I’m on my last day of training here in Ukraine (I was informed that they prefer that we gringoes say "Ukraine" rather than "The Ukraine" … not sure what their objection to the article is, but OK…)
The reporter teams have done some stunning work in only a week. We assigned them to go out and shoot and edit together video reports for the web; yesterday, we went over their (mostly) finished results, and gave them some pointers on camerawork, editing and sound.
I hope to be able to post some of their efforts here – the reports range from the funny (a piece on how Ukrainian women are so much more demanding now than they used to be – the poor guys here used to be heroes if they brought a woman a piece of smoked fish – now they have to get diamonds and perfume) – to the tragic (a piece on how the out-of-control development here is displacing old widows who are struggling to survive in a world they no longer understand).
And then there’s the interviews with the victims of the sex slave trade.
My only regret so far is that I have not been able to do any real sightseeing here, but this task (teaching print journalists how to handle a videocamera, how to edit in Edius and Avid Liquid, what sort of stories are appropriate for multimedia, etc.) has been so demanding, I really haven’t had the energy to get out and see this ancient, beautiful city.
Heh. I did go out last night for Tex-Mex food. It was my inner daredevil taking ascendancy again … I wanted to know how Ukrainians could possibly process the South Texas cuisine … but I have to say, it wasn’t bad. Beats Taco Hell, that’s for sure. And it goes good with the strong local beers…
Photos and (I hope, I hope) video to come…