But some of our guys were not lucky with the main attributes of winter. We are talking about Ukrainian peacekeepers who met the New Year in Sierra Leone in 40-degree "winter" warmth and the Atlantic Ocean absolutely "frozen" to 36 degrees of the same warmth. Remembering that traditions have no borders or nationalities, our compatriots arranged a New Year celebration according to the rules of the Ukrainian mentality, which continues to surprise everyone.
If this time it was not possible to deliver the forest beauty from the homeland, then people specially sent through the jungle still found a coniferous tree, surprisingly similar to a fir tree (only in a subequatorial version). They lovingly decorated it with saved Christmas tinsel, and also hung it with gifts of African nature - oranges, lemons, and bananas.
The preparations of the Ukrainian contingent for the New Year celebration resembled a well-thought-out military operation. The same meetings of the command staff at the operational map of the UN mission area, setting tasks for all services and units, notifying the mission command, and, of course, inviting observers (read: guests) to the event itself. And if the issue of Father Frost was resolved immediately, then for the role of the Snow Maiden a special person had to be selected. Oddly enough, it turned out to be a native who happily dressed in a blue fur coat and put on a long blond braid.
The tireless kitchen workers under the sensitive guidance of the chef, Captain Sergei Chernousov, prepared a mass of signature Ukrainian and African dishes, which were offered to both their own and guests. And as entertainment on the last day of the outgoing year, in the coastal zone our guys held competitions - races on African canoes, which were previously rented from local residents. They watched everything with genuine interest and marveled at the ability of white people to so skillfully handle homemade boats.
The local residents also succumbed to such infectious preparations of the Ukrainian peacekeepers for the New Year. They happily danced to the music of the Ukrainian brass band, which specially prepared a festive repertoire for everyone, including national songs and melodies of Ukraine and Africa. And "big boss" Ibrahim, who runs the local market, aptly named "7th Kilometer" by our guys, even brought a black goat to the Ukrainians' base camp - the symbol of 2003.
However, there were also those who could not be at the festive table during the last pre-New Year day. While performing tasks, the guys provided combat patrolling of contingents in repair teams of remote settlements, served at important checkpoints. And Ukrainian helicopter pilots spent December 31 in the African sky, carrying out the order of the UN mission in Sierra Leone to combat patrol the border between Guinea and Liberia.
Andrei LYSENKO.
Specially for "Zagranitsa".