Forgotten Scrapbook Continues Journey, Post Revolution of Dignity.
Written by Sara Sherman, PCV Ukraine Group 51
She flips through the pages of the handcrafted book. Weighing down each page are colorful sketches, layered photos and handwritten blurbs about village and city life across Ukraine. She finds the last decorated page from December 24, 2013.
Mackenzie DeMore, a Group 53 Volunteer, was on her way back to her site in Kharkiv from the TEFL In-Service Training in January when she missed her train, and found herself unexpectedly spending a few hours in the quiet volunteer lounge in Kyiv. Curiously thumbing through the assortment of novels, workbooks, and other shared materials, she reaches and grabs the book that’s glued, stitched and pieced together in bright colors and permanent marker.
Stretched across the entire front cover in hand-written block letters is: THE MAC BOOK
Mackenzie cautiously examines it for fear of it falling apart.
Resembling a 90s hardcover textbook, the front cover is wrapped in white paper, now thinned and torn with history, and elaborately decorated in various shades of colored pencil. Filling the empty gaps are flowers, smiles, hearts, and the Ukrainian coat of arms – the trident. “I love Ukraine” is written across the bottom.
The back cover shines proud with a drawing of Ukraine – a geographically scaled blue and yellow space with pen-marked dots of cities and villages throughout the central and southern regions of the country.
She opens the front cover to a sheet of paper lining the inside of the hard cover. “MAC Book Register” is handwritten at the top. Nine entries are uniquely written in the contributors’ handwriting as follows:
Meredith Maynard, Ivanky, Cherkaska Oblast, March 19th, 2012
Eboni Farmer, Vinnistka Oblast, June 2012
Holden Slattery, Kelments, Chernivtsi Oblast, Fall 2012
Elyse Greenblatt, Bratslav, Vinnytska Oblast, April 8, 2013
Sarah Friedman, Komsomolsk, Poltava Oblast, May 23, 2013
Camp Unity – Romankivtsa, July 2013
Erin Martin – Romankivtsi, Chernivetska Oblast, October 2, 2013
Jay Bagliere – Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Vinnitska Oblast, October 16, 2013
Kaitlin Kafer – Derazhnia, Khmelnytska Oblast, December 24, 2013
December 24, 2013. This was exactly two months before the evacuation of Peace Corps Volunteers in the event of the Revolution of Dignity in February 2014.
Inside is a weighty stack of graph paper, bound together with thread and glue along the left side. The outer edges are withered and dog-eared, and the first few sheets are separating in wavy layers. Several empty pages of graph paper stay plainly tucked away behind the glue and tape-heavy ones, waiting for drawings, photos, or memorabilia to fill them.
The handmade treasure is named the MAC Book, Multicultural Awareness Council. Makenzie assumes that the motivation behind the book served as a way for Ukrainians across the country to celebrate and share their own diversity and traditions.
Based from the entries found inside the MAC Book, Mackenzie gathers that the original purpose was to bring the book to a class or club at the PCV site, and have the students, colleagues, or locals look at the other pages represented in the book. Then, they would create their own unique page representing their town – traditions, celebrations, history, and diversity. Through the process of reading, creating and adding, Ukrainians could recognize the diversity they have in their own country.
Once the page was finished, the PCV would send it on to another PCV in a different site for a new addition.
Recently, Mackenzie took the book back to her newly reopened site in Kharkiv Oblast for her 11th form students. Mackenzie is one of the pioneers to reopen the Oblast since the Revolution of Dignity.
“I can’t do it justice, but it was so moving”, Mackenzie said after reading a handwritten English poem called Love Ukraine from a Ukrainian student. One verse read:
“With my last breath, I will love Ukraine.”
In the entry from Bratslav in the Vinnytska Oblast, the first page is filled with colorful drawings of their rivers, forests, and parks that are found throughout the town. The second spread is covered from edge to edge with old Polaroids of the faces of Bratslav.
After discussing the other detailed entries, Mackenzie’s 11th form students jumped at the chance to create their own page, and worked on it for three days before they were finished. They completed their spread with printed Instagram photos of all the students, and written underneath the phrase:
“Because every picture has a story to tell.”
Mackenzie plans on passing the book onto a PCV in Poltava, and the journey of the MAC Book continues.
If you have any connection or information on the details of this memorable token of Ukraine’s diversity, please feel free to contact us with your comments or any photos you might have!