The Men Who Saved the World - Part I : "The Peace"

Earlier, in my post "The Red Death from Hungary", I mentioned that I was going to write about Chernobyl(Chornobyl - Ukrainian) Disaster. Here, in my blog I am going to write series of posts (short stories) about Chernobyl because Chernobyl is the most tragic and the biggest environmental disaster that humanity has ever experienced. And everybody should know what really happened in Chernobyl. Although many things have been told and will still be told, I know that words are not enough to describe and tell about those all dramatic events and countless tragic stories that people went through. So many died, so many suffered and are still suffering, so many had to leave their homelands, so many..

I wanted to write series of short stories about Chernobyl instead of sharing some data and statistics here, for being able to tell and share the dramatic side of the disaster better. I beleive if we can feel the drama of this disaster, we can get the importance of the situation better.  I am going to share the critical datas and facts in these short stories without fictions.

These series of stories were also written in order to underline the importance of saying No to Nuclear Energy and Facilities ! 

Understanding the importance of Chernobyl, Why ?

Every day, some goverment authorities tell us why we should have nuclear energy /or facilities. They even tell us a pack of lies and give pink assurances, just to cover and mask the dirty face of the nuclear danger. Unfortunately, in our past we had a lot of nuclear disasters, and Chernobly is the most flagrant example out of that all. Maybe they can hide and cover the truth about the other events but Chernobly Disaster is the biggest and the terrible one. They can not hide it, they can not manipulate. That is why if we are able to understand the importance of Chernobyl, we can stay sharp against those liers. So many died, suffered and are still suffering after Chernobyl. Till now, there is an occurance of genetical mutation and we have also cancer cases, caused by the effects of Chornobyl Disaster. The consequences of that disaster still influence us and will continue doing that in the future. I guess, you still have questions in your mind or maybe objections about some points but I hope these series can give you the answers on your questions.

Introduction

Chernobly; We won't forget, We won't forgive !

On April 26, 1986, an explosion happened in one (the reactor four) of the four nuclear reactors 3 km from Prypiat city in Chernobyl zone, Ukraine. The radioactivity level after the explosion was equal to the effect that thousands of Hiroshima Atomic Bombs can cause.  

Thousands of heroes including firemen, miners, soldiers and volunteers sacrificed their lives and fought against that though they clearly knew that they were going to die. Their struggle against this saved the world from an perilous situation.

I have dedicated these stories to those unnamed heroes.

* I highly recommend to watch the video before reading the Part-I.

If those heroes would not have sacrificed their lives and struggled against the disaster, whole Earth and humanity would have got the first degree effect and the natural life would have had an irreversible damage. The all were real heroes. May they rest in peace. With my respect and blessings..

The Men Who Saved the World

Part-I : "The Peace"

* Special Note for Ukrainian Readers; The names (of characters and the places..etc) and the sirnames here were picked in English resources. So I did not convert the names in Russian/or other languages to Ukrainian format. Thanks for your understanding.

Chernobyl, April 25, 1986. 6 am.

If you were a person, bored of the city life and polution, and wished to throw yourself to somewhere you can escape in that second, Chernobyl would be one of the most beautiful places where you would wish to be. With its great nature, air, land, the natural foods and modest, friendly people, Chernobyl  looked like a heavenly spot on the Earth in that morning..

The Chernobyl Towers

Chernobyl, a city in northern Ukraine, in Kiev Province, near the border with Belarus, welcomes a cool and foggy spring morning. In this geography where has one of the most beautiful natures of the world, a rich and unique habitat has been living. Its forests that include various tree, plants and animal species, are shadowing the farms which are the daily bread of the laborer farmers.

