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18 WWW.UNWLA.ORG “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ТРАВЕНЬ 2017 (SUU), which was then under the leadership of Atena Pashko. It was Ms. Pashko, who recommended students for our consideration and assumed responsibility for these students. That same year (1993) a SUU Scholarship Commission was formed in Kyiv. The commission included the presidents of all the Oblasts with an SUU presence and was forged under the leadership and guidance of Iryna Kravchuk, and later, Alla Debeluk. I worked with these dedicated, selfless women for the duration of my tenure. As part of our mission, M. Orysia Jacus and I visited numerous schools in Kyiv and Lviv and be- came acquainted with many of our scholarship recipients. We also had the unique opportunity to fly from Lviv to Crimea, a journey we made with Oryna Sokulska (now First Vice President of SUU and Scholarship Chair in Ukraine), to meet with recipients of UNWLA Scholarships, students who were living in and studying in Crimea. During this visit, we also met the women of SUU in Crimea, individuals dedi- cated to helping children and youth attain an education. All of the scholarship recipients and SUU mem- bers were excited to meet us, partly because they did not get many visitors from the United States. Dur- ing our visit to Crimea, we walked along the shore of the majestic Black Sea and visited the beautiful mu- seum of Lesia Ukrainka. From Crimea we journeyed to Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Poltava. In each of the cities that we visited, Orysia and I were eagerly and enthusiastically welcomed by students, teachers, and par- ents. Students greeted us with songs, poems, and speeches, expressing their deep appreciation for their sponsors and for the Scholarship Program. Lasting friendships were formed, and unforgettable memo- ries were created during our travels. Luba Bilowtchuk meeting with her former student Yaromyr Bozhenko in Lviv (2016). Last summer (2016), I traveled to Kyiv and Lviv. I had not visited Ukraine in 15 years, and much had changed. In Kyiv, I met with two of my former scholar- ship recipients, Halya and Nadya. I had sponsored them throughout their university years. Today, both are ac- complished and very patriotic young women with fami- lies of their own. Halya is a historian and Nadya is an assistant dean at a university in Kyiv. When in Lviv, I quite unexpectedly met with another of my scholarship recipients, a young man named Yaromyr, who invited me for coffee to one of the wonderful cafes that you now see everywhere in this beautiful city. As a young boy, Yaromyr’s passion was to play the piano. Today, he is a gifted, talented concert pianist and music teacher. I still keep in touch with Halya, Nadya, and Yaromyr. Even though I had sponsored them, I real- ize that their success had little to do with me. Yes, I had helped them financially, but that was only the first rung on the ladder of success for them. It was their determination, drive, and dedication that al- lowed them to climb the rest of the way to achieve their goals. It is because of my varied and long-term connection with the UNWLA Scholarship Program that I see a future in Ukraine that lies in the hands of a new generation of educated young people who will become proactive members of their communities with the power to influence and shape social change, political stability, and the economic well-being of their homeland. Moving to another geographic sphere, I fondly remember my visit to Brazil in August 2000, where I traveled with then UNWLA President Iryna Kurowycky and UNWLA Scholarship Program Treasurer, M. Orysia Jacus. We were greeted at the airport in Curitiba by former UNWLA Scholarship recipients Bishop Jeremiah Ferens and Olga Korczagin, former director of the Institute of Santa Olga as well as director of Colegio Santa Olga, a boarding school for girls. It is worth noting that Ms. Korczagin was among the first of our scholarship recipients to graduate from the Federal University of Parana in Curitiba. With Bishop Jeremias and Olga Korczagin we visited Ukrainian Brazilian communities, and seminaries, and colonies in the vicinity of Curitiba, Parana, Brazil. From Curitiba we traveled to Pruden- topolis, Parana, (little Ukraine), where 75% of the population are Ukrainian. Ukrainians settled here over a century ago. Today, Ukrainian is taught in local schools and the Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the Ukrainian language. The names on storefronts are written in Ukrainian. A bronze statue of Taras Shevchenko stands proudly in Prudentopolis.
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