Ukraine gallery 3 What I'll remember most about being in Ukraine was the realization that people are the same everywhere. I was fortunate enough to have friends invite me into their lives.
The communes are so large that lunch is brought out to the field. Two men chow on bread and soup.
A stork follows the harvest looking for exposed snakes and frogs. Because so little fertilizers and herbicides are use and there is little draining of land, this is prime habitat for these birds.
Standing on his combine, while in the field storks hunt newly exposed fields, looking in the distance, you can see how large these farms are and understand why at one time Ukraine was known as the breadbasket of Europe.
My turn to prove I witnessed this.
Women hand shovel the grain into an auger that lifts it into a silo for storage.
My host, young Vasil, back row, forth from the right, his wife and extended family that worked the commune.
The cigarette might be rolled from a newspaper, but a man's wealth is judged by the number of gold teeth he has.
I may have been in Ukraine at its lowest, but I saw that it can be a rich partner in Europe and only needs stability and time to make that happen.
