Strawberry Fields Forever
When the face painter becomes the face paintee. Pervomais’ke, Mykolayiv Oblast, Ukraine
Strawberry Fields Forever
By Audrey MacAlpine in Mykolayiv, Ukraine
Yesterday our charity worked in a village that suffered 8 months under Russian occupation. Located along the former frontline, it saw some of the worst battles between Ukrainian and Russian troops in defense of the regional capital, Mykolayiv. Caught in that cross fire was this sugar factory behind me, one of the primary sources of employment for the village.
I spent the day face painting a group of local children. Children who, at the start of the invasion, moved abroad with their mothers to Poland or western Ukraine for safety. Now, back in their hometowns, they gather together for one of our pizza parties. In the warm months we add face painting to our traveling pizza-circus and if I’m doing my job right, the kids eventually take the brush from me and pursue their own creative whims. The face-painter becomes the face-paintee.
As it turns out I did do my job right and soon enough was being painted as a полуниця (polunytsya), Ukrainian for strawberry. A strawberry — most kids wanted Hello Kitty or a butterfly and yet this 10 year old girl turned me into a fruit. What was the significance? Maybe nothing but it got my head spinning. A strawberry— a spring crop, a sign of life. Sweet, juicy, lovely strawberries. Yes the sugar factory was destroyed, but still there were strawberries in the fields and hope on the horizon.
The effects of this war stretch beyond the terrible loss of life and decimated buildings. Ukraine’s economy, its environment, and it’s population numbers will suffer for years to come. An entire generation of children are growing up traumatized. I was struck by a quote I read from Mykolayiv’s mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych last week, “…to create a rocket you need 3 months, to create a Ukrainian soldier you need at least 18 years.” Ukraine is running low on resources in all areas.
It’s more important now than ever that the US continues its support. Without it, villages like this one will fall back into occupation and little girls like the one next to me in this photo, will be forced to live under the abuse of Russian troops.
With dwindling support from the US and the ever-present threat of an enemy less than 30 miles away, building back can feel like building houses on shifting sands. Yet still, little by little, families return home to Mykolayiv Oblast, to villages like this one.
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