Kind of life in kind of state. Luhansk journal

Luhansk has become kind of city, kind of capital of kind of state, living in kind of world. But worst of all, that this toylike (I invented – I believe) world has the same quality of everything – services, products, goods, education, specialists. Well, this is kind of payment for living here.

If you want to sleep on your featherbed in your house, content yourself with this "kind of". And do you want to know what is the most amusing? When you dazedly talk about all these defects, deficiencies and lack of expected quality to their producers, they respond in the same way: "What do you want? This is Luhansk". Then, giving a shrug of the shoulders, they can advise to buy the same thing and bring it from Rostov – the nearest city with civilization and choice.

But it is one thing to buy a phone there, and another, let us say, a paving slab, which was previously grinded out in the Luhansk oblast in an unmeasured amount. That is, the slab stackers advise me to go to Rostov by a van to buy there what I need – through the checkpoint and the procedures of customs clearance in order to lay out my yard. Of course, I do not go for it – I am looking for a producer here, closer. I am lucky – I find him. He has no competitors, and he cranks out his products out of cement. And people take it! Everyone understands that even with this quality it is cheaper than bringing it from somewhere.

The fact that one square will be naturally defective is half the trouble. It will be much worse, if it is crumbled, cracked or changes color the next spring. You need to dismantle it – you have to pay for it, you need to buy cement and sand again to lay a new slab. And finally, you need to pay for the placement operations… You also need to try to achieve replacement of defective slab, at least try to do it. And the producer will say, not turning a hair, that you cleaned the snow, put weights on it, lay it wrong and so on. And so on, so that you bought his products again. You then believe him. And this vicious circle as on the race track is endless. Maybe, you will be lucky, the slab will be replaced, but there will be the same story next spring… And further on, until you either let it all hang out, or buy new products of better quality, overpaying this whole procedure a certain number of times. The same is with everything and everywhere.

I was interested in the question that the city is laid with hundreds of squares. And the answer came of itself – the customers of these works are changed so often that there is simply no one to control it. "Ministers", "officials" and other elements of the "state" hierarchy of power are changed. And fleeing in a women's dress to Russia, like Kerensky abroad, they will not remember that slab, and the new "official" will write all the gaps off as the work of his predecessor. And again – new orders, defects, initial illusion that everything was done very cool, at least until the winter. And in the spring, there will be some other life and new orders.

Such kind of manufacture is just close to me. They started with one workshop, now there are already two workshops. They bake their concrete slabs like pies. According to the technology, they must dry for 48 days. My neighbor-entrepreneur sells them on the third day. Half of the tiles burst during transportation. If they were lucky to deliver them, the cracks are blamed on poor-quality unloading or installation. And I think at such a pace he will soon have not only two workshops, but his own factory. There are no other places in the "republic" to get it, only he produces it. And where is the guarantee that someone else will produce it better? There is no such guarantee. He tells that the cement was brought from Russia. "They sold me poor quality cement, what can I do?" And you, having searched in other places, go back to him – "sell at least what you have".

It is very tough to find tile layers and other professionals... It is okay for these one-day workers to turn off the phone, decline your calls, not to finish their job, vanish after taking the deposit money beforehand or just spoil everything. The process of fixing the damage can last forever. And this is not the path of perfection, this is the real life here.

A fence or a tile is one thing, but when it comes to medicine, which determines the life of a person? Recently I was told a story about how my friend gave birth to her daughter. Caesarean operation was done by a specialist, similar to those who make tiles here. After that, my friend had to survive three more operations under general anesthesia, a month in intensive care, ovarian removal, intestinal surgery, disability, helplessness, depression, loss of breastfeeding, immunity and the search for medicines...

The whole family worked to ensure that the girl survived – the father was with the baby all the time, my friend’s mother spent a whole month with her in the hospital, while her father was bringing them food... And it all started because the doctors neglected her worsened condition. The staff insistently said that it is normal to feel pain, and that her doctor is not available at the moment. The day was lost. And, perhaps, they would have lost even more time and the woman herself, but my friend’s mother could not stand it – she put everyone on their toes ... My friend was saved, but this day of delay cost her health. Staff whispered that the newly appointed manager had no experience and everyone was so unlucky... But the most unlucky of all was the woman who cannot even hold her child. She simply has no strength to do so. Her whole life has turned into the life of a plant that survives exclusively with the help of her parents who cook, clean, babysit the child for her. And nobody paid for the damage. The family was answered the way it is accepted here: "Well, you see, there are no specialists here". The same with the tile, which you need to get from Rostov.

Unprofessionalism is a general trend here and one should treat it at ease – you bought a thing, threw it away, bought a new one. Stress and frustration will only hurt you, reducing your life. Or do not do anything here – do not build, do not give birth, do not receive treatment... do not live. Everyone is free to leave this place.

Olha Kucher, Luhansk, specially for OstroV