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16 “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЧЕРВЕНЬ 2011 The International Council of Women or ICW held its 24th Plenary Conference in London from A pril 21 to May 2, 1986. The attendees of this conference, together with the rest of the world, reacted with horror to the tragic Chornobyl nuclear accident, which happened in the midst of this conference on April 26. In response to this catastrophic event in Ukraine and encouraged by Iwanna Rozankowska (then president of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America) and her delegation, a strong “statement of concern” was passed during the ICW plenary session. This statement was incorporated into the off icial deliberations of the ICW conference. The magnitude of the disaster and the lack of information about it from Soviet authorities made the issue one of great urgency. Adding their voice to the collective voting body of the conference, UNWLA delegates t o the ICW Triennial Conference, officially went on record in expressing solidarity with the Chornobyl victims and calling for international cooperation to alleviate the immediate and long - term dangers of the accident. This was one of the very first offici al international statements issued regarding the Chornobyl disaster and the first “intersection” of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America with the Chornobyl accident. With this statement as a basis in place, the road was paved to 25 years of ded ication to the dissemination of information about Chornobyl and has been supported by humanitarian aid both to institutions and to individual victims of what had been, until Fukushima, recognized as the world’s worst nuclear accident. How can an organizat ion of Ukrainian American women, an organization created in 1925 in order to unite women of Ukrainian descent to be the voice of the women of an occupied Ukraine, make a difference to the victims of Chornobyl? Our by - laws encompass goals of a cultural, edu cational, and social welfare nature. The UNWLA is the largest, independent, nonpolitical Ukrainian women’s organization in the United States. Its membership always stands firmly in defense of human rights. With these principles at its core, the UNWLA’s phi losophy has always been that by affecting the life of one child, one mother, one family, by changing the environment and future of one individual, the UNWLA can and does made a difference. The world quickly learned that besides the tragic yet obvious effe cts of this nuclear accident, Chornobyl soon led to the extensive relocation of people and therefore to the loss of their economic stability. People had to leave homes where their families had lived for generations, sometimes at just two or three hours’ no tice. It was especially hard for older people who had spent their lives growing their own food and now found themselves in high - rise blocks in the city and also found it very difficult to adapt to their new environment. In the background were the potential long - term threats to health — in current and possibly future generations. This sociological situation obviously led to the widespread feelings of worry and confusion within families, which were often broken to begin with. The dissolution of the Soviet Union , which occurred soon after the Chornobyl accident and resulted in the instability of the health care system in the country, added further to this complicated social landscape. It is safe to say that this accident has had a serious impact on both the physi cal and mental health — that is, the general well - being — of the affected population. The Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, with the hope that the Iron Curtain would soon fall and therefore more easily allow humanitarian aid to cross into Ukraine, immediately began what resulted in a very successful fundraising campaign in 1986. Thereafter, in 1990, with the full support of the diaspora, and in partnership with the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, medications and medical equipment were airlifted to the hospitals treating the respondents and clean - up workers of the nuclear explosion. A visit was planned and made to the Chornobyl zone, and UNWLA Social Welfare chair, Ms Lidia Czernyk, met with the elderly residents of the immediate zone. Ms Czernyk with other UNWLA members and members of other organizations (such as Rukh) ventured out to that woeful area to meet and give aid to those elderly women who defied the government and refused to live in exile, returning to their clearly contaminated homes. I would like to add that the relationship with the remaining inhabitants of this zone continues until today. The UNWLA has contributed to the funding of the documentary film production Life in the Dead Zone — a film produced by award winning author Irene Zaby tko. The focus of the documentary is to further educate, impact, and chronicle the legacy of Chornobyl and the amazing spirit of these elderly survivors whose remarkable stories will reach a global audience so that the world will not forget the lessons of Chornobyl for the next twenty - five years and beyond . . . In the city of Lviv, in Western Ukraine, it was quickly decided to aid with the purchase of medical laboratory equipment for a specialty children’s hospital as the residents of the Chornobyl area a nd their 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.
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