Day #26/31: Key

DAY #26: KEY

Volunteer housing comes in an ultra-wide variety. Some live in apartments by themselves, some in houses with a host family for the whole two years. Some have working plumbing, others have outhouses. Some apartments are beautiful and comfortable, while others test the patience and fortitude of the American. It really is up to the host organization to provide housing for us. They don’t have to pay for it, they just have to point to it and say- “you can live here”. There are, however, these things called Peace Corps minimums which is a list of items that every living area for a volunteer is required to have. And since indoor plumbing and hot water are not on the list, you can probably imagine these requirements revolve more around safety and not so much around comfort. Just by virtue of us being Americans living in Ukraine we are considered targets. Although the incidents of crime against volunteers here is low, there are some common sense precautions that one must take. There are a lot of volunteers now- about 500 just in Ukraine, and with all of the tasks that our regional manager has to deal with between identifying sites for future volunteers, mediating between volunteers and host organizations, to making site visits, the ability for them to see every living space before the volunteer moves in is not possible. So they give the host organizations the list that includes things like a bed, at least a hotplate (either gas or electric), and a locking door. This way, hopefully the living quarters can be vetted before the volunteer arrives, knowing that Peace Corps will require changes to be made if the place does not meet the minimums.
As I arrived at my site last June, in this photo was the whole of the security of my apartment. It was unacceptable enough to prompt me to arrange for a new lock to be installed immediately. I figured that even if what I have doesn’t amount to much to me, to people who have less, there could be temptation, and I didn’t want to take any chances (considering that on my first day I was told to avoid the park nearest my home at night because of all of the drunks and criminals that hang around there). I suppose, if someone really wanted to get into my apartment, they could. I just wanted a lock that would give me a sporting chance of getting the police on the phone should an attempted break-in occur. My friend Oleg and Lenara’s brother came to install the new lock which was acceptable only until I could get a new door to replace the particleboard door that came with the place. I’m good now, security-wise, but it was a strange couple of days where this lock and key was the only barrier between me and anyone stronger than a stiff wind who wanted to get in.