Twin Blessings on Father’s Day

By Eugene Zalucky

When our twins, Alexandra and Halyna, were born 24 years ago, I proudly announced that two princesses were born on the same day as Prince William. I was grateful for this gift of two healthy girls that followed the birth of our eldest daughter Juliana two years earlier.

As they were growing up, my hopes were that they complete a good education and find a fulfilling occupation.

After their graduation (with Honours) from high school, Halyna announced she was going to spend the summer visiting Jesuit   missions, hospitals and schools in Malawi and South Africa.  Not to be outdone, Alexandra travelled to the Greek Islands lone.

In the meantime, the twins had enrolled in the University of Toronto (U of T) to study Political Science.  At the time, I thought that  their choices in travel and education were simply a demonstration of their independence, but I never considered them remarkable.

While at university, the twins always had part-time jobs: waitressing, bartending, working for the university’s International  Students’  Centre and Munk Centre for International Studies. During the summers, they volunteered as counsellors at the Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund’s camps for orphans in Ukraine and helped with the organization’s fundraising activities throughout the year. They also served as Coordinators of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Internship Program.  As such, they organized the activities of students from Ukraine who interned as assistants to Canadian parliamentarians.

The Ukrainian students had a strong sense of the inherent value of democracy. When the first round of voting in the 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine appeared to be tainted by irregularities, the Ukrainian interns in Ottawa wanted to hold a demonstration but were fearful of reprisals by their universities. Upon learning this, Alexandra, with the U of T Ukrainian Students’ Club’s (USC) support, organized a demonstration for free and democratic elections in Ukraine in front of the Ontario Legislature. A month later, when the second round disclosed further irregularities, Halyna organized, once again with USC’s support, a rally at the Ukrainian Consulate in Toronto. Some 4,000 people gathered to bring Canadians’ attention to the election process in Ukraine.

The rest, of course, is history with Victor Yushchenko winning in a third vote.  Some 1,000 Canadians took part as foreign observers of this vote. Among them were the twins.

At a launch for Victor Malarek’s book, The Natashas, the twins read out some heart-wrenching stories of Eastern European women being trafficked into the sex trade.  Halyna immediately joined an action group called The Anti-Trafficking Initiative associated with Help Us Help the Children. Only weeks after the election rallies, she organized a conference at the University of Toronto on trafficking in humans that involved relevant organizations and authorities, such as the RCMP, while Alexandra volunteered for Students Taking Action Now for Darfur, a national group. 

Upon graduating with distinction from the U of T, the twins took a year off to think about their future plans.  During this year, they both determined, they would promote human rights. Halyna put together a program called the Trafficking Awareness Program (TAP), and a small grant from the Canadian International Development Agency allowed Halyna, Alexandra and a third Canadian to travel to 32 orphanages throughout Ukraine in October 2005. They conducted training sessions with orphans in schools and staff to make them aware of the possible exploitation facing students upon leaving the orphanages. Apparently, TAP recommendations are now being considered in Ukrainian reforms addressing the issue.

Halyna has spent the past year working in Kyiv for the International Organization on Migration (IOM) where her duties include reviewing the healthcare and legal and social services provided to detained migrants in Ukraine in an effort to bring them up to European Union standards.  Also, in Kyiv, Alexandra has been working for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) with duties that include writing newsletters on election developments in Ukraine.

They won’t be home in time for Father’s Day.  I can live with this as I have learned to be without them during various holidays when their activities took them to Ukraine.  I am comforted by the fact they have found something to do that is important to them. And, in fact, I am triply blessed as my daughter, Juliana, is graduating with a Master’s Degree this week and, thankfully, she will be with me for Father’s Day.  However, I’ll still miss the twins.