Ukrainian Youth Association Perth NEWSLETTER JULY 2007 UKRAINE - IN YOUR IMAGE WE LIVE

We are holding a Druzhynyk Conference on Saturday 14th July, at the Parish Hall, Maylands. We encourage all druzhynnyky to come along to the conference.
Druh Marrko Tkaczuk Kryovy (national) Director for Druzhynnyky will be attending the conference and also President fo the Krayova Uprava (National President) Wasyl Senko is also attending.
The confrence starts at 10:00am Saturday for registration. Please RSVP your attendance to Ereica Konderewicz by Mon 9th July, ph 94711143 or email to dorica@westlink.net.au
On Sunday 15th July we invite everyone to attend and meet the CYM National President Wasyl Senko who is visiting our Oseredok.
Program: 9:30 Liturgy
11:00 APEL in full CYM uniform 11:15 Refreshments

Inviting all Ukrainian youth to participate in a program of hikes, education, campfires, singing, sport, organized by CYM & PLAST under the patronage fo the Australian Federation of Ukrainian of Ukrainian Organizations celebrating 60 years of Ukrainian Youth in Australia.
Camp will be held at the Plast youth camp Sokil in Victoria from 26th December 2007 to 3rd Jan 2008. We encourgage all sumitsi to participate in the camp. We will pass on more information as we receive more.

Unfortunately we have received bad news that Mr Wasyl Czwerenziuk has gone through a difficult period health wise. We wish him a speedy and full recovery

From the 23rd December, 2006 to 2nd January ,2007 6 members of our Oseredok participated in the National Camp which was held in Sydney.

Danika Kuczerepa:

When thinking of Tabir, words like awesome, fun, memorable come to mind. I cannot even begin to describe what a great time I had. There was not a single moment that I can remember thinking I was bored, not even upon arrival at the Colo River plostya. As soon as we got there we were introduced into the program beginning with practicing a dance that we were going to perform for the New Years Eve concert.
We participated in many different activities throughout tabir, such as singing, dancing, t-shirt making , swimming, Svyat Vechir, a debate ( the topic being something along the lines of Australian Ukrainians giving up their Ukrainian identity), a mock wedding ( to give us a taste of what weddings were like in the DP Camps our grandparents lived in), and the most memorable being the hike.
The walk down into the canyon was steep and very challenging as was the climb out of the canyon, but that was nothing compare to the hours we spent at the bottom of the canyon paddling on our lilos through freezing cold water, battling rocks, yabbies, and the occasional sharp drops and scary jumps. Throughout the hike I was forced to do things that I normally would never dreamed of doing, but I got through it and although I was sore for days after, it ended up being one of the best experience of my life. But tabir was not just fun and games.
We spent a lot of time sharing the stories of our grandparents and how they came to Australia. Alot of time was also spent discussing DP camps and the development of the Ukrainian Community within Australia.
I met so many awesome new people and many long lasting friendships were made. I had a great time and I cannot wait to catch up with everyone at the next CYM tabir.

Mikayla Kuczerepa:

Sydney Tabir would most definitely be one of the most memorable times of life! The first day we started Straight away, learning a dance which was to be performed in the New Years Eve concert! After only a hour we managed to learn the whole dance so for the rest of the day we practiced for the hike which would take place in a couple of days.
The next few days we sat through lectures about our grandparents and where they came from. We learnt a lot of about the DP camps that our grandparents stayed in before they came to Australia.

On the Thursday we were all driven down to the Mt Wilson campsite. We spent the night, waking up very early before setting out in two groups. After a 4km walk we finally reached the water to finally begin liloing. The water was ice cold and we were very lucky to be wearing wetsuits! I realised that canyoning was actually quite hard, but fun at the same time. When we weren’t paddling, we were climbing over rocks which were very, very slippery and scary. Finally after 8 hours my group made it out of the water and we began our hike back to the campsite. At this stage it started to rain and finally 2 hours later we arrived back at Mt Wilson campsite where we were greeted by the other group who had arrived a couple of hours before us. The rest of the camp went very quickly. New Years Eve was a blast and it was sad to leave all of my friends behind. Overall the camp was a really good and I can’t wait to go again.

Louise Baczynski

I attended my first interstate tabir in Sydney; we were there on the 26th December-2nd January. It was a good experience seeing how the eastern states organise things and it was most enjoyable meeting all the new people. We were involved in many activities including dance, hiking, canyoning, lectures, debating, singing, and arts and crafts. During these activities we were placed with many different unfamiliar faces so we could make new friends and meet everyone.We had daily lectures on our grandparent’s lives in the DP camps and how they coped in Ukraine. We had a chance to get involved and discuss many of our family’s history. I think they had a bit too many lectures but we did learn quite a bit so it was worthwhile. We participated in debates and sang many Ukrainian songs, which helped us with the language as well as a bit of fun.
On the 28th-30th we set off on a two-night hike in the Blue Mountains. They drove us there but then we camped out and during the day, hiked down the mountain to the river and then floated down stream on our lilos with our daypacks. It was extremely cold in the water so we all had our wetsuits on and tried not to fall in the water too much, that’s if we could avoid it at the time. We were supposed to repeat the same process on our last day of the hike but not many people were keen because of the cooler weather. Everyone was quite exhausted after all the walking so we just had a smaller hike which took only a couple of hours instead of the whole day.
On New Years Eve we performed a dance, whichwe had been practising since we got there and thenwe had a disco and bomb fire to celebrate the New Year. We didn’t do as many arts and crafts as usual but we did produce a t-shirt design, which is our souvenir of the tabir as well as many good friends and memories.
The experience was a memorable one and I would hope to attend more tabirs with the interstaters again as well as some more Perth people.

