The view from the back of the first building, where renovations are beginning, of the new community house project. (Photo: Rob Lancaster)

The Voyage of Dialogue and Discovery has moved on to Japan, and next will be in the US, but the work continues in all the places it has visited. After finishing with the Voyage team in Crimea, Rob Lancaster travelled to Baranivka in Central Ukraine to see the progress of one new initiative to build a community house that will be a permanent base for dialogue, training, and trust-building in Ukraine.

Since the Orange Revolution in 2004, many of the high hopes Ukrainians had for the development of democracy in the country have not been realised. Among other indicators, in 2009 the country ranked a lowly 146 on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index, and the malaise goes much deeper. And yet there are indications of a quieter revolution underway at the grassroots level, bringing the idea of ‘trust’ into the public debate and challenging each person to build the foundations of democracy, beginning with honesty and personal responsibility in their own attitudes. Valentin Bondarenko and Sergey Tretetskiy, two friends who met in the drama of the Orange Revolution, are spear-heading a new initiative in the serene surrounds of Baranivka in Central Ukraine to lay foundations – literal and figurative – for a new impetus to democracy-building.

The F4F and Ukrainian flags fly above the new community house in Baranivka (Photo: Rob Lancaster)After meeting in 2004, both Valentin and Sergey had the opportunity to take part in a week-long training and development course organized and facilitated by Foundations for Freedom (F4F), an international NGO based in Kiev that aims to promote a just society based on a commitments to values. In different ways, the introduction to F4F was important for both, but for Valentin in particular it was the beginning of a completely new direction in life. As we discussed why he considers these ‘Visiting Courses’ so important for young people in Ukraine, he explained quite simply ‘because it changes people and it changes lives.’ By his own admission, he used fully to embrace the culture of corruption in the country, and his philosophy was that ‘life is a game and the first rule is that you take money’. ‘I only thought about myself, and I thought that I was good because I knew how to use the system – others were losers.’ The Visiting Course challenges this approach to life, primarily by facilitating discussions among participants themselves on concepts of humanity, change, values and morality. For Valentin, it was a time ‘for understanding what my life was and what was important for me.’ In his case, this also meant rethinking dramatically his approach to alcohol and drugs, which he has now decided to do without altogether.

Though the role that these Visiting Courses have played in the lives of many young people is demonstrably significant, Valentin and others felt both that F4F could be doing more and that the question of financial sustainability needed to be addressed. F4F was launched out of the United Kingdom under the aegis of Initiatives of Change UK, then Moral Re-Armament, in 1993, and much of the funding since then has come from outside Ukraine. At 20,000-30,000 UAH (2,500-4,000 USD) per course, the costs of the training programmes are not negligible. They recognised that if they could create a permanent base for these courses, huge possibilities would be opened, finances would no longer present quite the same limitation and the experience could be offered to many more people. It was in this context that 18 months ago the idea for a community house was first seriously discussed, but as Valentin explains, ‘at that moment there was neither the money nor the energy for it to become a reality.’

Valentin Bondarenko, working on site for plans towards a new community house in Baranivka, Central Ukraine (Photo: Rob Lancaster)Over time, Valentin became increasingly convinced of the need to get started and build a house from scratch. It hasn’t been an easy exercise getting people on board, but he has had the right support at key points. In particular, with the encouragement he received from friends in Norway during a New Year camp this year, and other backers as far afield as Australia, the idea has ripened within the F4F team. Even convincing his friend Sergey was not a foregone conclusion. Sergey says that although he saw the merit to it, and despite their friendship, their temperaments are very different and he was initially put off by the forceful way Valentin presented the plan. ‘But after Norway, I heard the same idea and perspective being presented in a different form. Norway changed Valik very much – he was shining. We were talking for a long time here, and his return from Norway was the breath of fresh air we needed.’

