Readings on the Crimean Tatars

Several friends have asked me where they can learn more about the Crimean Tatar's.  Here's my friend Barb Wieser's post offering a great list for starters.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 

A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sometimes people ask me where they can read more about the history of Crimean Tatars and their struggles. I always first point them to the website of the American diaspora organization, International Committee for Crimea (iccrimea.org) which is filled with informative, well researched articles—see Resources at the bottom of the home page for a list of available documents.

The International Committee for Crimea website

Unfortunately,  there are very few English language books about the Crimean Tatars, and with one exception, they are all academic books and not readily available or easily accessible for the average reader. However, if you do wish some in depth reading, here is a list of books that you can perhaps find in your library or order from the internet or your local bookstore.

The haunting cover of the French edition of Lily Hyde's Dream Land.

1.       Dream Land: One girl’s struggle to find her true home by Lily Hyde (Walker Children’s Paperbacks, 2008)

This young adult novel—the only work of fiction that I know of in English that tells the story of the Crimean Tatar’s return to Crimea—seems to be well researched and does a good job of  showing actual events through the eyes of a young Crimean Tatar girl. 

2.       The Crimean Tatars by Alan W. Fisher (Hoover Institution Press, 1978)

This is the only comprehensive history book about the Crimean Tatars and includes much information about the time of the Crimean Khanate (14^th-18^th centuries). It was published before the Crimean Tatars began to return to Crimea so their current history is not included in the book. However, the fact that The Crimean Tatarsremains in print and is also now available in a kindle edition, attests to the continuing value of this work.

3.       The Tatars of Crimea: Return to the Homeland, edited by Edward A. Allworth (Duke University Press, revised edition, 1998)

This is an update of Allworth’s original book published in 1988. It is a collection of essays by different  scholars of the region—almost half of whom are Crimean Tatar—that discusses Crimean Tatar identity, politics of Crimea, life in exile, and return to their homeland. It also has a great deal of information about Ismail Gasprinskiy and his importance in Crimean Tatar history.

4.       The Crimean Tatars: The Diaspora Experience and the Forging of a Nation by Brian Glynn Williams (Brill Academic Publishers, 2001)

Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to read this volume because the library does not own a copy, but I wanted to list it as one of the very few books concerning the Crimean Tatar experience.

5.       Beyond Memory: The Crimean Tatars’ Deportation and Return by Greta Lynn Fehling (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)

Beyond Memory is the most recent of the academic books written about the Crimean Tatars and I found it the most interesting, especially Uehling’s exploration of what kept alive the desire to return through the years of exile. It is filled with interviews by the author with Crimean Tatars directly involved in the national movement to return and the often violent protests that marked the Tatars’ return to Crimea.

Teaching About Ukraine

Chernobyl upper left, flag and Jud's sunflower, me in Ukraine;
Ukraine in gold on map. in Laura's class, gift of a t-shirt
 "I love WSU" in Russian. 

It’s easy to focus on Chernobyl when talking about Ukraine.  It was the worst nuclear disaster in history, a reactor #4 melting down and exploding on 26 April 1986, 26 years ago, sending radioactive particles and plumes of hazardous materials into the atmosphere and onto the land.  The deadly fallout blanketed areas of Northern Ukraine, Belarus (which got the worst of it), and Russia, as well as northern Europe and most likely beyond. The planned Soviet industrial town of Pripyat, near the Nuclear Power Plant, and towns around it, were evacuated, over 250,000 people directly exposed, dispersed, displaced, relocated.  The environment suffered catastrophic contamination, above and below ground, in forests and rivers, on farms, in towns and cities. The clean-up crews, involving thousands of workers, faced horrible contamination. Health hazards, many forms of illness and cancers, continue to grow; long-term effects are still being studied.    

At the time of the disaster, Ukraine was officially a part of the Soviet Union, which was responsible for the Nuclear Power Plant.

Five years later, the Soviet Union broke up, an event almost as explosive as Chernobyl.  In 1991, Ukraine, along with Belarus and fourteen other Soviet republics, became independent nations.  The fallout from Chernobyl continued, a legacy of Soviet secrecy and ineptitude in safeguarding its nuclear plant.  

Chernobyl is just one tragic chapter in the history of Ukraine, a history that encompasses one disaster after another: foreign occupations; Stalin's enforced collectivization of farms and brutal famine of the 1930s (the Holodomir); the horrors of war and especially World War II, its ripple effects felt to this day; efforts to obliterate the culture; economic, political and social catastrophes.  Chernobyl is the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

The divide between the Eastern and Western parts of the country reflects this conflicted history. East of the Dnieper River, which runs through the country like our Mississippi, people speak Russian; in the west, Ukrainian.  In the East, people retain strong ties to Russia; in the West to Europe.  Nationalism flourishes in the West, which long and violently at times opposed Soviet rule.  Divided loyalties characterize eastern Ukraine.  

