Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
Publications
FAQ
Annual Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Initiatives
Advocate
Educate
Cultivate
Care
News
Newsletters
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Join UNWLA
Become a Member
Volunteer With Us
Donate to UNWLA
Members Portal
Calendar
Shop to Support Ukraine
Search for:
Print
Print Page
Download
Download Page
Download Right Page
Open
1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
22-23
24-25
26-27
28-29
30-31
32-33
34-35
36-37
38-39
40
UKRAINIAN SCHOOL IN SIBERIA Konstantyna Malycka was an unusual individual. As a community activist, a writer and teacher, she remained in every situation in her life a devoted daughter to her beloved native land, Ukraine. K. Malycka was born in 1827. Since her young years she showed an ability to write, especially for children and many of her stories and poems were published throughout her life in newspapers and magazines. She took an active part in the Ukrainian women's movement, was a member and subsequently the president of UNWL for a short period 1923/24. However, the main thrust of her energy was geared to work for the benefit of Ukrainian studies and students. In 1915 K. Malycka was arrested for her role as a political activist and sentenced to exile in Siberia. Although the years she spent in this cold foreign situations (the revolution of 1918), Malycka’s spirit of adventure and zest for life, her ability to work in adverse circumstances and her devotion to creative teaching saw her through. When asked about this exile, she would say “these were” my best years.” In 1919 I came to Krasnoyarsk in order to make some money before I returned back home to my native land. I tried several options with varying success, until finally the Ukrainian community in Krasnoyarsk asked me to take charge of the grade school which they wanted to organize. The Ukrainian community in Krasnoyarsk had al ready begun its activities in 1917, from the first days of the revolution which was supposed to guarantee free dom to all nations. The movement for liberation also came to Siberia, to our immigrants and political prison ers. Newspapers began to be published in Omsk, Tomsk, Vladyvostok, cooperatives were organized in Chelabynsk, Novo Nykolayevsk, Irkutsk, and Ukrainian schools were organized in Kharbyn, Vladyvostok, Khabarovsk. Now the turn for Krasnoyarsk had also arrived. In 1918 during a regional teacher’s meeting in Krasnoyarsk our people had already presented their demands for Ukrainian schools in communities with a majority Ukrainian population. Such demands were met with serious consideration by the government, but these were times of great unrest and to expect any kind of speedy results, would have been foolish. Therefore, the Krasnoyarsk community decided to organize a school backed by its own funds. The school was situated in a spacious and well lit room which had five windows. I had a small adjoining room for my own use, while a large kitchen served as a walkway. We decorated the wall in the classroom with portraits of Kotliarevsky and Shevchenko, and with post cards of Lesia Ukrainka, Domanytsky, Hrinchenko, and Marko Wowchok, which I received from Kiev. We also had a large map of Ukraine. Initially we had 17 children of various ages and levels of knowledge, who had to be divided into several groups. The children came from Ukrainian families as was evident by their names, for example Harenko, Hetmanenko, Kuzmenko, Davydenko, etc., but not one child could speak Ukrainian. It took a long time before they learned to greet me in Ukrainian, not to mention speak to each other in their native tongue. I had no text books. I did have Hrinchenko’s gram mar, a few books of short stories from the Ukrainian community library, such as “Kobzar” and “Deklamator.” Initially it was not problem to teach the younger child ren without a primer, but later I had to prepare printed 20 “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ТРАВЕНЬ 1992 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.
Page load link
Go to Top