Steven Wityk:

Between the 26th of December and the 2nd January I attended a Kraovy CYM tabir over in Sydney. I think that the Sydney tabir was a great success and enjoyed by all that participated.
One of my main highlights of the tabir was the Canyoning. We were split up into two different groups before we got down to the campsite. One group went down one canyon while the other group went down the other. The canyoning consisted of paddling down the Wallangambe River on and air mattress. The water in the river was ice-cold. You could feel the icy water through the wetsuits that we all wore. But what I didn’t like about the canyoning was that not many other people wanted to go down the canyons the next day. But overall the canyoning down the Wallangambe River was an experience not to be forgotten.

Things I enjoyed: 

• Going down to the river to swim on the hot days.
• The New Years Eve party.
• The meals that the cooks prepared for us 
• Making new friends from other states. 
• The plostur was covered with grass

Things I disliked: 

• The fact that the tent very extremely hot during the day. 
• Not many recreational facilities (eg. Pool table)

Peter Valega:

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect for my first camp outside of Perth. I’m used to camps that are a little more laid back and easy going. So coming to Sydney’s campsite at Colo River was an exciting & new experience for me. The area itself was tucked away nicely in the valley, and if I had ever gotten up early enough I’m sure I would have found the sunrise over the hills and mists in the valley lows utterly spectacular.
The first thing that impressed me was the standard to which Molytva (prayer/assembly) was run. Learning how to respond to all the commands, seeing everyone in the proper uniforms, the doling out of onions, were the things I had heard about but not experienced yet. One of the innovative things during these molytvy was to have one or two people from each age group introduce themselves to the rest of tabir, Which was a great way to meet people, find out who had similar interests (the discoteca!) and also gave a chance for people to speak in front of a large crowd- one thing I’ve always been happy I’ve experienced in all my Ukrainian camps and retreats. The opportunity to be put into the spotlight is excellent for building public speaking skills and confidence , which served me well when one day the druzhynnyky had to participate in a debate on the topic “ Australia would be a better country if Ukrainians gave up their identity” which is a statement I completely disagree with but unluckily ended up having debate in the affirmative.
One of the big themes of this tabir was our Ukrainian identity-who we are and where do we come from. This debate saw us arguing what it was to be young Ukrainians in today’s Australian society. I think we all believe that our cultural, historical and religious background adds some extra flavour to the tapestry of multiculturalism in Australia ( and I think that flavour is med-z-pertsem). I know many of us chatted generally about how proud we are to be Ukrainian, to do Ukrainian things, and tell our non-uki friends about the activities about the activities we participate in. The second part of our identity that I mentioned earlier was the “where do we come from”. We had a few talks on our ancestors generally our grandparents generation, who were forced from Ukraine during the Second World War and eventually ended up in Displaced Persons camps across Europe, some of whom then travelled around the globe, especially to places like America, Canada and of course Australia. People shared stories of their grandparents, the trials and suffering they endured, firstly to survive, but then to start new lives in new places completely foreign to them, and to build communities and prosper. Most of us can’t imagine going through what they did, but they succeeded.

I think the key were the communities that kept them to-gether; they formed tight bonds, stayed true to who they were, and created what we have today, for which we are exceptionally grateful.

One of the key communities that drew new Ukrainians together was the church; in Australia, Ukrainians were lucky enough to practice their religion, whereas in Ukraine our Ukrainian Catholic Church was outlawed, in an attempt by the Communists to phase our Ukrainian identity by wiping out the communities that bound Ukrainians together and gave them faith and hope. Of course, you can never keep a good Ukrainian down, and as we know, the churches went underground, became secret and stayed strong. As a group, we were challenged to think about how we would react if right now in Australia our religion was made illegal.

The highlight of the tabir fo me though, was the Vesilija (wedding), done in true Ukrainian tradition. everyone helped dress the Bride,Groom, bridal party and family in some stunning outfits, as the wedding was acted out and we got to learn the way the whole ceremony was undertaken, from when the parents of the couple meet to arrange the match, to the ceremony, and then the wedding celebration. Personally, I think the bride won big-time, you just needed to see Tim’s moves on the dance floor during the festivities to know he’d make a great husband.

All in all, it was a fantastic camp, I learnt a lot and got to participate a fair bit as well. I had a few late nights by the campfire, but it was time spent with great friends I have met over the previous years, during many other Ukrainian youth events, for which I am grateful. The opportunities and experiences I have had as a result of being Ukrainian would far outweigh anything I may have done if I weren’t, which makes me excited and proud of my Ukrainian identity and heritage.

Every year CYM has visited the Ukrainian Community with the Traditional Kolada ( carol singing) to wish everyone a merry christmas. I wish to thank all the molodshe , starshe unatstvo and drushynyky and parents who helped out with carol singing this year.

On the 10th & 11th February Irka Baczynska attended the Vyhovnyk Conference held in Melbourne. The aim of the gathering was to discuss and introduce a new teaching program in Australia. We are working on implementing the new program with the vyhovnyky and will advise when we Will commence with this.

During Easter we celebrate that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose on the third day to give us Eternal life.

As every year, CYM members are expected to wear their FULL CYM Uniforms during the Good Friday service and standing guard (virgil) at the tomb. This is a very important event in our calendar, and it is expected for all of our unatstvo and drushynyky To take part.