A life before dinner

-¡Sasha, a comer!

The sweet voice of the lady woke Sasha up from her nap. Suddenly, a strong garlic smell hit her, and although she was pretty thankful to be here, at that moment, for the first time in her life, she found herself missing borscht, the beet soup her mom used to make. 

Oleksandra Shevchenko was born in Cherkasy, USSR. Her great-grandfather had survived both the Holodomor and the Great Purge, those cruel Stalin ways of starving people and killed the surviving disidents. 

Her grandfather bravely fought against the Germans, defending Cherkasy without success. He finally died without meeting her father, Dmytro. 

By the time Sasha was born, Cherkasy was a productive Soviet city, and her family was not the only one being thankful for the peace time. 

-I don't want borscht, mama... Just pampushky, please!! -Sasha said, though she pretty much knew what the answer was going to be.

-Borscht will make you tall and strong, Sasha. You can't live out of just bread!

-But mama...

-Eat your borscht and then you can have a pampushky, Sasha. End of story.

Olena worked in Himvolokno, the artificial fiber factory. She was born the night before the Germans were expelled from the city. She met Dmytro at the factory's bus stop, where they would have to wait more than usual due to their slightly different shifts.

When the USSR fell, Sasha was worried about her whole life. She was married to a man called Antin and had a beautiful 3-year-old girl named Galyna. Antin was very enthusiastic about Ukrainian independence, but for Sasha, any political change in the country could disturb that peace her grandparents had fought and died for and her parents were so grateful about. 

She wasn't totally wrong, and after the independence Himvolokno closed and she had to find a different way of living. She decided to become a teacher, since she enjoyed so much reading and writing stories for Galyna.

Things with Antin didn't work out, but she really felt heartbroken when Galyna told her she was going to move to Poland. She had met "the man of her dreams" and was going after him to pursue her happiness. 

-¡Sasha, se enfría! ¿Estás bien?

"Live's funny", she thought, while silently thanking Jakub, her son in law, just before getting out of bed and heading to the dining hall.

-Voy - she said, and then another silent prayer for Olena, and her not so bad borscht.

The day she changed her mind about Jakub was the day she realized, while reading the news on her iPad, that leaving Ukraine was the safest plan. 

Being a 59 year old divorced teacher on her own, living 200 km from Kyiv, qualified her to be part of the refugees being sent out of the country after Russian's attacks. 

Thanks to this generous Valencian family, she's staying in a house in Spain with nothing but a spare of clothes, an iPad and her cellphone, but with food and shelter. She's aware of the inconvinience her presence presents, and she's anxiously waiting to be relocated in a shared house, were at least she can feel that she's not the only intruder.  

That night, before dinner, Sasha looked at her host family and smiled. She silently blessed them while having her hervido, wishing she could have a pampushky to match the garlic taste. 

Author's Notes

This is a fictional story based on true events. 

My heart and prayers go out to those whose lives have been drastically changed out of the blue. 
Not all refugees are families with little children. Not all refugees are used to war. Some people just have their normal lives turned upside down in a heartbeat. 

If you want to help Ukrainians refugees in Valencia, please contact Generalitat Valenciana.

For donations to children in Ukraine, visit Unicef.

To send your donations to Ukranians in situ, please visit this webpage. 

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Reasons for the skepticism in the dialog in Venezuela

Historically, students have represented a natural leadership in Venezuela. Their contagious determination, bullet-proof conviction, just demands and the nonexistence of hide interests on their part, make their movement a hurricane. Any reasonable government would take them seriously. But every now and then we have a scenario where, thanks to some tricks disguised as a democratic system, the Government is not reasonable... and we find ourselves in a dead-end. 

On one hand, there is the administration that counts on a long and barely legitimate advantage on all the branches of government, weapons, mass media, a constant source of money and the willingness to continue enjoying their current position. On the other hand, there are the students, armed with their ideals, trying to get ahead and knowing that a decent future is not possible under these circumstances. There is no surprise in the fact that they inspire affection in the majority of Venezuelans.

But those are not the only arms of the students. A very important one was omitted by a Government that underestimated them: their ability to summon.

Not only they came to an agreement, but they are communicated and scattered all over the Country. They know how to organize themselves and use social networks to publish their denunciations to the world. As a result, what the administration saw as a childish tantrum, has become a two-months-and-counting riot. 

