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
numerous to mention all, but we all know and under stand that without Helen Lototsky, long time UNWLA President and an editor of “Our Life” we wouldn’t be celebrating this golden anniversary today. Her foresight, determination, idealism and perseverance made an ever lasting imprint in the history of our magazine. Honorary President Lydia Burachynska who was not only the president of our organization but also prior to that a long time editor of “Our Life” in the post WWII era. We thank her for keeping Ukraine in our hearts, preserving our Ukrainian heritage by elevating our pride for Ukrain ian folk arts and gifts, keeping alive Ukrainian embroi dery and constantly reminding us of our roots, our culture. On Claudia Olesnycky fell the very first uneasy steps of “Our Life” magazine. She guided it through the beginning stages that set the way toward the solid future. Liasia Lubowych brought the fighting spirit of a Ukrainian soul when she arrived in the USA from Kha- zakhstan in 1971. Portraying the suffering in Ukraine, she also gave us humor that is needed for going on with life. Olha Liskiwsky brought us the spirit of youth. How happy was our current editor, Irena Chaban, most recently from Ukraine, to proclaim Ukraine’s Indepen dence on the pages of “Our Life”, for she remembers well the suffering during the Soviet regime that she and her family had to endure. All of them dedicated editors that made a permanent personal imprint on the pages of ’’Our Life” magazine. Together, with their editorial staffs they made “Our Life” magazine a real historical chronical of our organi zation, of our membership — of our lives. With the fall of the Soviet Union and the independence of Ukraine, “Our Life” magazine has become an ambassador of democracy that reaches corners of the world that were closed to us for over seventy years. We must continue publishing it, we must ensure its future, for we want “Our Life” to reach wherever Ukrainian language is being resurrected from the bonds — not only in Ukraine but also in Kazakhstan. Siberia or other ex-Soviet republics where Ukrainian people were forced to live and presently are considered an ethnic minority in those countries. When I attended the conference in Kyyiv last summer and met Ukrainian women from Far Eastern countries, some of them apologized for not being able to speak the Ukrainian language, but they insisted that they were Ukrainians, for otherwise they wouldn’t have traveled thus far to attend the “Ukrainian Woman and Democracy” conference sponsored by Sojuz Ukrajinok in Ukraine and the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations in the Diaspora. When I pres ented some of them with “Our Life” magazine, they could not believe their eyes — they cried. I assured them that we understand and always understood their hardships but any kind of communication with them was prohibited by the Soviet government. I told them that we always knew about them. We wrote about their fate and prayed for them. They were amazed. In turn, they informed me, that now they are starting Ukrainian studies schools with make shift books and hardly any school supplies. They are determined and I believe that they will succeed. The English section of “Our Life” was edited for the last twenty years by Marta Baczynsky and currently by Halyna Kuzyszyn. Previously staff correspondent Mildred Milanowich, later Helen Mural edited the English pages of “Our Life” magazine. At times important items were translated from Ukrainian into English by different peo ple. Handzia Sawycka also edited the English section. English language pages have a dual purpose — first to reach our English speaking members, secondly to inform the American world around us about our Ukrainian her itage. However, it does not stop here. While meeting with some students in Ukraine, one of them told me, that she is studying English and impatiently waits for her grandmother’s copy of “Our Life”. Immediately, she turns to the English section of our magazine and uses the material for her English lessons. I must say that I was impressed by the 16 year old Natalka from Lviv and I realized the importance of “Our Life”. It has also become a textbook. In a few short passages we have looked into the past, present and the future of “Our Life” magazine. I once heard Dr. Robert Schuller (renown author of books on positive thinking/philosophy) speak, and will apply his wisdom and philosophy to our situation. The room of the past is filled with history dreams fulfilled, ideals realized. The bookshelves are filled with the past issues of “Our Life” neatly bound in bookform, with each year gone by printed on the cover. I lock this room full of treasurers and secure the key. We are now in the present room. The doors and windows are open. The shelves and files wait to be filled with present issues, the printed material is all about waiting to be sorted and pasted into the pages of “Our Life”. The flow of new ideas and the updating of goals is circulating in the cur rent room. We are eager, ready and able to go ahead. We are going ahead. I leave this room open and secure the golden key. The future room seems so far away but I know it is there. Even though I hold the key, I cannot use it or enter this room. It belongs to future sojuzanky. We can only hope that they will follow our footsteps, as we have followed those of our worthy predecessors. Our to morrow — will become their today. ’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, СІЧЕНЬ 1994 9
Page load link
Go to Top