Woke to find the city blanketed with snow--silent and romantic. At midday we all packed tightly into the ambulance and we were soon as warm as toast in our winter coats and Russian fur hats. We were off to the dacha of Victor and Halyna Ostrik. A dacha is a cottage or home in the country to which Ukrainians go for the weekend. They are built in groups of about a hundred on 30 foot by 90 foot plots of land. Halyna had gone ahead to light the wood oven and prepare the food.

The ambulance took the north road out of Chernihiv called the Kuchma road, a four-lane highway built on the instructions of the President, Leonid Kuchma, who was born and brought up in the Chernihiv oblast. Despite the salting lorries, the road surface was compacted snow and like ice. The technique for survival is to slow down long before the traffic lights and for cars to keep well apart. After 12 km we turned off down a narrow track and all tumbled out at the dacha. Ground floor kitchen and garage, middle floor a small sitting room and bedroom, top floor bedrooms.

The table was laid in the warm kitchen, Vodka poured out, a toast, touched glasses and we were off again. Clear chicken soup in mugs, canned tomatoes, peppers, gherkins potatoes, sprinkled with dill, sliced lemons with sugar, homemade ravioli, mackerel and rye bread. All the vegetables were grown and canned by Halyna, who is also responsible for the care of all the children of the city of Chernihiv. On my right sat a big quiet man Misha Yakubov, so often on duty as a children's doctor at the Polyclinic No. 2, then came a big bear of a man with an alert face, Yuri Ivanovich Boyko, Director of medical services in Chernihiv and next to him his wife Svetlana, a children's doctor. At the head sat Victor Ostrik, administrator of the Rehabilitation Center and his wife the petite Halyna. On the left from the top sat Anna Yakubova, Director of the Polyclinic No. 2 and her deputy and neurologist Natalya Zenchenko, then came the life and soul of the party, Victor Kubik, between us sat a man both great and humble, Vasiliy Pasechnik. To see doctors who for many years have worked together all week, sit down and enjoy each other's company so much and with a peace which could not be feigned, was a revelation to me. Their lives were a struggle against so many odds, yet they love their land and they love each other. But, you must have differences of opinion, so "how do you resolve them, I asked?" They have differences of opinion several times a day, sometimes so intense that the secretary will leave the room, but when it is over harmony must be restored because the children and the Centre must come first. We sat eating, toasting, talking--sometimes chatter sometimes deep thoughts, even the jokes were philosophical.

We moved upstairs to the small sitting room. The sun was shining, the sky ice blue, and the fields and forests pristine white. In the Spring birch sap is collected by drilling a hole into the trunk and a bucket is soon filled. Apples, honey and barley are fermented in it for drinking through the year. Anna said that people who have low blood calcium levels tend to become alcoholics.

In Russia alcoholism is atrocious and part of its tradition. It is not so bad in Ukraine, but getting on that way. It is an escape from the overwhelming social problems. There is serious crime as in the west, but there is no racial tension or riots as they are an homogenous society. The Mafioso is powerful and recently they ambushed a shot dead an anti-Mafia politician as he stepped off a plane. Wilful murder is punished with the death sentence--a murderer goes into prison and disappears, probably shot. Weapons are only allowed for hunting, although tear gas is allowed for defence.

Later the men drifted outside to prepare a barbecue--which is a steel tray on steel poles like a stretcher making it portable. Veal kebabs were skewered and as they cooked, wine was poured over to marinade. Eaten with plum sauce it was another delicious discovery.

Afterwards the men went for a walk in the forest as the grey sun was setting.

Is was very cold, but dry cold. We returned to another meal, a hurricane lamp lit the table. They discovered that Victor and I could make a small glass vodka last the meal so Vasily Pasechnik toasted the ladies and insisted we could not sit down unless we turned our glass upside down, this was tradition, he claimed. We had been rumbled.

I made the last toast of the day. My friends, Victor, Halyna, Svetlana, Yuri, Misha, Anna, Vasily, Natalya, Victor, I can see that you are people of great character and strength, a people of achievement. With such people as yourselves this nation has nothing to fear. It is sad that we have come together is the result of a tragedy, but I pray that God will bless you and protect you in the coming year.