Maduro failed calculating the dimension of the protests, not only about their extension, but about the depth of the popular discontent. The violence of civilians armed by the Government, the illegal persecution of dissidents, the siege to mass media and journalists, the food scarcity due to the economic failure and the lack of attention to the interests of Venezuelans, are claims made by the whole society.

That is how we came to this point, where the Government understands that, in order to maintain its international image, it must call for a "dialog". But, when protests come from wide sectors of the society, who do you choose as an interlocutor?

The coalition of opposition political parties, Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD), has made a great work saving the few democratic chinks that are left in the Country, but, as they said in the first debate with the administration´s spokesmen, they do not represent the students. 

The MUD did not call for the protests, not always supported them and has no power to cease them. If the Government wants to restore the normality in Venezuela, it is only logic to involve the student´s movement to the dialog. But we already said that, every now and then, Governments are not reasonable.

The situation is really complicated and you have to add radicals from both sides. Ones want to collapse the country forcing a national strike, and the others intimidate protesters and their families shooting here and there over the media class residential areas. None of them have the support of the majority of the civil population, but they play an important role on the development of the events.

In conclusion, saying that there is a "dialog" in Venezuela is being gullible. From its palace, a Government talks to a group of people who bring complaints, and receive the same answers with disdain: you want to overthrow us because you are fascists and stateless. Meanwhile, on the streets, the students go on with their fight, unconnected to the Government´s show business and the international supervisors, whose work leave a lot to be desired if they are not able to ask why the stars of this story are not invited to the debate.

Published on Zhandra Zuleta´s original blog on April 15th, 2014.


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The value of a smartphone in Venezuela

Facing the shameful attitude of traditional mass media, silent witnesses of the repeated violation of Human Rights of thousands of Venezuelans, rise the leader role of little gadgets that, in the hands of citizens, become the main place to gather proofs and testimonies of a country´s drama. But it is still a mystery whether their reports will be useful, or the International Community will keep ignoring this tragedy.

While protests in Venezuela continue rising against the government´s repression, mass media in the Caribbean country keep quiet. It is not a surprise, giving the fact that the "Venezuelan revolution" counts on a large record of threats, persecutions, sieges and closures of radio and TV stations, besides physic and verbal attacks, and even illegal imprisonment of journalists and mass media workers.

Giving this scenario, nobody is in shock knowing that there is not one opposition TV station left in Bolivar´s country, and newspapers survive thanks to the generous paper donation of Colombians´ mass media. It is hard to imagine a real Democracy under these conditions.

But the truth is that there has been a while since Venezuelans don´t go for traditional mass media for information. In the end, only a few trust what they publish, and information silence has started a new cycle in the history of mass communication in the country. Facing the shameful attitude of traditional mass media, silent witnesses of the repeated violation of Human Rights of thousands of Venezuelans, rise the leader role of little gadgets that, in the hands of citizens, become the main place to gather proofs and testimonies of a country´s drama.

Smartphones, tablets and all the electronic devices designed to capture images and videos and sharing them on social networks, have become the main ally for Venezuelans´Freedom of Speech, Information and Opinion. Thank to them, those who are abroad have been able to verify the seriousness of the situation on the streets, and also the fact that is a nationwide protest lead by students, but spread to other sector of the population like medical, educational and journalistic. Nevertheless, the principal role taken by these technological instruments have been keeping Venezuelans informed of what is going on at their own country.

The right for a truthful and opportune information is not a mere desire. In it relies part of the structure of a Democracy, and in the middle of a conflict situation, it can even save lives. New mass media have made use of new reporters on the field, so that Venezuelans can be aware of the magnitude of the repression, and thank to the immediacy, the range and the possibilities of smartphones, now they acknowledge the consequences of the regime´s coercion.

So proofs are there. Run through the social networks faster and with more audience than they could have at a traditional mass media. Smartphones and tablets have given leadership to the common citizen, proving that he is a key factor in gathering Human Rights violations´testimonies. But it is still a mystery whether their reports will be useful, or the International Community will keep ignoring this tragedy.

*This post was published in Zhandra Zuleta´s original blog on Apr 7th, 2014.

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What´s the plan?

"When the tiranny becomes Law, rebellion is a Right"

Simon Bolivar

It´s been days since my Spaniard friends look at me with that uncomfortable and curious look of a person who is attending the funeral of a friend´s parent. They want to know how I am, but they don´t know if bringing that up at the beginning, at the end or never at all. When they asked me what would happen if Venezuelan students "win", I went blank...

