Western Ukrainian town of Pidhaitsi sees hope for the future in its 'Narodnyi Dim' (11/06/05)

Western Ukrainian town of Pidhaitsi sees hope for the future in its 'Narodnyi Dim'

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

PIDHAITSI, Ukraine - As with most of western Ukraine, Pidhaitsi has seen better days.

The town of 3,200 residents, almost midway between Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk, is crumbling - literally.

Home to a historic 15th century Polish church and a 16th century synagogue, Pidhaitsi doesn't have the funds to keep these treasures from deteriorating, said Stepan Kolodnytskyi, the manager of the town's Culture Department.

The thousands of Poles and Jews who once lived there are gone, either killed, deported or having fled.

And while the historical monuments remain beyond help at present, a glimmer of hope has emerged from the Ukrainian government, of all places, to restore the town's national home, or its "Narodnyi Dim."

The Kyiv-based Ukrainian Fund for Social Investment, created by the Verkhovna Rada through a $50 million loan from the World Bank, is offering Pidhaitsi a grant of about $126,000 to finance the Narodnyi Dim's renovation.

There's a catch: the town needs to put up $6,300 by a November 8 deadline, or 5 percent of the project's estimated cost.

"The bank needs a guarantee that the people truly want to build something here and that the money won't go to corruption," Mr. Kolodnytskyi said.

One of the fund's main goals is to give Ukrainians a sense that they have a stake in their community and its outcome, said Svitlana Demchenko, who chairs the fund's development department.

She confirmed that Pidhaitsi's Narodnyi Dim is a candidate for funding. By requiring the town raise a small down payment, it mobilizes Ukrainians to have a stake in their community, particularly in building and preserving its institutions, she said.

"Much of Ukraine is destroyed by those who live in the cities and villages," Ms. Demchenko said. "We want to motivate people to give at least one kopiyka, so that they won't destroy their own investments and even prevent others from destroying them."

Such stipulations by the fund are a great indication of how Ukrainian culture has deteriorated in post-Soviet Ukraine.

"The Soviet occupation was here for only 40 years, but it did enough damage for these people not to understand how important it is to continue what their ancestors did," Mr. Kolodnytskyj said.

In the case of the Narodnyi Dim, it was the town's minority Ukrainians who were driven to build a cultural center.

When they laid the first stone on August 11, 1928, which was blessed by Ukrainian Catholic priests, half the town's 10,000 residents were Jews, 3,000 were Ukrainians and 2,000 were Poles, Mr. Kolodnytskyi said.

Without a place to gather and meet on their own, the Ukrainian residents dedicated themselves to the project, Mr. Kolodnytskyi said, bringing even a single rock or stone to the construction site.

"People would even bring eggs for the caustic lime in order that the wall held together," said Bohdan Karyi, whose grandfather helped build the Narodnyi Dim. He chairs the citizens' agency that is leading the Narodnyi Dim's renovation.

Six years later, the 10,385-square-foot, three-story Narodnyi Dim towered above the town center. Then came World War II and Soviet subjugation. As a result, the Narodnyi Dim hasn't been renovated since its completion in 1934.

The Narodnyi Dim has no plumbing and no toilets and is heated by glazed-tile furnaces that burn coal and wood. Windows need changing, gas pipes need installing, floors need stripping and lacquering, and the roof needs a major overhaul.

This is the building where the Pidhaitsi District Council meets.

The wood floors of the main hall's stage, where lessons and performances take place, are worn and splintered.

"Our kids have dance lessons, but we can't heat the main hall and it's cold as heck in the winter," Mr. Kolodnytskyi said. "There aren't even any dressing rooms. They change in the corridor."

While Pidhaitsi's population is 3,125, only 2,300 are registered as voters, and therefore of working age to be able to contribute money, implying that each town citizen needs to contribute about $2.75.

So far, an impressive $2,000 has been raised, despite the fact that the average wage in the Ternopil Oblast is $80 a month. A teacher, for example, earns between $20 and $40 a month.

It's unclear whether the town residents of the early 1930s had more or less disposable income that its current residents do, but it isn't only the money that's missing.

The type of civic pride and community demonstrated in the 1930s doesn't seem to exist anymore, Mr. Kolodnytskyi said.

"The Soviets destroyed the national consciousness that the Church built, that the Banderites built," he said. "The system forbade the development of the national spirit, and the young generation doesn't always understand the need to renew the national spirit."

The amount needed by November 8 is 5 percent of the total grant.

The town will have to secure another 5 percent payment within the next several months, during which project estimates, documentation and technical design will take place, Ms. Demchenko said. A 10 percent down payment totaling about $12,600 guarantees the $126,000 grant.

(In a separate effort, Pidhaitsi is also raising money for its high school, which also needs renovating. A 10 percent threshold of about $15,900 is needed to secure about $122,600 of financing.)

"Sometimes I have to turn to a wealthy bandit, and he laughs in my face when I ask for a donation," Mr. Kolodnytskyi said. "I patiently go my way. But that's why I am turning to the outside world." Renovating the town's modest Narodnyi Dim holds the key to Pidhaitsi's future survival, Mr. Kolodnytskyi argues.

"It's not enough to tell young people that you're a patriot, to go to church and to speak Ukrainian," Mr. Kolodnytskyi said. "We need to create a culture for them, and it's our responsibility."

The citizen's agency overseeing the project has opened an account with Pryvat Bank under the name of Halyna Volodymyrivna Doskoch, the agency's cashier. The account number is 26202600329249, the bank's code is 305299 and the account holder's number is 2451612844.

Anyone donating to the Narodnyi Dim should notify The Ukrainian Weekly's Kyiv bureau of their donation.

Mr. Kolodnytskyi is preparing a book of donors that will be preserved in the city's Museum of Local Historical Studies.

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