and friends, given flowers and big hugs. This shows how special it is having a right to vote in Ukraine. Of course, Harold and I gave each new voter a LL baseball pin.
We were very impressed that in the maternity ward voting station all 82 women had voted. We also learned that three new Ukrainian citizens had already been born at the hospital on that day.
Off to another polling site, this time to the Cultural Palace of Rivne located about 300 feet into a park. What was remarkable is the fact that the entire walkway was icy and dangerous to walk on. No one had bothered to clear a pathway. How could any elderly or physically challenged person get to this polling place? This was not the exception in Rivne. I observed similar unsafe conditions all over the city. I did ask why more care was not given to sidewalk conditions. The common remark I heard was that everyone usually waits for warmer weather so that the ice can melt on its own or "it's not my job to clear a path." I wonder whether the voter turnout was affected by these icy walking conditions!
Well, 10 PM was approaching, time to return to the maternity ward to witness the official end of voting and the counting of the ballots. Once again all official protocols were followed to count the 82 ballots for Parliament. It took till 2 am, a mere four hours to count 82 ballots. I heard that there were polling sites where thousands had voted and they counted for days. We were fortunate to be at a site where only a few voted, but all 82 voted.
By 2 am, a total of seven babies had been born at our site. Harold offered to donate a new US dollar bill to each child that was born during the day. For some reason the head physician refused to accept this small gift from the US. Hopefully all these children will play LL ball in the future.
FYI, I will be back in Ukraine May 25 - June 11. LL Championships in Kyiv June 1-4.
Call me at 8-097-544-9141 after May 26, for more info.
Or, please contact me via e - mail at: BT4UKRAINE@aol.com for any offers of help, whether financially or donations of equipment or souvenirs for the kids for this tournament
I will also be returning to Ukraine In October to work more with orphanages.
Please help me help the children of Ukraine. Thanks, Basil P. Tarasko
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