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Civil Society in Oleshnia by M artha Bohachevsky Chomiak Chemihiv is about two hours north of Kyiv, a citadel of clusters of medieval churches and a labyrinth of monastic caves. About thirty kilometers north of Chemihiv, a straight road leading through flat fields and flat forests in the direction of Bilorus, lies the vil lage of Oleshnia. Nestled on sandy soil within a few kilometers of the border, it lives a quiet life. There is one general store, a well, and a "korchma" that will serve instant coffee, as a special favor. The ground is soft, the people softer, their speech an admixture of syllables from Ukrainian, Rus sian, and Belorussian. Wooden houses, high wooden fences, a horse and cart here and there. Oleshnia put itself on the map ten years ago, when local women (with the help of Chemihiv Soyuz Ukrainok and its tireless motor, Raisa Reshetniuk, as well as the Ukranian National Women's League and the World Conferederation of Ukrainian Women) de cided to mark the fact that Sophia Rusova had spent her youth in the village. Rusova, a champion of popu lar education and of political engagement, dedicated her life to preparing children's textbooks in Ukrainian and participating in the state building process in 1917- 1921. A few months after the Soviet regime estab lished itself in Ukraine, she escaped. She eventually settled in Prague but remained in the center of the whole Ukrainian women's movement outside the USSR. An articulate pedagogue, she often served as spokesperson for the Ukrainian cause during interna tional women's conventions. Her voice was particu larly dramatic during the largely futile efforts to make the West react in some fashion to the Famine of 1933. Rusova was unknown in Soviet Ukraine, or rather, she was a non-person. In the late 1980s, Ukrainian scholars began to bring up her name, gin gerly stressing her pedagogic activity and writing. In 1991 women, eager to know about their own history, began to bring Sophia Rusova back to her homeland. Oleshnia led the way. A plaque marked the site of her family's homestead, schools were named in her honor, and a group of teenagers in Chemihiv established evening courses to supplement their own education, following the program Rusova developed for those who wanted to learn more than the schools offered. We came to Oleshnia to mark the tenth anni versary of the placing of the memorial plaque and to use the popular feast day of Vira, Nadia, Liubov and their mother Sofia, to celebrate the village and help it organize its first ever "yarmarok." Festivities began with a meeting, speeches interrupted by the visiting Chemihiv orchestra playing rousing tunes. Officials spoke, women spoke, children declaimed, original po ems were read. A lengthy piece of Rusova's memoirs was read, with the necessary asides on the Swedish origin of her name. Representatives of political parties used the occasion to get their messages across. Old folk, a couple with wooden pegs for legs, brought out their stools and offered a running commentary on the proceedings. The local bus stop served as a stage, with a good sound system brought in by the public admini stration. The sun was warm on the sandy soil; the wares offered for sale, except for the intricate breads and pies, with their birds, and flowers, and braided pastry, were a poor reflection of the wealth of the area’s folk art. These were priced so low that the Kyiv contingent cleaned out the place faster than the Tartars had done eight hundred years ago. Folk dress - alive but incorporating garish colors, vibrant and eclectic to the point of non-recognition - is a reflection on the life of the people here in their search for color, joy, and hope. As I looked at the peaceful scene, I could see the slight stooped figure of Rusova, her Scandinavian roots sunk into the sands, into the warm fir trees of the surrounding woods. The speeches droned on. Rusova would have known that the way to get attention was by doing, not by telling. The crowd gravitated toward the stands, joyfully greeting the latecomers in their over crowded carts. The first yarmarok of Oleshnia, in the words of its organizers, provided an opportunity for its people to get to know one another, and realize who they are. Rusova is back. According to statistics, 90% of Chemihiv oblast primary schools use Ukrainian as the language of instruction. As the meeting broke up, peo ple milled about, on the road to creating a community.
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