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
“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛЮТИЙ 2009 20 wonder many American Ukrainians find such surroundings pleasant. They are very much in the known “ davntavn, ” which of course is not the downtown of our present cities. But that was our Ukraine, and it is nice that one can finally make it real to adjust to our youthful glorious dreams of the unfurled blue-yellow over the endless Cossack steppe. As one diaspora poet noted in a “ fourth wave ” interview, it is too emotionally draining for him to expose his sensitive ears to the Russian spoken on so many Ukrainian streets. He visits his native country very rarely. In the third article, this one written in English, Sophia Sluzar comprehensively encapsul- ates the fifty years of the work of the Wilmington, Delaware, branch. She provides a resume of why and how the branch acquired its name — The Five Hundred Heroines of Kinghir, and how that led to direct involvement in U.S. politics. She ends her presentation with the suggestion that one way to expand our declining membership would be to “ interact more closely with American nongovern- mental organizaitons dealing with issues of concern to women, be they health or human rights. ” Ms. Sluzar would most likely hear strong arguments that the UNWLA has from its inception done just that, interact in as much as it could, with nongovernmental organizations of concern to women — had she written this piece in Ukrainian. Because, although we proudly wear the title “ of America, ” the vast part of our work has been oriented toward Ukraine or toward the preservation of Ukrainian heritage. If that work was ever recorded, it was done in Ukrainian. We did a lot, more perhaps than any other similar organizations, given the fact that we did not have any outside support for this work. We also paid attention to our pre-school children, to Latin American Ukrainian schools and churches, a nod to the “ grandmothers ” in the United States, and to our handicrafts. But we paid little attention to our own needs — organiza- tional and personal — because our motto, ingrained in our hearts and souls, is service to others. Well, perhaps that service ought to turn to us and our organization. The organization needs to be professional, and that means using some of our dues for ourselves, for our organization. We sent computers and fax machines to Ukraine years before the UNWLA managed to get one for its own office. Perhaps it is time to look at ourseleves. Yes, that has been — and not only once — the gist of our grand sounding mottoes. We wrote extensive articles, position papers, even delivered passionate speeches. But did we really read or listen to all that?? Some- times I wonder if Our Life is genuinely, read or just glanced at for bits of news about people we might have known before we moved to the suburbs. At the risk of drawing your ire, Shanovni Pani, maybe it is time to wake up and smell the old Eight O'Clock American coffee. Ukraine has a major opportunity we all lacked — formal entry onto the world stage. We function as immigrants, diaspora, an ethnic minority in the United States. Ukrainians are Ukrainians. Do we want Ukrainians and their institutions to mirror our diaspora in- stitutions that always have to function hand to mouth, selfless dedication butressed with a sense of duty, seizing each little glimmer of entry into the wider world we could? No. Ukraine has the right — and the duty that is the birthright of all peoples — to develop its own institutions that best serve the needs of its society. We should participate in what is seemly, but I do not think it wise to replicate our essentially émigré institutions and activities in the home country. Let Ukraine be Ukraine. Let Ukrain- ian women have their journal, let them work with us, not through us. They can fight for state publica- tion subsidies; we do not have that option. We need a journal that will be read and contributed to. We need dog-eared issues, not just neatly stacked embroidery patterns. Our outside readers should be our potential members, especially the thirty and forty somethings. We need to face the fact that many of our own members are not com- fortable with reading Ukrainian, let alone writing in the language. It is definitely time to draw into our UNWLA those women whom the existing cocoon of Ukrainian diaspora concerns no longer encom- passes. We need to break out, and if that means more writing in English — so be it. We talk about this privately, ad nauseum . Let's do something about it. As we keep pounding into our Ukrainian counterparts — your fate is in your own hands. And I ask you — are we the masters of our fate? _________________ Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak is an Honorary Member of the UNWLA, a member of Our Life ’s editorial board, a historian, and the author of Feminists Despite Them- selves . 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
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 