Still, in the East and the West, there is a growing awareness of a Ukrainian national identity built on shared cultural traditions.  This is the basis for hope. 

The Ukraine I experienced from 2009-2011 was in the throes of the transition to becoming a self-governing and united nation. That’s how I learned about the resilience of the people, their struggles for survival, their dreams for their children and the future of their country. Injustice, inequality, lack of jobs and opportunities, economic hardship, and a huge gap between the wealthy oligarchs and the rest of the people dominate life.  Rampant government corruption and lack of transparency, at all levels, bring despair, as well as grassroots efforts at reform.  It's a daily grind, but change is happening.  Trust is hard to gain; gloom and pessimism are never far from the surface; painful memories mar the present.  Yet hope springs eternal. 

In this spirit I said yes when Laura Kline, a professor of Russian language and literature at Wayne State University in Detroit and long-time friend of my daughter Elissa since their high school days, asked me to give a talk to her class about the Peace Corps and my experience in Ukraine. 

“The focus will be on Chernobyl,” Laura told me, commemorating the upcoming 26th anniversary. “You’ll come at the end, to give us a more positive view of Ukraine beyond Chernobyl, and to cheer us up.”    

Laura in her usual fashion organized a wonderful class attended by over 50 students and some visitors. First we heard from a native Ukrainian and teacher of the Ukrainian language, Natalia, who talked about the origins and development of Ukraine.  She took us back to Kievan Rus in the 10^th century and up through the horrors of World War II.

Next came Steven Andre, a young man who had been on two trips to Chernobyl, now a tourism destination.  Yes, that's right: a tourism attraction and much-needed economic generator (google it for more information and to plan a visit).  We saw a video of the site, "The Exclusion Zone," and the ghost town of Pripyat, a haunting still-life of a 1960s Soviet town, with lots of photos, sad, hard to take.  The aftermath, the hardship, the personal stories are heart-wrenching.  

Jim Tucker, a professor of Biological Science at Wayne State, talked about the causes and effects of the Chernobyl explosions, fact and fiction. “Chernobyl was not an accident.”  It was caused by human error, by the “flawed design of the reactor” operated by inadequately trained staff, and by an "experiment" to cut costs and find cheaper ways to operate the plant.  An experiment gone wrong.  It led to nuclear disaster, the full effects of which are not yet fully known; monitoring and scientific studies continue. He reminded us that the Soviet government kept the disaster a secret for two days, a horrifying 48 hours, and then was forced to tell about it after experts in Sweden detected unnaturally high levels of radiation in the atmosphere.  

These were tough acts to follow.  My main message was that while the Chernobyl tragedy has become synonymous with Ukraine, it is not the whole story. It does not reflect the complex history and nature of this rich land, once "the breadbasket of Europe,"
the stories and struggles of its people, their hopes and dreams.  

I talked about the Peace Corps first, its history and purpose, and then shared my experience as a volunteer in Ukraine who came to understand the culture, experience its art, music and folklife, love its churches and architecture, its parks and playgrounds with their ubiquitous larger-than-life statues of Lenin or Stalin and colorful Ferris wheels marking the landscape. I liked the statues of Taras Schevchenko, a beloved Ukrainian poet, that were popular in the East.  I grew to love the people, their warmth, hard work, kitchen gardens and food preparation, their hospitality and, in private, with family and friends, a great gusto for life.  

I learned as I went, I explained, one day at a time, developing relationships and integrating into my village of Starobelsk in far-eastern Ukraine.  I talked about the role that NGOs, non-governmental organizations, are playing in bringing change from the bottom up, and the projects I worked on: the English Club, getting English language books and computers for the Library, working with kids at a summer camp, and the "Know Your Rights" campaign.  

I spoke about the good people who came to accept the optimistic “Amerikanka” in their midst and make this stranger from America a part of their lives.  I stopped just short of jumping on a desk and shouting "Viva Ukraine!"  

“Perfect!” Laura said afterwards, with a big smile on her face. “Just what I wanted, to end on a positive, upbeat note!” Laura was happy, and I was glad. Teaching about Ukraine is a challenge, and Laura understands that; I appreciate her knowledge and insight.  Now I hope her students do, too.  

