Chornobyl, a wasteland of hope

This BBC feature article tells a very sobering reality of life in Ukraine. For the people of Chornobyl (Chernobyl to the uninformed*) who stayed after the nuclear disaster, and for those now finding the answer to war in its outskirts, it's clear that hope has a different composition. To find cheap land, a home free of bombardment and war, a place to start again, where peace is found in perfect stillness, that is the where hope is found. In this place, radiation is not the issue. Survival until tomorrow is. So people from the war ravaged towns of Eastern Ukraine flee to a place where the air is now free of radioactivity but the soil still carries its contamination threat. It's a matter of least of two evils.

"Radiation may kill us slowly, but it doesn't shoot or bomb us," says Maryna. "It's better to live with radiation than with war".

*Чорнобиль – Ukr. – ancient Ukrainian town, first mentioned in chronicles in 1193. In compliance with international rules (UNCSGN & UNGEGN), the transliteration of names of settlements is made only from the country state language, where the object is located. Accordingly, the only correct transliteration from Ukrainian state language - Chornobyl.