In one of the villages of Chernobyl, Andriy Dumin, farmer, is stepping outside of the door of his wooden village house and breathing the cool, fresh air through his lungs. Once more he realises that he loves the smell of fresh soil a lot since he was born. Just yesterday he hoed hard the whole day and got exhausted after that. Then in the evening, he took the revenge of the tiredness by drinking home made vodka which they call Samagon. And the cheer of remembering that spring fest is coming closer, made him drank a lot, as well. Because of hangover, he was still sleepy. Although there is still more land to be hoed and lots of works to be done, while smoking his tobacco, he was also grouching ; "I am going to lay and sleep the whole day today !". He was walkin barefoot in his garden  while sucking the tobacco smoke deeper into his lungs. Andriy was a tough village guy; Despite of his hard, tiring life, he was an healthy, strong man. He was 43 years old but was looking like a 30 years old young man. Eh ! He was always talking about his health and power so proudly. That is why he was always challenging : "When I go to the bed, Aleksandra' s moanings get heard in Kiev !" whenever he drank with his friends. But maybe he felt weak inside because of not being able to have a child yet, so he was talking like that against his friends. Who knows..

A few steps later, he halted. With little scared and empty eyes, watched the smoking heads of the towers      in the sky, beneath the trees of the forest. Their smoke was spreading in the sky like the sharp breath of an angry bull, in cold weather. However, already he was watching them every morning in same hesitation and surpise. Then he asked the same question again ; "What is that for ?". Actually, both other villagers and Andriy were always cold to that facility and had doubts about it. They could never get friendly with that townsman stuff which was built right by them.  

Such an invasion, it was; Lots of workers, soldiers from the various zones of Ukraine, from Belarus, even from the furthest Russian villages.. Busses, trucks, work machines have never stopped until they built those towers.

They built four facilities in the heart of the nature;
The towers are the scythe in his hands, like a huge sculpture of the Gream Reaper !
That day, piercing the sky. Madly, it was raining,
No ! Mother Nature knows and cries : "My children, diying" !

After he had kept watching the smoking of those magnificent towers, he was irritated by the cold that was capturing all his body by his barefoot. He was totally cold. Immediately he wanted to throw himself to his bed and warm his body. In the meanwhile, because of hangover and an innocent laziness, he was also counting the minutes that he was going to spend, in his bed. "Better, I hug that wildcat some !" he said and  has gone back to his bed, to his wife Aleksandra..

Chernobyl, April 25, 1986. 7 am.

Prypiat City

Prypiat city was built for the employees (workers, engineers, soldiers..etc) of the nuclear facility in 1970.  There was one of the cute, little and modern Ukrainian cities. Although there was a little, modest city, citiziens of Prypiat had no need to visit Kiev where is closer to Prypiat, for anything. Because Prypiat had everything that someone might need. There was a modern city where educated worker, official and soldier families live. Prypiat had modern infrastructure, roads and buildings. Social and education services were really well in that city. There had all kinds of benefactions of the civilization like an olympic swimming pool, sports-grounds, ballet and theater saloons, even a lunapark.

Prypiat City

That morning in 7 am, Yuri Kyivski woke up because of a baby scream that screws the ears ; "Little Svitlana is hungry again !". He felt like the most  unrestful person of the city at that moment. And he was afraid of the situation that Svitlana was always hungry. "What if, she grows up, becomes like her aunt Emma the fattie and can never get married.. " he thought while bottle-feeding Svitlana. That was the only trouble he had in his life at that moment. Cause he was an official who works in Prypiat Post Office, had a warm house, a daughter who attends the ballet course, his wife Larissa a local pianist, and a peacefull, happy family life. He had no economical problem and nothing that he thinks he does not have. He had no need, he was not a man with higher expectations, at all. His cheer and peace were his family.

Prypiat City

Yuri's dad was a soldier. He was always talking about that such an honor to represent the Soviet Army. He was the officer of Odessa Port Station. After he had joined the army, he became an officer years later and moved to Odessa from Kiev with his family. In those years, Soviet Goverment banned to speak Ukrainian. Many Ukrainian writers and scientists who kept speaking Ukrainian were sent to prisons or were banished. That was the only thing which breaks the old man's heart. Otherwise, being a part of Soviet Army was pride, an honour and dignity for him. When Yuri became 21, he left his family in Odessa and returned back to Kiev. On the contrary of his brother Nikolai, Yuri had a silent and well-behaved character. That is why he became a post officer in Kiev while Nikolai was hanging with the port gangs. In 1980, they offered Yuri to work in Prypiat. He accepted the offer instantly. He was already bored of Kiev' s crowd. He wished to clench the happiness of his just a few years old marriage, in a silent, quiet and peacefull place where has a better nature. The blocks of officials in Prypiat were the most appropriate place for a peacefull family life.