                                          --------------
Below is a blog I wrote about Ukraine in transition, "in the process of becoming."  Being on the ground in Ukraine, witnesses to this transformation, afforded a unique look at a historical phenomenon from the ground up.  It was sometimes frustrating, sometimes humorous, always fascinating. 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 2010

Ukraine-Time

Photo of Salvadore Dali's melting watches, "Persistence of Memory," by Joelk75 (Flickr photo)

When some of my fellow PCVs get frustrated at what looks like resistance to planning and change, the slow pace of getting things done, the low regard for schedules and time discipline, the poor quality of service even at train and bus stations, stores and hotels, I try to explain the difficult transition that Ukraine is now undergoing. I say that Ukraine is" in the process of becoming," a transition to a new model of democracy, caught between two worlds, the old and the new, the pre-industrial and the post-industrial. It's a matter of time, but the process itself is fascinating. It's a historical phenomenon.

"Historical phenomenon?" Yes, that's what it is, I reply. The little group of young PCVs chuckles .

"That's great, Fran. I'll remember that the next time I try to buy a train ticket and disturb the cashier."

"Yeah, me, too, the next time I'm alone in the office waiting for a meeting that never takes place!"

Well, remember it when you get back to America, I respond. You are witnesses to this transformation; you have a unique perspective. And if you are thinking of graduate school, you have all the material you need for a dissertation, just by having lived in post-Soviet Ukraine for two plus years.

"I''ll keep that in mind, Fran, but right now I have to get ready for a big meeting tomorrow. My counterpart just told me about it, and asked me to give a talk, in Russian."

Learning about the Crimean Tatars

My friend Barbara Wieser has served as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in Crimea, Ukraine, for over four years. She's from Minnesota, owned a book store, is a book lover, dedicated environmentalist, and indefatiguable hiker.  She was part of our Ukraine Group 36, which trained, and bonded, in Chernigov. She, Jud and I were a trio, surrounded by lots of dear friends. We walked all over the town; visited the fabulous churches, museums, and historic sites; went for a beer or "debrief" after long sessions on Ukrainian culture; shopped at the markets; and Barb and I did a special literature project at the Chernigov Biblioteca, comparing an American and a Ukrainian author.  After almost 3 months of training, Peace Corps assigned us to our sites all over Ukraine.  I went East, far east; Jud and others went North; Suz and others West; Ilse and Carl South to Odessa and others to various towns and cities in between; and Barb to Crimea.  Most of us are home now, but Barb re-upped after her first two years of working with the Crimean Tatar community in Simferopol.  She's been a trooper, a warrior for peaceful relations.  She's now a citizen of the world.

She is also our teacher about Crimea, the land, geography, the towns, the beauty and culture, and especially the Crimean Tatars  Many of us have visited in her city and at her work site, the Ismail Gasprinsky Crimean Tatar Library, and enjoyed hikes and excursions around Crimea.  I had a memorable trip from Simferopol to Bachysaray,  Yevpretoria, and Yalta  on the Black Sea (famous site of the World War II conference between Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill). Breathtakingly beautiful, and so rich in history.  Barb has hiked the mountains and forests, and explored every nook and cranny.

She has become an important part of the Tatar community, developing strong friendships and relationships, helping computerize and modernize the library, increasing its outreach, learning the people's history and struggles, and supporting their contemporary role in rebuilding the community from which they were once forcibly exiled by Stalin. The Tatar people have returned to Crimea, their homeland, after more than 30 years.  It's a harrowing story, of a community brutally demolished, lives shattered, families separated.  It's also a story of courage, the persistence of traditions, and achievement against the odds. The struggle continues.

So many of us have learned about this story of forced exile and return through Barb, and about the Gasprinsky Library, where she has made enormous contributions. The Library's goal is to preserve the memorabilia, artifacts, newspapers, traditions and stories of the Crimean Tatar people, to keep the memories alive, to remember the past so as to shape the future.   Barb has wholeheartedly shared and advanced this goal.

Below is one of her many blogs about the Library, this one focused on its founder, Ismail Gasprinsky, a brilliant and thoughtful man ahead of his times, as Barb tells us.  He reminds me of the Islamic poet Rumi, a man of depth, a source of wisdom.  I was moved by his life and purpose when I visited the Library.  I hope you will be, too.

Crimean Tatar Gasprinskiy Library

This blog is written by a Peace Corps Volunteer assigned to the Crimean Tatar Gasprinskiy Library in Simferopol, Ukraine. The views expressed are my own and do not reflect the views of the Peace Corps or any other organization.

 

TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2013

Ismail Gasprinskiy--a feminist

Ismail Gasprinskiy in his office in Bakchiseray.

Recently, as they do every year, the library celebrated the anniversary of the birth of Ismail Gasprinskiy (March 21, 1851). The day began with a ceremony of tributes at the Gasprinskiy monument located on the Salgir River in the center of Simferopol. A two-hour seminar on Gasprinskiy’s life and work was held at the Franco Library, and on the following day, a celebration was held in the nearby city of Bakchiseray, where Gasprinskiy lived for most of his life and where he is buried.

