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I Am Truly a Soyuzanka The twelfth convention of the Soyuz Ukrainok was for me the very first — now I feel that I am truly a Soyuzanka. I feel parti cularly fortunate in having been able to attend this past conven tion because of the WFUWO Congress which was held just prior to the Convention. Here I met and spoke to Ukrainian wo men from such very different places as France, Brazil, Austra lia, Canada, etc. Such different places but such similar personali ties — witty, intelligent, enthusi astic. • In the course of the convention I served as New York representa tive on the Education Committee —here again was an opportunity to share ideas with interesting and interested women from dif ferent cities and states. We found identical problems and sympathe tic viewpoints to share and dis cuss. One of the many problems that was brought up at various convention discussions was that of the “younger” women includ- ing American born who are re sisting all efforts at being organ ized into the Soyuz Ukrainok. This problem was pointed up by the attendance at the convention sessions- — where “younger” delegates could be counted on two hands and American born dele gates on one hand only. The same question is even more acutely faced by individual bran ches. In our branch (53 — Asto ria) we found that one of the dif ficulties was in providing a pro gram that was entertaining, in teresting and at the same time applied to some phase of the goals and ideals of the Soyuz Ukrai nok. A purely social program is not sufficient in these days of ex cellent theatre, television, bridge clubs, etc. Also, so many of the American born Ukrainian women have very little or no knowledge of Ukrainian history, traditions or problems so that an education al program is very often appeal ing to just a handful of people. We have attempted, I think suc cessfully, to combine the educa tional with the social. At a Christmas Tea there was a short talk on Ukrainian Christ mas traditions and their meanings illustrated with a Christmas table set with an embroidered cloth over straw, candle, wheat stalks in a vase, a dish, of kutya, a ko- lach, pampushky and in the cor ner an authentic Ukrainian carol- lers‘ star — zvizda — that not only shone on its handle but also spun. This was followed by an American style tea served from a lovely tea table set in the same American style. A talk on life in Australia which brought up some of the many and various problems faced by displaced persons in a totalty new and completely for eign country was very actively discussed over cake and coffee. O'ur members do not attend the various Sviata that are held be cause they don’t understand enough Ukrainian to enjoy or even understand them. To coun teract this, at the time of the Sviato Heroyin we invited a for mer member of the Ukrainian Underground Army to talk to us about her life there and the ac tion in general. This talk was a real eye-opener to some of our members who had read and heard vague reports of the under ground, partisan activities but who, I suspect, never really be lieved that such a thing realty ex isted. A very entertaining lecture- demonstration on decorating Uk rainian Easter eggs inspired sev eral members to try their hands, with unexpected, wonderful re sults. Another еуе-орепет was a Party Foods demonstration by the one and only Irena K-ashubyn- ska. I say eye-opener because most American born Ukrainian women think of Ukrainian foods as just borscht, holubchi, kapust- niak, pirohy and paska. Here was a tantalizing variety of delicious and decorative dishes that would do credit to any hostess’ table. Through our program of donat ing books in English on Ukrain ian topics to the local public lib raries our members became ac quainted with books that they never knew existed. Here, I would like to make special men tion of the book Traditional Uk rainian Cooking by ,Savella Ste- chishin, which should be given to every American Ukrainian wo man. This difficult task of providing Ukrainian education plus an in teresting program would be im measurably lightened if there were topics of intrest to Ukrain ians, such as holiday customs, traditions, prominent women, authors, etc. in the English lan guage. The wonderful articles in OUR LIFE are lost to our mem bers because of their lack of knowledge of the Ukrainian lan guage. Prepared lecture materials such as slides, films, etc. with an English commentary again on customs, traditions, regional cos tumes, art, history, etc. would be an invaluable aid. Happily, the close of the 12th convention showed several youn ger and American born women on the Executive Board. This is a very good omen for the future. Alexandra Lyktey Riznyk Kremlin understand and respect. The World Congress o>f Ukrain ian Women serves a vital task of spotlighting the attention of the world on the plight of the noble people of Ukraine, a country now trapped behind the Iron Curtain. It should serve to inspire all of us to a rededicated effort to achieve the freeing of Ukraine so that it can once more take its rightful place in the family of free nations. I am pleased on this occasion to salute the delegates to the Con gress for the wonderful manner in which they are preserving the fine traditions of Ukraine and for their unceasing labors for the in dependence of their homeland. In this connection, I ask una nimous consent to have printed in the Record, following my re marks, a resume of Ukraine, a status to date, which Mrs. Helen F. D. Lototsky, President of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, has sent to me. Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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