Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
UNWLA 100
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
40-41
42-43
44
Meeting with Soyuz Ukrainok in Yalta. Author Svitlana Kupryashkina (center). To her left is Svitlana Kocherga, director of Yalta's Lesia Ukrainka Museum; to her right is Bohdanna Shevchuk, president of Soyuz Ukrainok of Yalta. cultural festival was being held. It was a festival indeed! Yalta's Mayor Marchenko opened the event by reading a welcoming address from President Kuchma to participants. The mayor confided that he had been introduced to Lesia Ukrainka's poetry in a school book given to him by his mother in 1954. The festival itself was the culmination of six years of amateur organizing efforts; since 1994, the group has hosted a series of mini-festivals held at different times in different places to honor Lesia Ukrainka. This year, they decided to launch an annual "Lesyna Osin" festival. The concert I attended featured Nina Matvienko and her Zoloti Klyuchi (Golden Keys) trio. The concert hall at the Hotel Oreanda was full. People were festively dressed; many came with children. The event attracted local media attention. At the end of the evening, we went out for coffee with the soyuzanky. It was interesting to learn about their new and exciting initiatives. The president of Soyuz Ukrainok of Yalta is Bohdanna Shevchuk who told us about a new Ukrainian school which has recently opened. The biggest issue for Ukrainians living in Yalta was to have a Ukrainian language school. Local decrees in the Crimean Autonomous Republic have routinely promoted Russian-language schools because the republic is considered to have the largest share of Russian population in Ukraine and its Russian population has always lobbied for Russian language schools. Now, the soyuzanky told us, things were starting to move in the right direction. The school, though a major breakthrough for the Ukrainian community in Yalta, is badly in need of books. An appeal was recently signed by members of Soyuz Ukrainok against the general use of history texts used in many other schools which continue to promote a "wrong interpretation of facts and events". In their efforts to promote historical accuracy, members of Soyuz Ukrainok of Yalta have also signed petitions to open a Ukrainian Women's Room in the museum of women-martyrs which is housed on the site of the former Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany. Bohdanna Shevchuk also reported on the status of the "Moloko and Bulochka" initiative launched by the UNWLA. The Yalta branch has received $2,000.00 for carrying out this program in the newly opened Ukrainian school. When they learned I was writing an article for Our Life, the Soyuzanky asked me to send their regards and express their gratitude to all contributors to this program. Cases of children fainting from in hunger in their classes are common in Ukraine nowadays, so the UNWLA initiative was badly needed and is greatly appreciated. The soyuzanky know quite a bit about the UNWLA. They receive copies of Our Life and admire the ability of Ukrainians abroad to maintain and cherish the treasures of language and culture which are sometimes forgotten at home. The Yalta branch of Soyuz Ukrainok can be contacted in care of President Bohdanna Shevchuk, 7 Nyzhnyo-Slobidska St., Apt. 5, Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine, by telephone at (380-654) 32- 91-84 or by fax at (380-654) 32-15-75. The author, currently residing in Kyiv, was Regional Exchange Scholar in the Kennan Institute at the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. While working on an independent research project, she served as Director of the Ukrainian Center for Research on Women.
Page load link
Go to Top
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 
40-41 
42-43 
44 