The festivities made me think once again about this remarkable man and how so little is known of him in the western world. And perhaps because I am currently showing the recent PBS special on the history of the American women’s movement to students at the Window on America Center in Simferopol, I also thought about Gasprinskiy’s views on women and how he truly is someone we would call a “feminist.” 

At a time when women were almost universally seen as inferior to men, particularly in the Muslim world, Gasprinskiy had the courage to speak out, demanding to be heard on the importance of changing the attitude towards and treatment of women. In the pages of his newspaper Terdjiman which he published from 1887 until his death in 1914, Gasprinskiy criticized the practice of polygamy and arranged marriages and divorce being a prerogative for men only. Edward Lazzerini, the foremost western scholar on Ismail Gasprinskiy, writes that “Gasprinskii insisted that ‘evolution in the marriage laws’ had become a necessity” and Gasprinskii felt that “what was needed…was a regularization of the laws so that men would no longer be able to repudiate their wives arbitrarily, and women would be permitted to divorce their husband for just cause.”

His own marriage to Bibi-Zuhre hanim Akchurina seemed to have been a partnership in the modern sense: “the union of two determined young people who valued the role education could play in the enlightenment of the Muslims of the Russian empire and who were ready to dedicate their energies to achieve this goal,” writes Azade-Ayse Rorlich, translator and editor of the only book of Gasprinskiy’s writings available in English.  Zuhre hanim played a vital role in the publication of Ismail Gasprinskiy’s renowned newspaper, Terdjiman, according to Rorlich:   “Even though her name did not appear in the paper… Terjuman would have neither become a reality, nor endured, had it not been for the material and moral support of his wife Zuhre, as well as for her very real contribution to running the paper.”

Perhaps what Gasprinskiy is most known for is his belief in the importance of the education of Muslim women. In his words: “Whoever loves his own people and wishes it a great future, must concern himself with the enlightenment and education for women, restore freedom and independence to them, and give wide scope to the development of their mind and capabilities.”

He was quick to publicize any evidence of attempts to improve education for Muslim women, such as the opening of schools especially for girls. In Bakchiseray, his sister opened the first school for girls of the new method schools (Gasprinskiy’s modernization of Muslim education which was widespread across the Russian empire). With his daughter Sefika, Gasprinskiy started the first magazine devoted to Muslim women. And in his fiction writings, he often created strong women characters that embodied his ideas of modern women, in the belief that his writings would “inspire the real-life Muslim woman to utilize fully her capabilities as a human being, and real-life Muslim society to permit her the opportunity to do so.” (Lazzerini)

It was in such writing that I came to see how well Gasprinskiy understood the role of society in keeping women oppressed. French and American Letters, the only collection of Gasprinskiy’s writings available in an English translation, are excerpts from a fictional travelogue that he serialized in Terdjiman. It follows the adventures of a Muslim man from Central Asia and his travels to France and Africa, and at least some of the writing is loosely based on Gasprinskiy’s own life.

But the last letters are pure fantasy and recount his and his travelling companions’ capture by a band of “Amazons” in Africa. In this Amazon society, gender roles are reversed—men are sexual slaves, women are rulers and warriors. There is much discussion among the men about this reversal of roles and titillating humor when one of the captured men is summoned into the “harem” of the Amazon sultana. In the end, the men escape but not before doing fierce battle with the Amazons. Gasprinskiy writes:

“The amazons flew toward our improvised fortification with extraordinary speed and courage…the Frenchmen…marveled at the spirit and courage of these desert riders.  The life and courage of these amazons… clearly proved that education and world views could endow women with much courage, strength, and fortitude…It became clear that in other countries women were fearful, weak, had a delicate nature, frail nerves and no will of their own, not because that is how it should be, but because their education, world view, and those life conditions which had shaped them over time, had made them what they were. “

Truly, Ismail Gasprinskiy was a man far ahead of his time. His radical view that women are equal to men and it is society that is holding them back would resonate today and earn him the label of “feminist.”

The information for this blog post came from these sources:

Gasprali, Ismail. French and African Letters, Annotated Translation and Introduction by Azade-Ayse Rorlich, Istanbul: The Isis Press. 2008

Lazzerini, Edward. “Ismail Bey Gasprinskii and Muslim Modernism in Russia, 1871-1914,” unpublished dissertation, University of Washington, 1973.

Fisher, Alan. "A Model Leader for Asia. Ismail Gaspirali."  In The Tatars of Crimea: Return to the Homeland, ed. Edward A. Allworth, Duke University Press, 1998.

