LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (05/18/97)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Aid should be used to fight corruption

Dear Editor:

On April 24, I testified before the House Subcommittee on Foreign Operations regarding foreign aid to Ukraine. My case as an American investor in the Grand Hotel in Lviv is widely known in Ukraine, as well as in the U.S. and Europe.

I feel that the article regarding this hearing by Michael Sawkiw Jr. (May 4) is less than accurate.

Briefly, my testimony underlined the huge problems American investors face in Ukraine because of corruption on the part of government officials. At the same time, I made a strong case for the fact that there are government officials who want to clean up the corruption in Ukraine - and U.S. foreign aid is a tool in advancing the cause.

I told subcommittee members that U.S. foreign aid should not be denied to Ukraine, but that this aid must be used to help fight corruption and thereby help Ukraine make a fundamental turnaround from its downward economic slide.

Marta Fedoriw
Allentown, Pa.

Teachers' program notes successes

Dear Editor:

Each year we have shared with the readers of The Ukrainian Weekly a report about our Summer Teacher Training Seminar for Teachers of English from Ukraine, a program co-sponsored by Siena College and Americans for Democracy in Ukraine, Inc. (ADU), in Albany, N.Y. Each year we wrote about the success of our summer program. This time we would like to share with the readers, many of whom are financial supporters of our program, what their support, and that of others, has helped us realize.

In the past five years, the Siena College/ADU program has:

Conducted training seminars for teachers from Ukrainian speaking schools in: Sumy Oblast (1992), Chernihiv Oblast (1993), Poltava Oblast (1994), Lviv Oblast (1995) and Volyn Oblast (1996);
Established an oblast Teacher Resource Center in: Okhtyrka, Sumy Oblast (1993), Chernihiv, Chernihiv Oblast (1994), Lviv, Lviv Oblast (1995), Myrhorod, Poltava Oblast (in process). Each center houses instructional technology and a library of over 500 books. All four centers are networked with each other.
Helped over 800 teachers of English in Ukraine improve their qualifications. Each teacher graduate (master teacher) from the teacher training seminar has trained 20 new teachers in a given oblast. These teachers then work with the master teachers to train other colleagues in the oblast in the new methodology. This process exposes teachers to Western intellectual thought and reduces their dependency on the old Russian school of thinking.

Since the beginning of our teacher program, three teachers from Sumy Oblast, two teachers from Chernihiv Oblast, one teacher from Poltava Oblast and one teacher from Lviv Oblast have been recognized by the Ministry of Education for their excellence in teaching and/or leadership in educational reform. One teacher from Poltava had been invited by Cushing Academy in Ashburne, Mass., to spend the fall semester 1996 as an intern/associate teacher of English as a second language.

We are proud of these teachers. They have done much to better education in Ukraine. They strive for excellence despite the deplorable economic conditions they face on the job and at home. They realize that the true beneficiaries of their efforts are the children, the future of Ukraine.

If you would like more information about this program, or would like to share your thoughts with us, please contact: The Teacher Training Program for Teachers from Ukraine, Modern Language Dept., Siena College, Loundonville, NY 12211; or Americans for Democracy in Ukraine, P.O. Box Albany, NY 12202.

Lydia Tarnawsky
Loudonville, N.Y.

UCCLA, not UCC, took the initiative

Dear Editor:

In the April 13 story "Canadian Cabinet Minister Meets with Ukrainians" I was quoted as saying that the Ukrainian Canadian Congress received funding under Canada's Court Challenges Program to pursue legal clarification on the issue of redress. I was misquoted and wish to correct any misunderstanding. The agency that succeeded in its application under the program is the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association - an association that has actively and consistently worked in defense of civil liberties in Canada and the rights of Ukrainian Canadians. The UCCLA initiative is an important step in the process of redressing the historical injustice of Ukrainian Canadian internment and significant contribution in moving the issue forward to a satisfactory conclusion.

Bohdan Kordan
Saskatoon

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