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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ВЕРЕСЕНЬ 201 2 WWW. UNWLA.ORG 17 In the final chapter of her book Borde r- land: A Journey through the History of Ukraine (1997, Westview Pre ss), Anna Reid, former Kyiv correspondent for The Economist and The Daily Telegraph , writes: “What kind of place will Ukraine be in ten years’ time? At worst, it will be a fragile, poverty - stricken buffer - state in a new d i- vide between an introverted West a nd an aggre s- sive, unstable Russia. At best, it will be a rich, heavyweight democracy in a continent - wide par t- nership of friendly like - minded states. Given the two countries’ halting progress so far, the latter looks – cross fingers – rather likelier than t he former.” It was fifteen and not ten years ago when Ms. Reid posed the question and offered her pr e- diction. It appears that she was too optimistic. Recent evidence of the backward slide in Ukraine was the passing by the Verkhovna Rada of the highly contentious Kivalov - Kolesnichenko language bill. Under the guise of protecting “r e- gional languages,” the legislation significantly i n- creases the role of the Russian language. The very many warnings about the deeply divisive nature of this law deserve the p resident’s attention, as do the shocking procedural violations in the way the draft bill has been pushed through. Halya Coy - nash, a member of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group, states that “in the face of clear public co n- cern and infringements of the Constitu tion, Yanu - kovych’s signature would deliver a grave blow to Ukraine’s already beleaguered democracy.” In light of this serious situation, UNWLA’s Vice Pre s ident of Public Relations, Lidia Bilous, a u- thored an open letter to President Yanukovych and stated o ur organization’s position and deep concern over the stance of the Party of Regions. The letter can be viewed on page 10 and the U N- WLA website. The letter was e - mailed to Anna Herman, advisor to the President of Ukraine. We have not received a response. Ignoring the a p- peals made by his own citizenry and the outside world, President Yanukovych signed the bill on August 8th. Ukrainian diaspora organizations are uniting and calling on their compatriots around the world to unite in order to protect the Ukrain - ian language. The May 2005 issue of Our Life describes the details of the events surrounding the burn i n- juries of five - year old Anastasia (Nastya) Ovchar of Ukraine and of her eventual transportation to and care by the doctors of Boston’s Shriners Ho s- pita l. Our community was very generous at the time of this family’s tragedy in creating the U N- WLA Nastya Ovchar Fund. Several substantial cash donations were personally given to Olya Ovchar, mother of Nastya, by Honorary President Iryna Kurowyckyj. The years h ave flown by but Nastya still requires medical attention and r e- peated reconstructive surgery. Anyone who has been reading Our Life during the past year will recognize the name of Dr. Gennadiy Fuzaylov — President of DCtoHC (Doctors Collaborating to Help Chi ldren) — with whom we have partnered to aid the pediatric burn care unit at Hospital #8 in L’viv. Dr. Fuzaylov was involved with Nastya’s initial care and continues to be through today. Dr. Fuzaylov and his team performed surgery on Na s- tya in Kyiv in 2010 an d once again this July as the Ovchars returned to the United States on July 17th. I must thank Consul General Serhiy Poho - reltsev for arranging a driver to transport Nastya and her mother from J. F. Kennedy Airport in New York City (their flight was donated by Aer o- svit) to Shriners. Another reconstructive surgery took place on July 23rd. The UNWLA has been covering housing, meals and miscellaneous costs for the Ovchars since Nastya became an outp a- tient on August 5th. All billing will be forwarded by S hriners to our offices and we will be rei m- bur s ing Shriners for this outlay — a very controlled and transparent process. During this process, it has been my priv i- lege to come in contact with Mr. Roman Zajac (no family) of Chicago, IL. He is a noted community member and activist who is also known for his endless efforts to help children in Ukraine. One of his fundraising projects was to help Nastya Ov c- har, and he was able to raise $9,000 from his l o- cal community. Mr. Zajac funded Nastya’s 2008 trip and treatmen t at Shriners. After our discu s- sion with Mr. Zajac, he decided to turn over the remainder of this fund ($4,653.67) to the UNWLA Ovchar Fund to be combined for use in Nastya’s future treatment. We thank Mr. Zajac for his su p- port in this matter. According t o the doctors, Nastya is elig i- ble to return annually to Shriners until the age of 21. The UNWLA will be covering these continued expenses from the Ovchar Fund. I have been in contact via telephone with Mrs. Ovchar and have offered the UNWLA’s help and advi ce when and if needed. Olya Zabolotina, member of Br anch 126 ,
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