PHOTO ESSAY: Tough times for miners in Donetsk (10/20/96)

PHOTO ESSAY: Tough times for miners in Donetsk

by Terrence James

DONETSK - Photojournalists are captivated by two types of situations: We will run off, cameras in hand, to see how people are coping with a crisis, and we are always curious about daily life in faraway places.

The news coming out of Ukraine last summer held the promise that I would encounter a little of both if I traveled there. I'd been to various parts of Western Europe, but not to the east and certainly not to any of the former Soviet republics. So, the language and culture would be new to me. And, at the time, Ukraine was reeling from the effects of the coal miners' strike.

So, in July, I hopped on a plane to see Kyiv and Donetsk, wanting to get a sense of the people, and see how the miners and their families were holding up.

Above all, I think, the workers I met felt a tremendous sense of betrayal, or indignation, that they weren't being paid for their work. I got the sense that the men were immensely proud of their ability to endure the conditions in the mines - and the headaches, the chest pains and the creaking bones that resulted. But, naturally, they wanted to be paid in return.

I encountered a woman who, for her birthday, received only flowers and shared a bottle of wine with her husband and two visitors who stopped by. Her husband, a miner on sick leave, wanted desperately to buy her a cake and throw a party but there was no money.

There was the old, retired miner who helped himself to a few sacks of coal to heat his home in the inevitable winter. He complained bitterly about his modest shack, which has no electricity and no plumbing, and then he pedaled away on his rusty bicycle.

I met another miner who invited me to his home to see how he and his family were dealing with the situation. His parents had left them a lovely little place...with a garden out back! When we arrived, the house was fragrant with scents from the meal his wife had prepared using potatoes, carrots and other items from the garden. The meal was as delicious as you can imagine!

Having spent 10 days in Ukraine does not make me an expert on the situation there. But it was enough time for me to gain the sense that the resolve and resourcefulness of the Ukrainian people will see them through these tough times. At least, this is my hope.

And I hope to return there sometime soon.

Terrence James is a staff photographer for The Record, a statewide daily newspaper based in Hackensack, N.J. He was assisted in making contacts in Ukraine by The Ukrainian Weekly (both our editorial offices in Jersey City and our Kyiv Press Bureau), which promptly re-named him "Taras James." With his new name, Mr. James traveled to Donetsk, where he met with miners and their families, getting to know how they live their daily lives. The photos on this page are just some of the results of his visit to Ukraine. In a letter to The Weekly, Mr. James says he considers it "a great honor to share my photographs with the large Ukrainian community in America and Canada."