This week, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I am volunteering at the Chasiv Yar nursing home, which is temporarily relocated to the village of Cokilets in Khmelnytskyi oblast, Ukraine.  The August Mission team was making a pre-Christmas delivery on Friday, December 23 so I helped them load their truck, and they gave me a ride out from Khmelnytskyi city.

The Orthodox church which has been historically very important in Ukrainian religious culture has traditionally celebrated Christmas on January 6 or 7.  Only recently has the secular Ukrainian government made December 25 an official holiday, so it’s a pretty low-key festival here.  The nursing home staff has put up some decorative lights and other decorations, and they’ve prepared some special holiday menu items, but other than that, the daily routine has generally continued as usual.

I must admit, I haven’t done much to liven things up.  Before arriving, I had visions of participating in some Christmas carol singing activities and activities like that.  But in actuality, many of the folks living here are so frail, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to stir up too much excitement about holiday festivities.

For me, the highlight of the week was a special visit by carol singers from a church in the nearest town (a forty minute drive on unpaved country roads).  They came one afternoon and performed a short concert for the residents.  It was very nice but still pretty low-key. The residents listened attentively and applauded politely.  But there wasn’t really enough energy in the room to call for an encore.

I showed a short video clip of the performance to a Ukrainian friend of mine, and he was very touched. He said it reminded him very much of a rough time in his life. He had been on military duty away from his family and friends for several months during 2017, and he was still away on duty at Christmas time. But some people from the local church came to the base where he was stationed and sang Christmas carols, and it meant a lot to him.  You never know all the places where such gestures of goodwill will resonate.

Also, there is probably more than a grain of truth in the old saying, “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”.  This springs to mind now because the singers also brought a lot of special homemade treats – enough to augment suppers for the residents for several days, adding some interesting variety to the menu.  

Anyway, with or without food, I hope they come back again soon for another visit.