Spring Cleaning in the Chernobyl Church

Life proves that enthusiasm is a feature, the absence or presence of which does not depend on the social systems and slogans relating to certain periods of history. During Soviet times there were people who, in spite of the widespread policy of compulsion, participated in Saturday spring cleaning actions not because they had to. They were led by a sincere desire to make their small contribution to improving the city landscape. Nowadays you can still find such enthusiasts – suffice it to take a short walk around the city last Sunday to make sure – the yards and parks were being cleaned up by the usual services and by local inhabitants as well. Some public organizations also conducted such activities: in particular, the Ukrainian Social Democratic Youth cleaned up the Chernobyl Church. The church building is a part of Archangel Michael complex, which is being built on Myr Prospect in the capital. The first part of the architectural ensemble appeared in 1991: the Temple of the God’s Entry into Jerusalem (the first church building in Ukraine built since 1917). In 1994 the first Ukrainian baptistery was erected here, and later two more churches were built – one of them is to commemorate perished officers of Ukrainian Ministry for Internal Affairs and the second those perished during the first days of Chernobyl tragedy. The action, which engaged fifty young Social Democrats, has lately become a tradition for the group, usually conducted on the eve of the Requiem for Chernobyl victims. The teens pick up trash, whitewash trees, repair, and paint fences. According to the statement made by Vadym Kostiuchenko, group chairman, such actions are to show that Ukrainian young people, breaking the stereotype of lacking initiative, are able to undertake actions of social value and, moreover, they do so voluntarily. The words are backed by real programs conducted by the young Social Democrats, who are on friendly terms with the St. Michael parish of Ukrainian Orthodox Church; they help the parish, conduct health programs for children, support Sunday school for parishioners, carry out sports actions, maintain the graves of their schoolteachers, assist in training programs for young candidates for deputies. In fact, the activities of the 60,000 members serve to prove the notion that a constructive idea can unite youth. Incidentally, the Youth Social Democratic Forum took place in late March in Kyiv. The participants representing nine countries of Eastern Europe decided to elect young Ukrainian Social Democratic leaders as coordinators of their forum programs for this year.