The village

I'd like to introduce you to the village we live in here in Ukraine. It's called Nikolipolia in Russian, Mikolipolia in Ukrainian- if you want to find it on google earth- look for it with an M. We live on Centralna - which is like main street. I have been working on this post for weeks, saving it because we are close to post # 400, and here is is because I can't load photos again.






There are two other streets that run horizontally to Centralna, one on each side, one closer to the highway and one on the other side of the ponds. You can take this old cobbled cross street (which dates to Mennonite times) past the pond to that street. Maxim's girlfriend, Yulia, lives with her family on the corner.



This village has a number of buildings still standing and in use from the early 1900's when the Mennonites had two villages here, side-by-side- Nikofeld and Franzfeld. The house we live in was built in 1904 and, like many of the Mennonite houses, was partitioned into two- family homes during Soviet times. Victor was able to buy both halves of this house and replace the roof about a hundred years after it was built, for his bed and breakfast for his Mennonite heritage tours.







There are three stores in the village, here's Garry going in for a loaf of bread at the one closest to our house. All the stores and public buildings are located on Centralna, as is the school, which was also built by the the Mennonites.









The village is very safe and the people are friendly- some even speak a little English and German, if you don't know Russian or Ukrainian. You wouldn't guess that from the giant lock on the vettenka but it's only open one day a week- if people need something in an emergency they just find the lady that runs it.









Everyone has a fence in the front of their yard, it keeps people and the cows going past in the morning and evening out. There are a number of different styles, and I heard that the brick one in front of the school dates back to Mennonite times.
The little yellow pipe that runs across the front yards is the gas line.
The house Garry is looking at has been building a new fence for two summers now. These cement fences are really popular here, the brick columns they put in between have recently had caps but on. The red metal fence is new this year for the other house.






Look closely- you can see the bee boxes in the front yard of this house, they also keep a cow or two (Garry bred one there) like most people in the village and grow a large garden behind the house. Most yards have a number of fruit (apricots, apples, cherry, plum, pear) and walnut trees. They sell the excess honey, milk and produce.













Here is the small house Maxim is buying (in the bottom photo) number 80 Centralna- the yard was really overgrown- you couldn't see the house before it was cleared out. Right now he is working on putting a metal band around the house because the brick is cracked apart in the back. Then he plans to have the house covered in styrofoam and covered with stucco to make it look nicer. There's a house done this way recently in the village- its adds a bit of insulation also. There are a couple that have put plastic siding over the brick also..










Here's the old Mennonite church that the Mennonite Brethern sponsored -an evangelical church in the village meets here, there are about 10-15 people who attend. The pastor is a retired art teacher, he is a fairly recent believer, I understand. There is no Orthodox church in the village, people who want to worship go by bus to a village halfway to Zaporosia.
They got control of the building through the courts, I'm told. It is where Garry organized a camp or VBS program in July.







The town office building got a new roof in the beginning of October, the village had a list of projects they hope to do, to improve infrastructure in the village, including getting a kindergarten (preschool- school starts with grade one) operating in the village again. They sent out a letter to residents and businesses at the start of the year asking for donations for the projects.








Like every city and village we have monuments - the lady is dedicated to 1918 (possibly the revolution) and the bust is of Lenin.























This is the memorial to those residents in the village who died in the Great Patriotic War (WWII)- there are names and dates on the slab in front of the statue. It is cement and occasionally gets a fresh coat of silver paint. The schoolchildren work to clean up around the monuments in the spring and fall.