Life in Ukraine (Part 8)

[John K]

Part 8    == Life on the Street ==

The last year or two, Sevastopol has had a dramatic increase in the number of bums and street people.  The warmer climate makes it easier on them to live outside.  Plus, not all the buildings have external security doors.  When the weather gets cold, they find places inside to migrate to.  When food gets scarce, the local cats and dogs do in a pinch...  In comparison, Zhitomir has no bums.  They installed metal security doors on every building and basically froze all the bums to death over the winter.  An extremely harsh method, but very effective.  I've heard that the police in Sevastopol are now taking bums out to the middle of a forest and dropping them off, leaving them fend for themselves.

Also, I've noticed that streetlife is getting more and more violent over the years.  Just outside of Babushka's apartment is an unlit area between the buildings.  This last year a man was beaten to death there for $12.  When Marina and I came home late at night, one of us would stand watch while the other unlocked the security door.  Such precautions have become more and more neccessary over the years.  When we talk we keep our voices low, so as not to be heard.  When walking at night, we both are more observant and cautious than ever.  Luckily, my height and wide shoulders tend to discourage people from bothering us at night.

Again, given the local domestic unemployment figures hitting 40%, it is not surprising that people are turning to more and more desparate measures to deal with life, on both sides of the equation.  Still, this begins to take on the appearance of a pressure cooker building up steam...

On a somewhat related note, Marina tells me that most of the young beautiful girls are gone from Sevastopol.  They are married to foreigners, or are working overseas in various jobs, both legal and illicit.  I still saw some pretty girls over there, but the quality and quantity of pretty girls did seem to be down from my previous visit.

On a more fun note, apparently the fashion trend for ladies in Sevastopol this summer is how little you can get away with wearing.  Marina tells me that girls are exposing more skin this year than they ever have before.  I guess guy visiting this year will certainly get an eyeful.  :-)  Of course, the girls are chunkier now, so that may not neccessarily be a good thing...

[khersongirls]

... in response to Life in Ukraine (Part , posted by John K on Jun 8, 2004

John
We see the children leaving the sheltors in the summer to live on the streets. They use the underground sewer servicd centers as living quarters. We don't see many older bums in kherson but a few do get around.

I wouldn't dought the story about the bums being drop off in the forest.

This is my 4th year in Kherson and I'm starting to see some improvements in the lifestyle of the Ukraine people. We know have our very rich Ukrianians drying Hummers and our first private own streech limo is a common site. Some of the new "rich" houses are like mini-castles.

We still have plenty of ladies because of the shortage of good males in kherson so It will be a few more years for us.

I've notice more Americans are staying with me in Kherson each year. We know have 1/2 dozen full timers and a lot fo guys are staying the summer months.

The price of Real Estates is still doubling each year. I could buy a nice flat for under 5k three years ago and I can't touch anything under 12k today.  

Things are slowly changing for the better.

Kevin Hayes

[John K]

... in response to Re: Life in Ukraine (Part , posted by khersongirls on Jun 10, 2004

Mama's apartment has almost tripled in value over the last couple of years.  The thing that benefits her the most is that there are now a lot of stores within walking distance of the apartment.  The more that is accessible by foot, the higher it is driving the price.

Of course, other things drive the price of apartments as well, newness of the construction, quality of the apartments, location of the apartments, etc.  Still, it is my understanding that apartment prices are going up all over Ukraine.

Someone was trying to get Marina and I interested in a one bedroom apartment in Kuchma's new complex in Sevastopol.  It was a large efficiency apartment (what they call a one bedroom).  They were asking $35,000 for it.  Probably not a bad price, but we weren't ready to go looking yet.

Of course, it's just another price pressure that weighs on an average Ukrainian.  What originally was difficult to afford, now becomes more and more out of reach.  It's almost like buying a decent house in California for us, except much worse.

[Albert]

... in response to I agree on real estate prices, posted by John K on Jun 10, 2004

Watch out there.  That complex is flawed.  Footers are cracked in some places and sinking has/is occurrng.

[John K]

... in response to Kuchma's new complex in Sevastopol, posted by Albert on Jun 10, 2004

I heard from people who supplied the materials for Kuchma's complex.  Kuchma bought cheap and built cheap.  Most of the suppliers were predicting that the building would start coming apart within a few years.  Sounds like it's coming true...

[tim360z]

... in response to Life in Ukraine (Part , posted by John K on Jun 8, 2004

40%?  For instance,  the USA's worst year of unemployment in the Great Depression was 1933 and our unemployment was at 25% and times were dire and many were engulfed by real poverty.  Basic needs could not be met by a large portion of the population,  needs like food and shelter.  I can only imagine what 40% is like.

[tim360z]

... in response to Life in Ukraine (Part , posted by John K on Jun 8, 2004

its been a pleasure to read you continuing posts on life in Ukraine.  40% unemployment is rather bleak.  Getting to imagine it is difficult,  like almost 1/2 of the people are unemployed?  40% is a staggering # for unemployment.  How do people get by in this harsh economic climate which is much worse than our 30's Great Depression???

[John K]

... in response to Re: Life in Ukraine (Part , posted by tim360z on Jun 9, 2004

Ukraine is now the largest exporter of migrant workers in Europe.  They do most of the agricultural manual labor in Poland, and a large percentage in other European countries.  Also, a large number of nannies, servants, and caregivers are coming from Ukraine as well.  I would have to assume that a good percentage of these migrant workers send their money back home, to help out their families.

Also, a lot of people who show up as unemployed call themselves "enterpreneurs" or "small business owners".  In reality, it means that they are getting by, by selling whatever they can sell.  If you wander into a bazaar, you see a lot of them there.  They have a blanket on the ground and all kinds of (hopefully working) junk spread out on it.  Given the average Ukrainians desire to get something as cheap as possible, their blankets get a good looking over by a lot of people.  There are also a lot of used clothes vendors on the edges of the bazaars.  The cheap prices pull a good number of people over to look.

How large is the percentage of the "self employed"?  It's hard to say.  In Sevastopol, you will see a pretty good number, as it is a busy vacation spot for Eastern Europe.  Because Sevastopol has a tourist season, the unemployment numbers vary with the season.  Some people make enough off the tourists during the summer, to last them through the winter, with proper planning.  In other cities, I'm sure the conditions are much harsher.  Don't forget Zhitomir and the bums...

As I said earlier, I got the distinct impression that Ukrainians are starting to react to the pressure in more and more severe ways.  Costs of goods continue to climb while wages stay the same.  Violent crime continues to grow.  Marina, her family and friends are more and more cautious whenever they go somewhere at night.  A lot more people have the "hungry look" in their eyes.  I expect conditions to continue to get much worse, before they get better.

Who knows?  Maybe Kuchma's replacement won't be as big a crook as he is.  There's always hope...