Note: There are many different spellings of Gasprinskiy, based on the translation of the original language—T

A Library Computerized, a community empowered

Photo from PCV Sara Cooper, Starobelsk, UA

I just participated, via Skype, in the Starobelsk Library's grand celebration of getting computers from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Bibliomist project.  It was wonderful to see the library filled with friends and people from the community. A special day. I  was asked to say a few words.  Friends were waving joyously in the background.  Vera Flyat, my counterpart at the human rights NGO Victoria, poked her head in and blew kisses. People were giving the "thumbs up" sign.  I said a few words, as I was asked to do. "Ето мечта поняль. This is a dream come true!"

As I wrote in my last blog, we started in the fall of 2009, creating the library's first English club and English-language  book collection, and step by step applied to Bibliomist for the computers.  Anyone who's applied for grants from large foundations knows this is a challenging process.  Peace Corps Volunteers who came after me, Amy and Sara, moved the project along.  Amy said it took about 5 attempts.  I am so proud that the Library, director Iryna Andreenov, and friends of the library kept at it.

Now almost 4 years later, the Starobelsk Public Library has computers and online access to a whole new world of knowledge, communications and connections. . It has WiFi; it's wired!  "It shows we can work together and make good things happen.  Never give up!"  The audience cheered.

What a a huge difference this achievement will make to the library and the entire community it serves.  Natalia Dohadailo, my dear friend, English teacher and interpreter, said that already more people are using the Library and the computers are very popular.  Peace Corps makes a difference.  A library computerized.  A community empowered! .

Lugansk oblast, far-eastern UA 

The  "rayon" area of small towns and rural villages
 around  Starobelsk in far-eastern Ukraine
(Lugansk oblast) served by the Starobelsk Biblioteca.

Ukraine in white, Eastern Europe,
on Russain border

 .

  

A Peace Corps Success Story: Good News from Starobelsk, Ukraine

Photos of Starobelsk English Club

Does Peace Corps make a difference in the communities it serves? Here's one success story.  One of many.

I just received this good news from Starobelsk, where I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer for two years, 2009-11: the Starobelsk Public Library has received 15 computers from the Bibliomist project.  At last.  Hurray. Ура! What fantastic news!

Bibliomist is a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project, managed by IREX, to computerize 1000 Ukrainian libraries. 

We started the process in Starobelsk in the fall of 2009.  That's when I read about the project online and immediately got information to share with the local public Library. The Library was skeptical at first. Some of you remember my blogging about it.  

How, I wondered, could I work with the Library to help it improve its services and grow into a 21^st-century community resource?  How could we help make this Library a center of information, change and civic education?  

My models were our fantastic American libraries, but most Ukrainian libraries, especially in small towns and in the east, were far from that model.  Very far.  Most didn’t have computers; used old card catalogue systems; did not encourage borrowing; did little community outreach. 

The USAID “Windows on America” project helped Oblast (county)-wide libraries, and I remember how important it was to the Chernigov Biblioteca when I trained there.  I tried to get "Windows on America" for Starobelsk, appealed and begged, but the library is not county-wide and I couldn’t convince USAID to make an exception. 

So I began to position the Library to apply for the Bibliomist project, with the ultimate goal of getting 15 computers, support for internet connectivity, and computer training for the librarians.  It was a step-by-step process, not easy. The interpretive services of Natalia Dohadailo, who teaches English at the local university, were essential. We also had help from Anton the poet, whose mother was a librarian and friend of the director.

First I started an English Club; that took many cups of tea, patience, and perseverance.  Then, with a Peace Corps Partnership grant, and help from Toledo donors and many of you, we began an English-language book collection, another first for the Library.  Then we made an initial application to Bibliomist and learned we had to 1) begin with preparing the library for computer installation (modern wiring, sprinkler system, security), and 2) apply to Bibliomist for small community outreach grants. 

I raised funds ($800) from friends in the US for computer installation preparation, essential but not the most exciting part of the project.  With help from Marat Kurachevsky at Peace Corps headquarters and Bibliomist staff, the Library received a $2,500 grant to reach out to teachers and develop a "sister" partnership with an American library, the Boyd County Public Library in Kentucky.  Amanda Stein, the outreach coordinator, helped make that possible.  

The Library learned as it went. It didn’t know how to partner with the American library and of course had trouble with outreach and access.  Still, when I left, the Library was better positioned to get 15 computers. I was also hoping it would get a PCV to move it forward. On the other hand, I wasn’t sure it would happen.  

Then I got the news: the Starobelsk Public Library does, indeed, have 15 computers!  The Library and community will celebrate on 1 February 2013.  I hope I can Skype in and join the celebration.   

Peace Corps Volunteers often wonder whether or not they make a difference.  I wondered the same thing.  Now I can say my work did make a difference.  I left a small legacy in a village in far-eastern Ukraine. Not alone, of course, but in partnership with Starobelsk's concerned citizens and friends.  Together we helped “e-power” the library so it could in turn empower the community it serves.   

