UNYF on Kalyna Country Tour

By Roxolana Chwaluk

On May 12^th, 2008, 15 students from Toronto and Montreal participated in a week-long excursion called Kalyna  Country, organized and sponsored by the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada. Along with our three chaperones Taras Pidzemecky, Nadia Babyuk and Kristen Glover, we spent an entire week shaping and redefining our thoughts on Ukrainian pioneers in Western Canada. When we first arrived in Edmonton, Alberta’s Capital, we were welcomed at the Ukrainian community’s St. John’s Institute. This is where we spent our free time (which was not very often) and where we would eventually sleep, after our long days of touring. On the first day, we went on the official Kalyna Country Tour. This day was undoubtedly our most educational and intense day – which helped us get through the rest of the week. We all hopped on a bus, and began driving out onto what is really known as “The Prairies”. Our tour guide, Yars Balan, took us to many churches and gravesites of famous Ukrainian settlers. We saw many interesting features in the churches that were common to Ukrainians who settled in Alberta. That day we were also taken to the Andrew Grain Elevator, one of the last functioning grain elevators left in the province. Finally, to end our exciting first day beyond Edmonton, we were taken to Vegreville to see the world renowned Pysanka, and then to Mundare to see the giant Kobassa. These structures were probably the highlight for most participants who had never seen such sites before.

Our next stop was the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village. This site shows the settlement from the early 1890’s all the way until the 1920’s.  For our first visit, we had a very interesting tour. Our guide (who played the role as a Ukrainian settler from 1890) took us through where the old railway station, the church, the burdei (sod hut), and many other fascinating spots along the land. Our day began in earnest when we walked in to a room and were told that we were expected there for a meeting. We had stepped into roles for the game “Immigration Gamble”. Each of us were given a character (age, name, family) and whether or not we wanted to stay in Ukraine or leave for a cold place called (Alberta) Canada. This was a great way to experience what it was like for our ancestors who had to choose between their home or a land far away (knowing once they got there, they would never go back to Ukraine). That same afternoon, we had a workshop with Larisa Sembaliuk Cheladyn, a very famous artist. She showed us the technique that she uses for her illustrations. We all got to try it out, and paint the character we had been given earlier that morning at the “Immigration Gamble” game. The second time we came to the Ukrainian Heritage Village (our last day in the Edmonton Area) we were asked to lead the song “Oi scho to za shum”, well-known in The Mosquito’s Wedding (the first book Cheladyn had illustrated) to help officially open the children’s art section in the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village.
After all we had seen and heard through our various experiences all week, we still had one major task to do. We went to lay a wreath at Edmonton’s Holodomor Monument, to commemorate the 75^th year of the 1933 Famine Genocide in Ukraine. We were truly honoured and humbled by this experience.

Our group had many other great experiences including: a night of singing on Elk Island, meeting Ukrainian Canadian Members of Provincial Parliament, visiting a bilingual school, being welcomed by the priest at Sunday Mass, visiting the University of Alberta (and the Kule Centre), nightly vatras, participating with the Ukrainian National Youth Federation (MUNO) Edmonton Branch at various events including the swearing-in of their newly elected executive, and even joining in a Volya (Dance Ensemble) Kolomeyka! These experiences would not have been possible without our tour guides, chaperones and everyone else who believed in the power of the Kalyna Country excursion.