Ukrainian American Plast youths on "Ridna Mandrivka" to Ukraine (08/22/99)

Ukrainian American Plast youths on "Ridna Mandrivka" to Ukraine

by Marta Kolomayets
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV/LVIV - Although this was the first trip to Ukraine for many of the college-aged Ukrainian American Plast members who participated in the "Ridna Mandrivka/Stezhky Kultury" trip to the homeland of their grandparents and parents this summer, it definitely will not be their last.

"This is the stuff I read about in Uke school, but it has really come to life for me here," said Michelle Poliwka, 20, from Chicago, as she prepared to take a photograph of the domes of St. Andrew's Church from the deck of the Akademik Hlushkov, docked at the Dnipro River Port in Kyiv.

As the 59 young adults from all over the United States and one Canadian, together with seven trip guides, boarded the passenger ship in Kyiv on August 2 to sail down the Dnipro, little did they know what an effect this odyssey through Kaniv, Kremenchuk, the villages in Zaporizhia and Kherson oblasts, Sevastopol and Odesa would have on their lives.

Even more vivid memories lay in store for them as they disembarked in Odesa, taking the train to Lviv, followed by bus tours of Ternopil, Kamianets Podilskyi, Chernivtsi, the Carpathian Mountains, Yaremche and Uzhhorod, before they headed for Budapest, Prague, and back home to the United States on August 22.

This trip, organized by the Pershi Stezhi Plast Women's Sorority in conjunction with Scope Travel of Maplewood, N.J., is the fourth such venture for the sorority since the summer Ukrainian independence was proclaimed in 1991; to date it is the largest and most varied, with participants age 17-27 from all over the U.S. traveling through 20 cities and villages during this three-week sojourn.

"It's just impossible to see everything Ukraine has to offer in the span of three weeks," remarked Alexa Vena, already making plans for a return trip next year. "Not only am I seeing Ukraine with people my age, I am seeing them with the people I spent many summers with at camp," she added, referring to her many Plast experiences over the years.

"I grew up in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and every year I waited for the summer so I could join my Plast friends. I've always had American friends, but my Ukrainian friends are my sisters for life," explained Lydia Kryzaniwsky.

"You can read about this place and hear about it, but living this experience is irreplaceable," commented Ksenia Hankewych, 20, a student of biology at De Paul University in Chicago, who kept a journal of her experiences in Ukraine throughout the trip. She, like many of her Plast friends, was not only interested in the rich history of Ukraine, but also intrigued by how her relatives in Kyiv, Lviv and Ternopil live.

"Many of my friends at DePaul call me an ethnic and I am proud of it. I know my roots and I know where I come from," she said. "This trip has really been an eye-opening experience," she underlined.

That sentiment was heard from many of the "Plastuny," and it is perhaps for this reason they decided to call their camp "Novymy Ochyma" (Through New Eyes). And, each one of them saw something distinct that will bring them back in years to come.

Danylo Melnyk, 20, a student of physics at Loyola University in Chicago, had met his Ukrainian relatives earlier, when they visited the United States, but he was curious to see how they make ends meet in Ukraine. "It was an awesome experience," he added, as he wrote down his address for a handful of Plastuny in Lviv, who were urging him to come back next year for one of the myriad camps that Plast in Ukraine holds every summer.

"We had 60 camps for all ages - including 'novaky,' 'novachky,' 'yunaky' and 'yunachky,' as well as "starshi plastuny", explained Andrii Harmatii, the head of the National Plast Command of Ukraine, which is based in Lviv. During a bonfire hosted by the Lviv starshi plastuny (young adult Plast members) on Saturday evening, August 14, he told the scouts from the United States about the specialized camps in Ukraine this summer that included cycling, hiking, arts and crafts, as well as the traditional "Lisova Shkola," "Shkola Bulavnykh" and "Zolota Bulava" camps for Plast leaders and counselors.

"You haven't really done a Plast camp until you have survived one of ours," he joked with the U.S. scouts, who were eager to get to know about Plast in Ukraine which, according to Mr. Harmatii, has close to 9,000 registered members. Mr. Harmatii also explained the difficulties Plast is having with the International Scouting Bureau in Geneva as it tries to register itself as scouting organization representing Ukraine.

Their 21-day tour through Ukraine left different memories for different Plastuny: Some were inspired by the majestic churches of Kyiv, the Baroque and Rococo styles that they had always read about in history books; others cried when they approached the monument in Kaniv of Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine's national bard and heard the chords of his "Last Will and Testament" resound into the woods on the banks of the Dnipro.

Still others were fascinated by the show the Zaporizhian Kozaks put on for their American guests near the site of the historic Sich, while in Yalta many filled plastic bottles with Black Sea water to take home as souvenirs.

Some of the girls on the tour scoured record stores in Lviv and Kyiv to bring home the most popular Ukrainian music, while others laid flowers at the grave of songwriter Volodymyr Ivasiuk in Lviv and sang his "Chervona Ruta" at the Lychakiv Cemetery, where he is buried.

Like all kids in their teens and early 20s, they shopped, they sang, they visited discos. And, they went native, asking their peers in Ukraine to show them life in the land of their ancestors.

As they traveled in western Ukraine some of the scouts were joined by their parents and grandparents from America. Mark Chraplyvy's grandfather traveled from the United States to be with him and his brother, Adrian, and to take them to the family village, Pidhaichyky, an hour outside of Lviv to show them the places he lived as a boy.

"That was very much a moving experience," said Mark, 21, a biochemistry major at Rutgers University, "and it truly made an impression on me."

Not only did Ukraine make an impression on these college kids, but they also made an impression on the people they met along their route.

In the villages along the Dnipro, near Kremenchuk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, they sang Ukrainian folk songs, astonishing the villagers selling arts and crafts to tourists. More than once the villagers joined the plastuny, who sang folk songs with vigor and enthusiasm.

As their ship navigated the waters of the Dnipro, the Plastuny from Chicago and Cleveland, New York and New Jersey, Detroit and Washington showed the cruise passengers, including citizens of Russia, Germany and the United States, how a "Kolomyika" is done and how a "Hopak" is handled, as they took to the dance floor and received non-stop rounds of applause.

Some attended political and historical seminars on the ship that were sponsored by a De Paul University group, and took an active part by correcting misinformation about Ukraine and the Soviet Union.

Even in Sevastopol, where nary a word was heard in Ukrainian, the Black Sea Fleet Ensemble changed its program for the Ukrainian American scouts and entertained them with a few Ukrainian songs.

But the Russification of Ukraine had a negative effect on these young adults, who have always been proud of their Ukrainian roots. "The only place I feel like I fit in is Lviv," commented Deanna Burachinsky, 19. "People understand me here; they are friendly and helpful," she added.

Chrystyna Nazarewycz, the director of the 1999 "Stezhky Kultury" program and Taras Silecky, the "bunchuzhnyi" of the camp were impressed with the Plast members on their "Ridna Mandrivka." "They were open-minded, willing to learn, inquisitive," said Ms. Nazarewycz. Mr. Silecky added, "No one forced them to come; they did this trip because they were interested in where their families come from, interested in exploring their roots. They had real Plast spirit."

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