Peace Corps does makes a difference, one community at a time, from the bottom up, all over the world!  

Ukrainian-Style Farewell to our Ukrainian Visitors to America

Our guests were Volodymyr, Serhiy, Yulia, Iryna,
Andrii, and Mykola

I had a farewell party for our western Ukrainian friends last Thursday night. I put a big bouquet of golden and yellow sunflowers and the  Ukrainian flag on a dining table loaded with goodies, and lots of beer.  I had copies of photos from our road trip to Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan, to share with our guests.  

Elissa used her photoshop skills to make a wonderful photo of a van blazoned with “Ukrainian Freedom Fighters” on it, like her own van that put on almost 300 miles for our Michigan trip, broken window and  funny noises that Serhii heard from the back seat  notwithstanding.  Elissa, who is known for her love of Challengers (that's a car, for the uninitiated) and other “muscle” cars, among other things, also  gave our guests toy models of her favorite cars.  

Laura Kline, our professor of Russian language and literature extraordinaire, was our fearless translater.  She brought Michigan souvenirs as gifts and enough food to feed an army, knowing Russian traditions as well as she does.  That included chocolates, in the Ukrainian tradition of gift-giving.  It was a night of joy and laughter. Cross-cultural understanding, appreciation and love at its best!

We three together did pretty well as hosts, by Ukrainian standards.   We showed our Ukrainian friends good old Ukrainian hospitality, American style.  We hope they enjoyed their visit to the Toledo area and to the great city of Chicago, and wish them well on their journey home today.  May their memories of the USA be as precious as my memories of their country and its people.

"To Ukraine!  To the USA! To you!  To us!  To good health! Hooray for our USA-Ukraine partnership!   Для України! У США! Для Вас! Для нас. Для гарного здоров'я! Хай живе наша США-Україна партнерство!"

  

Ukrainian Groups Visits Toledo

Ukrainian Flag, photo by Peter Musolino, flickr. 

Welcome reception in Maumee for Ukrainian

delegation from Rivne and Ternopil Oblasts

(counties) in Western Ukraine. Above, Elissa shares

Sylvania Advantage with Rivne journalist Volodymyr Torbich.

“Hello, my name is Iryna.”  Iryna is one of a nine-member delegation from western Ukraine visiting the US, thanks to the Great Lakes Consortium of Training and Development, with funding from USAID.  I was at a  welcome reception in Maumee, Ohio, just south of Toledo, for the newly arrived group, with my daughter Elissa, who’s a graphic designer at the Sylvania Advantage, and her friend Laura Kline, a professor of Russian Language and Literature at Wayne State University.  

“I’m Fran and happy to meet you.  I spent two years in Ukraine, but in the East, not the West; I’m sorry I do not know Ukrainian.”   She smiled and nodded, but I don’t know if she fully understood me.  Maybe I was talking too fast. I'm told some of the delegation understands more English than others. For those with little English, the translators are essential. 

I understand. It can be very frustrating, the language barrier. I learned survival Russian during my Ukrainian stay, but for the most part I was in the dark for two years, unable to have a normal conversation about what I was seeing, doing, feeling, about the simplest things.  My host moms in Chernigov and in Starobelsk were as frustrated as I was. You want so much to be able to converse, but it’s difficult to impossible.  Language becomes a huge barrier, and it takes time to find ways around it to build relationships.  

But I was delighted to be with this group of lively and inquisitive people from Ukraine.  Elizabeth Balint, project manager of the Consortium’s international exchange program, introduced each one, all from Rivne or Ternopil oblasts in Western Ukraine:

* Serhiy Anoshchenko, mayor, Kuznecovsk City Council 
* Ivan Bashnyak, mayor, Borschiv City Council

* Vitaliy Undir, mayor deputy, Ostroh City Council

* Ihor Hul, mayor deputy, Berezhany City Council, and a great guitar player who led the group in a patriotic song.

* Andrii Hreshchuk, City council secretary, Rivne City Council

* Mykola Orlov, Chairman, NGO Analytical Center of City Development “ZEON”

* Volodymyr Torbich, director, main editor, Rivne NGO “Agency for Investigative Journalism" 
* Yulia Parfenchuk, lawyer, leading specialist, and member Kremenets City Council  

* Iryna Pakhniuk, Consultant for coordination and cooperation with local government departments, Rivne Regional Council.

What a powerful and talented group! How I’d love to sit with each and every one and talk about what they do, how their cities are faring, what goals they have, what dreams for the future of Ukraine.  Instead, I can only hope that their three-week stay in the Toledo area will provide the opportunities they seek to learn more about strengthening local government and economic development.  