The philosophy of the project is straightforward, says Valentin: to create something that is ‘from our hands, very simple and very useful.’ They have identified two adjacent blocks of land where they are beginning, secluded among the green hills and quietude just outside the village of Baranivka, only some two and a half hours from the main centres of both Kiev and Kharkiv. It is one of the most pristine natural environments in Ukraine, and a central location for those coming from different directions.

Participants of the Visiting Course held on the proposed site of the new community house near Baranikva, Central Ukraine. For the moment, the sessions are in a old army tent. (Photo: Rochus Peyer)Early in May 2010 they received the deeds to the relatively run-down house that is already there on one block of land, and the first step will be to work on making it more livable. A Visiting Course was held on the site for the first time at the beginning of the month, with 30 participants living in tents, and sessions were run in an old army tent they have bought for the purpose. At present, the amenities are rudimentary (the makeshift shower was installed by the second day of the course), and the catering is out of one small kitchen, but the charm of the surrounds is penetrating and, as renovations continue, there is an increasing sense of great possibilities ahead.

The next stage will be the main building that is planned for the adjacent land, which they are still negotiating their way through a cumbersome administrative process to secure. It would not be unheard of in Ukraine in such a situation to start building and worry – or not, as the case may be – about legal requirements later, but Valentin underlines the firm decision they have made that ‘everything will be done according to legislation. If it’s not possible legally, then we won’t do it.’

(l-r) Sergey Tretetskiy, Nadiia Shpytko, Margaryta Sieraia and Valentin Bondarenko, after receiving the deeds to the first piece of land for the new community house project. (Photo: Rob Lancaster)To demonstrate that he was serious, Valentin quit his job as Director of Development in a large manufacturing company in Kharkiv to devote his time completely to the project, and now Sergey has joined him. They both needed to be away for a number of days during a recent meeting in Crimea and a friend, Margaryta Sieraia, offered to look after the place by herself while they were gone. Far from being put off by the experience, she has now stayed on and says she hopes to remain there for the next year. Nadiia Shpytko, who helped with the cooking there during the Visiting Course, has also stayed on, at this stage indefinitely. And not for want of a qualified builder, Andrei Ulianenko, another friend, is also part of the permanent team.

The vision is broader than the Visiting Courses, although their part is key. Valentin observes that many people come into discussions with a feeling of ‘what can I do as one person?’ ‘We have to change this mentality’ he says. ‘Everyone can create history and change the world. This is one way for people to see that, and in the process the team has matured.’ What is more, the process is an inclusive one, and can provide a context other than the Visiting Course for people to become involved in the vision that F4F holds for the country. The shared ownership of the vision and the work is clearly of fundamental importance to Valentin: ‘people feel now the responsibility and carry the responsibility and have all rights to say ‘it’s ours’’.

A mind-map of the community house concept, created by Valentin and others during a conference in July 2009 in Caux, Switzerland (click on photo for full-size image)As well as providing a base for the Visiting Courses, it will offer a space for discussion. Trust-building is central to the work of Foundations for Freedom, and the ‘Week of trust’ they organised last month in concert with Rajmohan Gandhi’s Voyage of Dialogue and Discovery  was a part of this. A new initiative, Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past, coordinated by Olka Hudz and to begin this year on June 4, is another element. The Community House Project can furnish the overall vision with a physical space for many of these ongoing dialogues, which each in their way can play an important role in developing Ukraine’s still young democracy.

Reflecting on the Orange Revolution, Valentin feels that despite the negative elements that subsist in the system, it was nonetheless the ‘start of the democratic process in Ukraine. For the first time I saw people in action who want to see change not just in their lives but in the life of the nation.’ For both of them, their meeting was not chance, and the Revolution was no picnic: ‘it was an examination of the people, a test of their courage and to see if they cared.’ Perhaps this friendship between Valentin and Sergey, born among the thousands camped in Independence Square in Kiev at that time, will plant the seed of a new revolution, creating conditions for trust, understanding and personal responsibility that will drive Ukraine forward.