UUARC programs promote Ukrainian holy day traditions

PHILADELPHIA - During the 2004-2005 Christmas season, in spite of all the excitement of the Orange Revolution, the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC) quietly continued its efforts to unite the people of eastern and western Ukraine.

Thanks to the efforts of Vira Prinko, the director of the UUARC's Kyiv office, children in eight internat-schools in the Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts received gifts from St. Nicholas. In addition to sweets and practical gifts, such as warm gloves and hats, all the students also received a copy of Olha Mak's book "Stones beneath the Scythe."

The UUARC's cultural exchange project "Get to Know Your Own Country" also continued this year. Eighteen orphaned students from Lutuhino Internat-School in Luhansk Oblast, along with two teachers, made the long trip to Lviv just in time for Christmas. They were greeted by Dr. Andrij Dyda, director of the UUARC's Lviv office, and taken to the dormitories at Lviv School No. 102.

The students visited many sites of interest in Lviv and vicinity: Skole, Olesk Castle, Pochaiv, the Lviv Opera, the theater and the circus. In the evenings they were able to socialize with their peers. Their favorite evening activity, however, was the Holy Supper on Christmas Eve. The children were thrilled with the Christmas customs and touched by the kindness of strangers in Lviv, who gave them souvenirs and rewarded their caroling in the center of town.

Generally, as has happened in the past, the trip elicited strong feelings of patriotism and good will toward their fellow Ukrainians. UUARC received a sincere letter of thanks from the principal of the Lutuhino school.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 27, 2005, No. 9, Vol. LXXIII

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