Long queues lined up at the Olimpiisky National Sports Complex on December 5. People did not come there to watch a soccer match, but to attend the traditional charity fair held annually by the International Women’s Club of Kyiv (IWCK) which includes wives of diplomats, expats, and foreign businesswomen among its members. Breaking a record, 40 embassies participated in the event this year, six more than past year. All money raised at the fair will go to help orphans, the elderly, and children with special needs. It will probably be a considerable sum, since the past year’s event raised 2.4 million hryvnias.
NEWCOMERS AND VETERANS
Chairman of the Cuban Association of Kyiv Reinaldo Powell promised to teach those present salsa dancing. He was setting the rhythm with maracas non-stop. This percussion instrument is traditional for Cuba and often carved out of guava wood. Cuba participated in the fair for the first time. “Finally, the Cubans who live in Ukraine have come together and created this association. We represent our country to help the Ukrainian people. We offer various souvenirs, including musical instruments, cigars, coffee, sombreros, masks, and authentic Cuban rum,” Powell said. A thing made out of big horns caught our eye: it turned out to be used for smoking hookah, while the horns once belonged to a bull.
“Did you taste Dulce de Leche?” Ambassador of the Argentine Republic to Ukraine Lila Roldan Vazquez de Moine asked us. “It is among most traditional Argentine desserts, made from milk and sugar.” People were readily buying jars of this light brown paste, as well as wine and mate, the latter also known as the Paraguay tea. The female ambassador took part in the IWCK fair for the ninth time. Roldan Vazquez de Moine showed other souvenirs from Argentina: an authentic mate set, which was wooden with metal decorations, carpincho bags, made out of valuable leather, pottery and mirrors decorated with diamond-shaped patterns.
A HEARTY MEAL
Rose and berry sorbet and chestnut puree – these delicious desserts were offered at the stand of Romania. “Take a teaspoon of mashed chestnuts, possibly covered with whipped cream, sprinkle it with cinnamon, and it is fantastic!” Ambassador of Romania to Ukraine Cornel Ionescu taught us. “Chestnuts came from northwestern Transylvania. The company that makes this dessert is very well-known and export-focused, so this puree is hard to find even in Romania.” Also, the Romanian stand had different kinds of vegetable ‘caviar,’ made from beans or eggplants. All these are popular snacks to go with tuica, the traditional vodka made from plums.
Do you know how Japanese sushi is different from Korean one? “When cooking kimpab, a kind of Korean sushi, we do not add sugar, vinegar and salmon, like they do in Japan,” Sol Ji explained; she represented South Korea at the fair. “We Koreans add salt, egg, cucumber, carrots, radishes, and crab meat to rice. Kimpab with ham, beef, or sausage is quite common as well. Any vegetables can be added to this meal. You can, for example, cook kimpab with kimchi, a spicy dish made with Chinese cabbage, which we eat every day.”
DANCING, A WEDDING, AND HIGH-BROW LEISURE ACTIVITIES
Having eaten a lot, one could catch a breath at The Day’s stand. We are among traditional participants of the IWCK fairs. This time, as usual, we presented books from Den’s Library project, issues of our newspaper, and its glossy supplement Route No.1. People were gladly purchasing fresh issues of Den and buying books of Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25 in English translation and our new books: Return to Tsarhorod, Catastrophe and Triumph. Stories of Ukrainian Heroes, and I am an Eyewitness. Notes from the Occupied Luhansk.
Photo by Ruslan KANIUKA, The Day
Children and adults constantly crowded around the stage or looked at it from the second floor, since the organizers had prepared a highly unusual cultural program. “For example, we saw a wedding ceremony from Sudan, and I had never seen likes of it before!” Valeria Stulikova shared her thoughts with us; she was one of the organizers of the fair tasked with raising funds for the project. “Representatives of the embassies also played soccer with children. The event’s participants held master classes in salsa and tango.”
While fiery Bulgarian dances continued on stage, Stulikova told us what the organizers planned to do with money raised at the fair. The money will be distributed as grants. Qualifying projects for these grants can be submitted by charities and NGOs from late December to late January. Initiatives should aim to help orphans, children with disabilities, and the elderly. The funds collected past year were invested in 18 projects. In particular, they purchased a generator to heat a building housing internally displaced persons, and financed the creation of a hotline for the families of children with cancer.
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES AND SOME REFLECTIONS
One would probably find themselves unable to examine in detail all the points of interest at the charity fair, and not only because there were too many of them, but also because they were very different, prompting visitors to stay for a while, touch and taste something, ask the seller a few questions about it. Diversity attracts and inspires people to travel, discover new and create something unique. Therefore, we will now present a Christmas story about the importance of doing something special, told by Ambassador of Belgium to Ukraine Luc Jacobs. “On the second day of the new year, January 2, Belgian children go to neighbors’ homes and sing holiday songs wishing people a good year. They are given some money and sweets for this,” Jacobs said. “I also went as a child to my neighbors’ house and sang songs with my brothers. Meanwhile, my parents did not come from the region where we lived, they moved around the country. So, they taught me and my brothers songs typical of their home region. When I and my two brothers were singing these songs, unknown in the place where we lived, people were amazed, gave us more generous presents and asked to sing more, for they in fact heard something new and unusual.”
Anyway, the charity fair is not only a great opportunity to help the weak and the lonely. This is the event where one can see how rich our world is without the need to journey beyond three seas. And at the same time, one can buy there something unique in memory of the occasion, and so become a benefactor. It is a very good sign, then, that there were long queues at the 23rd Charity Fair.
