Map

In July 2006, I traveled to the Ukraine and the Russian Federation to visit my mother’s Ukrainian relatives. My travel partners included my mother, aunt, and two sisters and my brother in law.

This trip was my third visit to the Ukraine. My first visit was in 1979 (when the Ukraine was under Soviet rule) and I visited in 2004.

This personal website provides pictures and trip commentary from our family visit to Starry Sambri, Ukraine.

Maria S. Miller


Lviv - Stary Sambir


Family Tree
We visited our relative's house in a village about three hours outside of Lviv.  Ivan (my Mom's cousin) greeted us in a three-piece powder blue suit.  My mom (left) has been writing to him for years and sending him gifts as well as my aunt Ann (left). 

Lviv1 
Lviv2

Ivan's two children were there: Yaroslav not shown) and Yevheni (blond in center with light blue pants).   Yevheni (Zhenya) had her two children there: Svyatoslay (17 year-old boy) and Nastya (10 year-old girl) (first row). 

Lviv3
We hired a translator Irene (standing in pink) and she was able to communicate for us, explaining about the gifts that we bought and expressing our ways and asking our many, many questions.
Lviv4
My distant cousin Genya is a 37 year old divorced woman who lives with her two children and her sister's children. Her sister works in Israel. Genya tells us that she would like to marry an Americanman because they don't drink or beat their wives.
Lviv5
We took a walk behind Ivan's house, which overlooked lovely lush hills.  He owns two hectors of land, and he is proud of his gardens and barns: one filled with hay and canned fruits and vegetables, and the other filled with two cows. 
Lviv6

We said our goodbyes around 5 pm and headed to another relative's house. We had a rainbow on the way home, a sign of the magic of that day.   Mom gave the visit a #10.