I'm sure that the cultural exchanges--staying with host families, attending local events and festivals, museums and parks, even baseball games, along with attending seminars and professional development programs--will have a strong impact and strengthen the ties between Ukraine and the US.  

“I hope to learn more about your government and also about journalism practices and the media here,” Volodymyr  said through the group’s interpreter Sasha Etlin. He looked over the Sylvania Advantage newspaper Elissa had with her.  He couldn’t read it, but the idea of a community newspaper supported by local advertisers interested him.  

Community-based journalism is, afterall, relatively new in Ukraine, where for so long the State, the central government, controlled the news, and some say still does.   Journalists there have been silenced and imprisoned for telling true stories about human rights abuses, corruption, injustice and central government interference in local affairs.

I was once again reminded of how new the ideas of  government of, by, and for the people are in Ukraine; how new the idea of local governance, transparency and community involvement in decision-making; how brave the people, like the members of this delegation, who are working for change.  

Like American democracy, Ukrainian democracy is in process, and the challenges are daunting.  But I learned while in Ukraine that change is happening from the bottom up, all across the country, east to west. It's often not visible, yet, but I have faith that it will be one day.  

This 9-member delegation of Ukrainian local officials and activists is testimony to this development and this hope.  I wish them all the best of luck.   Я бажаю їм усім удачі.

From Western Ukraine

A "shashlick" (barbeque) evening at our Slavsky Lodge with Nikolai; colorful buildings of Mukachevo; Carpathian Mountain views and vistas.

This trip to western Ukraine has been so fantastic I don't have words to describe it. Olga, Tonya, Julia and I have just spent several glorious days in the Carpathian mountains, starting in Slavsky, a ski resort area that was our base, staying for 5 nights in a beautiful lodge built and hosted by Galina and Nikolai. From there we took day trips through the beauty of fall in the mountains to the tops of Slavsky, and then to Skole and Mukachevo, beautiful agricultural towns with a European feel.

Now we are in bustling Lviv, after a visit to the wonderful town of Sokal. We are in a suburb called Vinniky, staying with friends of Olga's, Stefa and Bogdan, a knowledgable, intellectual couple, full of stories. Stefa's daughter lives in NYC with her husband and son. Bodgan is a former Ukrainian army officer and a hero of Western Ukraine.

I have been feted and embraced. I've met cultural and political leaders like Oleg Ivanchena, mayor of Sokal; Ivan Brovdy, a wonderful sculpturer and artist in Mukachevo; 90-something Maria Petroshok, a gulag survivor, and 81-year-old Maria Korole, whose whole family are "freedom fighters" and in whose home in Sokol we spent a night; Mikhail Fertsok, singer and choir master in Scole; and Ostop Stakhili of Lviv, a popular folk singer and musician, a master of the ancient 64-string instrument called a bandoora.

The beauty of the landscape is matched by the beauty of the people and their fantastic stories about Ukraine history, culture, and traditions. I am learning about the struggles against the Nazis, then the Soviets. I am learning of murder, torture, the destruction of whole villages; of the "Gulag," of dissidents sent off to Siberia never to be heard from again. Bogdan's stories are riveting, stories of encounters with torturers, young soldiers murdered for no reason, young mothers separated from their children, a savage beating he himself endured.

Every home we visited, and every public building, has photos of Ukrainian heroes like Stefan Bandera, a fighter for Ukraine killed by the Soviets in 1957. Photos of people murdered in 1968 and into the 1970s fill homes, too, and I am surprised by how recent this history is, how fresh the memories. There is a strong sense of Ukrainian identity and patriotism in this part of Ukraine, so different from the East.

Our western Ukraine journey ended at a frantic pace and on a high note. After a delicious breakfast prepared by Stefa, we marched off to Lviv's historic center for a meeting of Women of Ukraine, featuring interesting talks, some q & a with the Amerikanka and, lucky for all of us, Ostap on the bandoora. We next had a whirwind but wonderful city tour led by professor Yuraslava, down historic streets, through the historic Lviv cemetary, where Ivan Franko is buried, to the Archikatedral Lwowska, a stunning church of Polish origin visited by Pope John Paul, past wonderful monuments,museums, varied architecture with lovely details, and outdoor cafes. The tour culminated at our final destination, the magnificent Lviv theatre, where we saw a magnificent performance of Strauss' "Die Fledermaus." What a day! We boarded our 1:00 am train back to Lugansk with a full heart, and headed back home, a two-day train ride back to eastern Ukraine. For now, here is a taste of western Ukraine--a memorable and fantastic journey into the heart of this nation.

