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НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ • Вересень-Жовтень 2025 5 their ethnic identity within the U.S. And it equipped women to speak and act in support of Ukraine within the U.S. and in the in- ternational arena. Soyuz Ukrainok Ameryky, as the organization is known in Ukrainian, was named after the feminist-nationalist Soyuz Ukrai- nok founded in revolutionary western Ukraine in 1917. When the Western Ukrainian National Republic lost its short-lived in - dependence in 1919, it succumbed to Polish rule. The organiza- tion was suspended in 1938, and it ultimately disbanded when the Soviets took over western Ukraine in 1939. The UNWLA then assumed responsibility to continue the Ukrainian women’s movement outside of Ukraine. After World War II, the new wave of Ukrainian refugees joined the diaspora. In 1948, the UNWLA co-founded the World Federa- tion of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations (WFUWO), which unit - ed newly formed Ukrainian women’s groups from many coun - tries. As an international organization, WFUWO sought entry into large and influential international women’s organizations. After Ukraine’s independence in 1991, WFUWO gained official UN accreditation, and the UNWLA resurrected working relations with the new women’s organizations in independent Ukraine. In 2013, Martha become WFUWO’s Main Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Martha went on to acknowledge all the help she received with the book. She interviewed the current president of the UNWLA and former presidents, looked through archival issues of Svobo- da and Our Life , and relied on research from Ukrainian profes- sors. She referenced Dr. Martha Bohachevsky Chomiak and Sofia Sluzar’s unpublished history of the UNWLA from 1990. And final - ly, she thanked publishing specialist Mariia Shuvalova from Kyiv who standardized the references cited in the text. The book explains how the UNWLA grew and evolved with the contributions of its leaders and members over the years. The book is divided into four parts. Part I describes the UNWLA’s ear - ly growth and self-assertion as a Ukrainian American organiza- tion. Part II depicts a time of monitoring developments in the Soviet Union since many families of post-war émigrés were left behind to suffer the consequences. The organization followed and supported the dissident movement and made a strong com- mitment to cultural preservation. Part III shows the UNWLA’s expansion into the international sphere by taking on significant humanitarian projects and assisting women in Ukraine. Part IV describes the UNWLA as a more professional organization with resources and broader alliances in its work of defending Ukraine as a nation. As the organization progressed, substantive projects taken on by the UNWLA started to evolve, such as humanitarian aid, ed- ucation in the form of a Scholarship Program, cultural preser - vation, museum exhibition work, and the Svitlychka Ukrainian pre-school program. Today we have national chairs heading all these programs. But from its first days, the political imperative to protect Ukraine underpinned every UNWLA action. There was the mandate that Ukrainian women’s groups in America unite under a large nation-wide umbrella that would qualify Poetry Contest winner Valentyna Shem- chuk (l) with author Martha Kichorowska Kebalo and UNWLA president Natalie Pawlenko. The author, Dr. Kebalo, with managing editor Nadia Nynka. them for membership in the National Council of Women (NCW) of the U.S. That would be their window to the In- ternational Council of Women (ICW), an avenue for advocacy on the global stage. In 1993, the UNWLA achieved that goal. Iryna Kurowyckyj became the president of the NCW and the first Ukrainian woman in 108 years to be its president. Most of the Ukrainian community’s cultural and fundraising events for its homeland, including the UNWLA’s, took place on the stage of the original Ukrainian National Home in New York City, which now houses St. George’s
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