Of course, the best scenario would be that Maduro resigns and calls for elections, but nobody would go with this CNE (National Electoral Council). Nobody will accept another trial with this TSJ (Supreme Court). Nobody will accept being represented by this "public advocate", this "district attorney" or any of the other "public organisms" (note the inverted commas and the lack of capital letters) that have openly taken a side with the Venezuelan regime.

Amid all this student fight, that I consider more than necessary, I wonder: how do we plan to get where we want to be? 

From here, I am sorry that I can´t do more to support the fight of these young Venezuelans, who are brave defenders of Freedom and Democracy. I know getting together here and sending them pictures telling them they are not alone is not that much. A sense of impotence takes over you when you watch videos of terrified people recording motorcyclists who break into their residential areas, right in the faces of the "State security bodies". In that moment you realize that there is nothing you could do, here or there, to stop the violence.

I just wanted to take a few minutes amid all the tweets, to thank my friends for being interested in what is going on in Venezuela. As they know, what happens there affects me and I appreciate the interest and concern.

For my country-folks, one last reflection:

I know it´s easy to ask you to resist from here, but more than just a comfortable and empty petition of "fight for me so that I can enjoy the results of your sacrifices", is a "you got so far, in spite of the life and integrity of so many brave fellows, that you made the World listen to you and pray for you. The goal is nearer! Don´t give up now!" kind of plea.

But I also want to ask you to start thinking about the future. Once we achieve our goals (disarmament of the "colectivos", freedom for political prisoners, freedom of speech and opinion in the mass media...), what´s the plan?

Before ending, I would like to tell the leaders of this awake, the young students from Tachira, Carabobo, Zulia and all of those who have peacefully faced on the streets a regime with arms and tanks: THANK YOU! Venezuela is very proud of you, and you deserve to live her great, thriving and in peace... just the way I knew her.

*This post was published in Zhandra Zuleta´s original blog on Feb 22nd, 2014.

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Only you matter

Alba left the vacuum aside while she had a glass of water. Looking to the kids´ playroom, she found a phone toy with smiley little eyes and a red nose... just the same as hers when she was little.

Its old wheels made her remember Mrs. Teresa, the small fatty colombian woman who used to pick her up at school every tuesdays and thursdays.

-Have the salad too -said Teresa, with her usual bossy voice and her unmistakable colombian accent. 

-But I don´t wanna! -answered Alba, as usual.

-That´s not my problem, miss. You have your salad and I´ll tell you what happened last night on "The Lady In Pink."* 

-What if you tell me and then I have it?

-Yeah, right. I wasn´t born yesterday, you know?

Alba smiled wickedly while looking for The Lady In Pink´s theme in her iPod and then started to clean the dust from the toys. Franco de Vita´s sickly sweet lyrics remind her of other conversations with Mrs. Teresa.

-Is your house beautiful, Mrs. Teresa? -asked Alba, as a teenager.

-A lot, miss. There are flowers in every window, a pen and a vegetable patch that my Jon loved.

-Then, why don´t you live there? Why did you come here?

-Because of the war, miss. War is mean, and I´ll do anything for my children.

Alba came back to the reality and couldn´t contained the tears when she heard her iPod: "Only you matter. It´s the same if I have everything or nothing. Only you matter."**

She remembered how lucky she used to feel because she was an Engineer and she didn´t need to escape from war like Mrs. Teresa. 

She rememebered the days when it looked like she would have a brilliant career.

She remembered the slow lost of her quality of life and also the day she decided to move to Spain.

She remembered her baby´s face, for whom she would give up her life if necessary.

And then, she recognized Mrs. Teresa´s face on her own. 

Alba turned off the iPod, wiped out her tears and stood up. "Only you matter. I´ll do anything for you" said to her baby in the distance. Then, strongly took the cloth and kept on cleaning other kids´toys.  

*"The Lady In Pink" (In Spanish: "La dama de rosa") was a succesful venezuelan soap opera in 1986.

**Author´s lyrics translation. Original in Spanish: "Solo importas tú. Da igual si tengo todo o nada, solo importas tú".
***This post was published in Zhandra Zuleta´s original blog on Jan 20th, 2014.

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