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Strength Through Understanding E ven though I ’m a brand new m em ber of U N W LA I had th e honor to be selected as a dele g ate from B ranch 71 to th e N.Y. R egional Council m eeting on M arch 16 a t th e U krainian Home. I w ent not only willingly, b u t enth usiastically because I have m uch to learn about th e Soyuz U krainok. E ven though m y late m o th er E ugenie O rlan w as a founding m em ber of B ranch 35, Ozone P ark , N. Y. in those days I did no t pay com ing m ore professional. T here are now th ree offices of social w ork (in Philadelphia, N ew ark, and Chicago) staffed by professional and volunteer w orkers. As m ore and m ore peo ple tu rn to us w hen th ey find them selves in bew ildering and, often confusing, situ ation s, we come to rely on a core of profes sional social w orkers who have been train ed to help others. Si m ultaneously we are striv in g to form groups of service volun teers on w hom we could call, w henever th e need would arise. W e have m ade some new frien ds fo r our U krainian cause. E arly in Ju ne th e re w as held in Cleveland, a Convention of G eneral F ederation of W om en’s Clubs. The leaders of th is, th e larg e st of A m erican W om en’s O rganizations, visited th e N ationalities G arden and paid trib u te to th e g re a t poetess L esya U krainka, whose sta tu e stand s there. B ut th e g re atest of our achievem ents in th e la st m onths of w ork was, no doubt, th e In v i tatio n al Conference of th e R e gional Council in D etroit. O rgan ized by some of our leading m em bers, th e Conference illum i n ated a cross-section of our problem s and attem p ted , quite successfully, to point th e w ay fo r th e fu tu re . The problem s raised and discussed th e re and its m otto — U krainian now and tom orrow —will serve as a guide no t only in th e w ork of wom en groups, b u t in th e en tire U k ra in ian com m unity as well. m uch atten tio n to w h at th ey w ere. D uring th e course of th e day I heard clubs re ferred to as “E nglish speaking B ranches,” th e re is a V ice-P resident fo r th e U krainian and V ice-President fo r th e E nglish speaking B ranches. W hy th is division? Does our nam e no t im ply th a t we are an organization of U krainian wom en in A m erica? W heth er we are nativ e born U krainians living in A m erica or native born A m ericans of U krainian descent — our binding facto r is th a t we are all A m eri can U krainians or U krainian A m ericans w hichever w ay you w ant to say it. A re we not ourselves creatin g a division betw een us by ac know ledging a difference? W e all sh are in a common goal, we believe in th e sam e th in g — in m aking th e re s t of A m erica and th e world aw are of U krainians, U kraine, h er culture, h er back ground, h er problem s and h er unbending stru g g le to be free. In p reserving our U krainian h e rit age from g eneration to g en era tion could we not prove th is b e t te r and function b e tte r by all m ixing to g eth er? W h eth er our im m ig ran t sisters are born in U kraine — th e fa c t th a t th ey are now citizens of and live in th e U.S.A. m akes th em th e sam e as we who are born here. W hy th en m u st th e re be tw o d ifferen t speaking B ranches? M uch could be gained fo r each by u n ifica tion. The E nglish speaking could learn th e U krainian b e tte r (and w hich of us does not need that.) and th e U krainian born wom en could learn th e E nglish language b etter. In th is w ay no t only could each become closer to th e other, b u t I feel could onec and fo r alw ays — pull down th e im aginary b a rrie r th a t som ehow now is unconsciously p u t up. P erh ap s I feel m ore strongly about it because of som ething th a t w as a graph ic illu stratio n to m e about th is very sam e th ing . S om ething th a t happened th is sum m er in Kiev, U kraine, th a t I feel should be shared. W hile escorting a to u r to U k raine and enroute to th e hotel from th e K iev airp o rt, I noticed a re s ta u ra n t nam ed “P o ltav a” th a t I had no t seen on th e p re v i ous trip . It looked like an old th atch ed roo f U k rain ian cottage b u t m uch bigger. W hen I asked an In to u rist guide about it, he inform ed me it was new and fu r nished exclusively w ith every th in g from th e P oltava region of U kraine and a dinner fo r our group could be arrang ed . I t proved to be a h ig h lig h t of th e trip . E v ery th in g from th e clay from w hich th e dishes w ere m ade, to band playing “kolom yj- k a ’s” w ere excellent — b u t th e re s ta u ra n t seem ed to be in vis ibly divided by an im ag in ary wall — directly down th e m iddle of th e inside area. All th e local people on one side — th e A m er ican to u rists on th e other. H ow ever we w ere most, fo r tu n a te to have m y uncle tra v e l ing w ith us — th e w arm est, friend liest m ost m arvelous U k rain ian you ever m et. H e h ap pens also to be th e m ost ou t spoken U krainian you ever m et too. He w ent over to a group of Soviet soldiers (U krainians all) and said: “If you w an t to dance w ith our ladies you m u st ask th em — th ey will not ask you — because th ey are ladies.” Well, th ey soon cam e over and all th e ladies in our group g ra ciously got up to dance. Soon we w ere singing all th e songs we knew and dancing all th e dances we knew. It tu rn ed out to be a w onderful p a rty and p erfect be ginning fo r a to u r of U kraine. Even teen ag ers in th e group who could not speak U krainian a t all cam e aw ay th a t evening know ing and loving m ore U krainians th a t th ey ever did and un derstan ding th e people b etter. As we left, each one, from th e youngest to th e oldest, kissed us goodbye and th e last m an I spoke to, s a id : — Ми не знали, що американ ські українці мають таке тепле серце для нас! 34 НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — ЛИПЕНЬ-СЕРПЕНЬ, 1969 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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