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UNWLA’S PEN PAL DECADE OF SUCCESS CENTER: A Gregory Hybel. “Greetings from Hawaii, where we are living with our daughter. It’s beautiful here, but we miss the Ukrainian friends we had back in New Jersey. Can you write and let us know if there are any other Ukrainian families here in Hawaii? We have no way of meeting them!” writes an elderly couple from Waikiki. “I am eighteen years old and would like to cores- pond with a Ukrainian girl my age. I may someday travel to the U. S. and visit with my pen pal,” writes a young Ukrainian man from South America. “/ would like to correspond with some Ukrainian person in a different country in the Ukrainian language, which I think I know well. But my mother says I need more practice," writes a little girl from Australia. These are just some of the hundreds of letters which have crossed the desk of Anna Krawczuk, Coor dinator of UNWLA’s Pen Pal Center, which was formed in 1973 under the auspices of UNWLA’s Social Services Program. Participants in the Center, whose number now exceeds 500, are Ukrainians of all ages and back grounds living in sixteen different countries of the world. Most hail from the U. S., South America and Aus- trailia. They correspond in the language of their choos ing, often but not always in Ukrainian. “The purpose of the Pen-Pal Center is to give Ukrainians around the world an opportunity to meet through correspondence and thereby create the links that will help maintain our Ukrainian identity regardless of the particular country we live in,” says Mrs. Krawczuk. The fact that the program has been so successful over the years is an indication of how strong are the ties of na tional identity that link people of the same heritage who are scattered in various countries of the world. But national ties are not the only factor, says the pro gram’s Coordinator. “The people who wish to corres pond usually let us know their interests and ask us to link them up with Ukrainians of similar interests,” she says. Some people wish to correspond with very specific pur poses in mind — whether to practice their Ukrainian, learn about Ukrainian life in communities around the world, find families living in an area of prospective settle ment, meet potential mates, relieve loneliness, or a myri ad of other purposes. And then there are people who simply love to write and make friends around the world, with no purpose other than that in mind. The Coordinator’s function is to link up these indivi duals with their counterparts. In order to do this, she eva luates the simple yet informative application which inte rested persons have filled out and sent in to the Pen-Pal Center, and finds the most suitable individual for each applicant, taking into account any special requests the applicant has made. “I introduce the parties via letter,” says Mrs. Kraw czuk. “ I hope they continue to correspond, but after the introduction, it’s up to them.” It is interesting to analyze the types of individuals or motives of people who have responded to UNWLA’s Pen Pal program. At first it was the elderly who responded. They were seeking new friendships, trying to relieve their own loneliness, or that of others. Often they were trying to lo cate family members or friends with whom they had lost contact for many years. Then, there were many young peo ple who expressed interest in corresponding with their con temporaries of the opposite sex. Middle-aged people res ponded next, with their primary emphasis on profes sional interest or hobbies. Interestingly enough, young children also responded to the Pen-Pal program. This in cludes children from the U. S., Brazil and Australia. Final ly, there have been widows and widowers who found it difficult to live alone, and who have sought acquain tances through correspondence. A number of these ac quaintances actually led to the altar! One of the more touching aspects of the Pen Pal program is the number of children, either orphans or those with only a father living, who have asked for “moth- er-substitutes” who would correspond with them. “This involves no financial obligation,” says Mrs. Krawczuk. “It’s just a question of child needing a feeling of belong ing. There are still a number of children, especially little girls, waiting for a “mother-substitute” who will write to them, and make them feel loved and wanted.” The Pen Pal Center Coordinator is no stranger to in ternational correspondence, having had personal pen pals for over twenty years, from countries as widely di vergent as England, Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, Denmark, India and others. “ I was very lucky to find people with whom I shared many interests,” says Anna Krawczuk. How did the UNWLA Pen Pal Center begin and how did Mrs. Krawczuk come to be its Coordinator? In late 1973, Dr. Theodozia Sawyckyj, then the Social Ser vice Chairperson on UNWLA’s National Executive, con ceived the idea of a Ukrainian Pen Pal Center as a project of UNWLA. The purpose was to create an innovative UNWLA activity and to increase the variety of UNWLA’s services to both UNWLA members and to Ukrainians everywhere. She placed an ad in Our Life magazine seek ing an individual who would volunteer to serve as Coor dinator of such a program. “There was only one response,” says Dr. Sawyckyj, who is now UNWLA’s First Vice President. “That res ponse was from Anna Krawczuk, who said she would 24 НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ, СІЧЕНЬ 1983 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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