Zest for Adventure Benefits Chornobyl Victims

By Olena Wawryshyn

 “It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys,” said French writer and pilot Antoine de St. Exupery.
Montrealer Bohdana Zwonok has the zest of a true adventurer. She has experienced both high adventure and victory and has turned her experiences into creative action to benefit a good cause.

In February 2004, she successfully hiked to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to raise funds for Ukrainian children who are victims of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.
Zwonok’s climb was endorsed by Children Of Chornobyl Canadian Fund. She and her climbing companion, Viviane Elferink, who was climbing for the Children’s Wish Foundation, were aiming to collect $19,3336.60–one dollar per foot of Kilamanjaro’s altitude.

Now, two years later, on the 20th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, Zwonok is releasing a documentary film called Risking Significance! about her climb up Africa’s highest peak. The film was financed by Zwonok and co-produced and edited by her friend Alain Choiniere.

Risking Significance! is getting its world premiere in Montreal on April 26 at an event presented by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Montreal Branch. It will be shown in Toronto the following day at a screening presented by the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association at the UNF Community Centre.

The film “was made in the spirit of inspiring other adventure seekers to dedicate their adventures to a humanitarian cause,” says Zwonok. “It is also a great consciousness-raising tool for those ill-informed about the Chornobyl disaster,” adds Zwononok.

For years, she has been an avid traveler who has visited and hiked in far-flung locations across the globe, but now she can devote more time to her adventures, having retired from her 30-year job as a flight attendant. Recently, she participated in an off-road rally in the Sahara desert.

Zwonok’s Ukrainian background is also an important part of her life. Zwonok has been active in the Ukrainian community in Montreal in many capacities and has been involved with Plast for over 12 years, first as a participant then as a counselor and an instructor.

Zwonok felt it was important to honour her origins and, it is for this reason, she decided to dedicate her climb to a charity that helps Ukrainian children.  Zwonok is hoping that her film will be an effective fundraising tool for the Children of Chornobyl. She is working on organizing additional film screenings and will be selling DVDs of the film in different communities.

As part of this effort to raise funds and awareness, Zwonok will be speaking at the “Evening” with Canadian Women of Influence, organized by the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organization, in Toronto on June 4.