Prypiat City

After little Svitlana had eaten and felt asleep, Yuri went through the window. Officials' blocks were on the south of the worker and soldier blocks. The entrance part of the building was watching the garden surrounded by the other official blocks.And the balconies on the backside had an unique forest scene. First, he watched the rain watering the garden. For a moment, the Hammer and Sickle board over the worker blocks, caught his eye. His dad and childhood came to his mind.. Svitlana was silent, there was an enormous peace covered around. Tune of the rain was as relaxer as the lullabies that his mum sang when he was a kid.  He wanted to light a cigarette but he could not smoke near Svitlana. He had left the room and went to the backside balcony. He leaned his elbows on the balcony wall. Getting wet a little bit was not the end of the world. While smoking, he watched the rain feeding the forest. He likened that scene to his bottle-feeding of Svitlana. He saluted the forest with a little, adoring smile. The smoking towers behind the forest caught his eye. "It seems the facility works non-stop again." he thought. Actually he was grateful to those towers. If those towers did not exist,  neither that city would stand there nor Juri could share that peaceful life with his family. Also Odessa days came to his mind; "We had to stay in dark cause mostly, there were no electricity" he thought. But now, neither electricity goes off nor they have to stay in dark. Moreover, street lamps and the lunapark lights convert the city into carnaval place, every night.

As soon as he was going to company the smoking towers with his last breath smoke, that moment of gratefulness got broken by a voice behind; "My love ?"

Reactor, Number Two, Chernobyl, April 25, 1986. 8 am.

All of the four reactors work non-stop as Yuri thought. However today is an important day; the experiment that has been planned for weeks and all engineers of the facility has been working on,   is going to be done. They are going to force the limits of the reactor. That is why some engineers had their night shifts one day earlier.

Chernobyl Nuclear Facility

Nadija Pyirkalo is watching a Leningrad - known as Saint Petersburg today - portrait on the wall, with tired eyes.  Nadija who has been working non-stop since the night,  also staring the desk clock. She is exhausted and bored enough. There is one hour left to the bus of the facility that will go to Prypiat city.

Nadija Pyirkalo was the youngest child of a Minsk family. Unlike her siblings,  she chose to keep studying.  And she gained scholarship to study in Moscow. Very few Belarussians could achieve that in those years. After her graduation, she worked in the Moscow Institute of Atomic Energy. And later, she started to work in Chernobyl Nuclear Facility. Her dream was  to save enough money and moving to Leningrad. What else could be more beautiful than drinking a glass of wine in front of the unique night scene of Neva River ?

Saint Petersburg, Neva River

 With her eyes still looking at the Leningrad portreit, Nadija slowly fell in a dream while waiting for the departure time of the facility bus. She dreamed about her boyfriend Ivan whom she left in Moscow.  In her dream, meanwhile she surrendered her exhausted body to Ivan, on the bed she was watching the light beams of the street lamps, hitting inside the room. And also with love, she enoyed the pleasure spreading wavy in her body from her burning calves. 

Just then, she got irritated with the announce of the facility bus time. She has realised how much she missed Ivan. She has to get rid of that hell and come together with her boyfriend again. When she came to herself a bit, she left the reports that she has prepared, on her desk s0 they can be seen by others. And she left  the facility building  and walked to the bus. 

When she got in the bus, she picked one of the window-side seats in the middle of the bus. She was grouching and was wishing  some silence and peace.  Fortunately, the bus was almost empty. She did not get surprised;  Anyhow in that city, except her, they could not find any other person stupid enough to work at nights and came back to house in the morning ! She complained to herself  " why  I am here if I can be in the arms of Ivan ? "  While the bus was moving, Nadija leaned her head on the window and was watching outside.  After a while, she resumed her dream.  As long as it rained, with the pleasure and relax of her dream, she was biting her lips slowly.  And she fell  asleep..

*** The End of Part I ***

* Part II - Coming Soon..