Details

 





Above, Elaborately carved entrance Khan's palace, Bakchysaray; Opulent gilded and painted ceilings with sparkling crystal lights, Khan's palace and Odessa Opera House. Collage: Budapest's Grand bazaar tower and a wrought iron gate; Krakow windows; tile work, Uspensky church, Bakchysaray; Budapest Opera house; Tatar Biblioteca, Simferople, Crimea; entrance to the harem, Khan's palace, Bakchysaray.  Mosaic with elegant surround, Uspensky church.

I used to dislike details. Now I feel just the opposite. I wish I knew then what I know now. It would have saved a lot of grief: those "sharps and flats" of past remembrances, as Mary Oliver calls them. But that was then, this is now, and it's all we have, the Erich Tolle mantra. Today I'm thinking about details.

Details engulf us. There are the details of daily life: What to wear or eat. Who to see or meet. What to do that's neat. There are the details of work life: How to write that grant, where to shelve those books, how to lead that seminar. There are the details of decision-making: Should we cancel the meeting? Add new members to the book team? Ask school teachers to help with that Democracy grant?

And then there are the kinds of details I have come especially to love: architectural details. I am usually overwhelmed by the larger picture. By the grand opera house. The beautiful cathedral. The magnificent legislative hall. The elegant presidential palace. The palaces of Kings and Queens, Khans and Shahs, Emperors and Tsars. I have hundreds of great photos to prove this.

But when I stop and look at the details, then I become engrossed. Not overwhelmed, but engaged. The devil is in the details, they say. I think that's true, and I’ve been bitten hard when ignoring that maxim. Beauty is in the details, too. In everyday details, yes, and most of all in those architectural details. I’m thinking about the craftsmanship, the talent, the patient devotion, the work ethic, the artisanal traditions, the pride.

Take the blue mosaic of a Monk above right. It is from the little Uspensky Cathedral with the glistening golden dome built in the mountain caves of Bakchysaray, Crimea. At the ends of the earth, almost. Who will see it? But some craftsman didn't care about that. Instead he put a lot of work into this lovely mosaic in this far-away place, tile by tile, piece by piece. A master stonecarver chisled the frame around it, also a beautiful piece of artwork. They emerged from contemplation, these details, and they invite contemplation.

Wherever I travel now, I marvel at windows and doors, many intricately tiled, painted, or carved, many surrounded by gargoyles, nympths and angels, birds and leaves, and bas reliefs. And beyond the details of the windows, those in and around buildings; be they homes or palaces, cathedrals or theaters, sacred or profane, the details fascinate.

And it's no wonder. The crafts people of old stayed with their tasks for years. It took ten or 20 or more years for Italian stonecarvers to carve the gargoyles around the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, for instance, chipping away, little by little, day after day,month after month, until a form emerged from stone, from marble, from alabaster. Devils and angels, animals and birds, human and inhuman, symbolic or imaginative, mad, sad, or happy. An award-winning documentary, The Stonecarvers, tells the story (funded by the DC Humanities Council, an NEH affiliate).

It's the same with the stained glass windows of churches, cathedrals, temples and mosques, in the Blue Mosque and in St. Sophia's in Istanbul, St. Andrews church in Kiev, the Kainite Jewish temple and St. Nicolas Cathedral in Yevpatoria. The light that streams through these beautiful windows cast a heavenly glow onto grand spaces. And on top of these, literally and figuratively, hang the ornate and ornamental glass work of crystal lights and chandeliers. Like those lights illuminating beautifully painted ceilings in the photos above. Or the Venetian crystal chandelier adorning the carved mahogany wainscotting in the State room of Livadia Palace in Yalta where Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met. I love this tradition, too, the ancient art of glassmaking, foretelling modern American glass artists like Tiffany, Dominic Labino of Toledo and Dale Chihuly of Seattle.

And then there are the exquisite paintings, among my favorite details, covering walls and ceilings, furniture and grand staircases. So rich in detail, so vibrant the colors, so angelic the adorers, so passionate the love scenes. I used to think Michelangelo's awesome paintings at the Vatican were unique to the art world, to religious art especially. And of course they are. But he is not alone. Far from it. He had his predecessors and his successors all over the world. Countless Micheangelos in every country, across the ages, across time and faiths, painted temples, mosques, and churches, in India and in Katmandu, created well before the Renaissance, and also here in Ukraine and in Crimea, in Budapest and Krakow, in magnificent Istanbul, Ancient paintings adorn ancient walls. What glorious gifts to the gods, anywhere, any time, any place.

So here’s to glorious details. My latest toast: “Za Подробнее" [Podrobneyeah, in a rough transliteration]. Here's to tiles, and gargoyles, and ancient lights. Here's to dreamy paintings and heavenly stained glass. Here's to wrought iron railings under starry nights. Here's to intricate marble carvings and mosaic delights.