INTERVIEW: Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko on life in
Ukraine,
and as a politician's wife
by Vasyl Zorya
KYIV - Kateryna and Viktor Yushchenko's apartment is like a small private museum in the very center of Kyiv - paintings on the walls, prehistoric artifacts on the shelves, an old grand piano among antique furniture, photographs everywhere.
Your first impression from this collection is that, in time, this may be the apartment-museum of a historical figure. The wife of former prime minister Victor Yushchenko looks at this possibility with some humor. Her husband has long been called "the hope of the nation," but for her he always was and remains her "sweetheart."
Viktor Yushchenko thinks of his wife as one of the most precious treasures he has collected in recent years. Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko - a "person of the world" - was born in America, but considers Ukraine her homeland.
At this correspondent's request, Mrs. Yushchenko gave us a short tour of their home. She explained that, in his rare spare moments, her husband tries to spend time with their children, or create something with his hands. Instead of puzzles, he glues together ceramic shards to construct ancient Trypillian urns. He paints and sculpts, works with wood and iron.
What did it mean for Kateryna Chumachenko to fall in love and marry a man whom fate made a popular politician? It meant she would often find out about his achievements and problems from the evening news. It meant she would have to wait each day until her husband completed his public activity and only then could return to the family hearth.
From an outsider's point of view, this could look like sacrifice to which only an extraordinary and contemporary woman would agree. Still, her life today is building a foundation for the future, a future that will be fuller and brighter.
* * *
Editor's note: The interview below was conducted by free-lance journalist Vasyl Zorya of Kyiv exclusively for The Ukrainian Weekly. (Readers will note that the family's surname, previously rendered in this newspaper as "Yuschenko," in accordance with the official transliteration system adopted by the government of Ukraine, now appears as "Yushchenko." According to Mrs. Yushchenko, this is the correct spelling.)
PART I
Q: Whom do you consider yourself more - an American or a Ukrainian? Do your friends treat you like a real Ukrainian?
A: For me, this was never really an issue. Our parents taught us to love Ukraine, and to feel a great responsibility for her fate. I very much respect and value America for taking in my parents during difficult times, and for giving me an opportunity to receive an education and make a career.
I enjoy living in Ukraine. I consistently discover new things about this country. I am very glad when my American friends share my sincere interest in Ukraine. The year before last, my sister, Lydia, visited here for the first time. She was enchanted - with Kyiv, Crimea, the Karpaty. Last year her son, my nephew Danylo, married a Ukrainian girl from Kyiv.
After 10 years in Ukraine, people here rarely remember that I was born and raised abroad. Most of my friends do not feel any difference. It is only my husband's political competitors who occasionally remind me of my American roots, usually through the media.
Q: In families with different cultural traditions there are often misunderstandings. How are you able to avoid them?
A: In our family, what is most important is that which unites us - love of country, love of God, love of family. As in all families, we have our differences. I am convinced, however, that they are not the result of differences between American and Ukrainian culture, especially since Ukraine is something we both consider sacred. They are more the result of being raised in different societies and families.
Cultural traditions are really very easy to unite. It is fun to watch how our family celebrates the winter holidays. First we celebrate Sviatoho Mykolaya, then Christmas by the new calendar, then the New Year, then Ukrainian Christmas and New Year by the old calendar. It is true that the children get a bit confused, and mix up Sviatyi Mykolai, Santa Claus, Did Moroz and the snow man!
Q: How did the introduction to your husband's family go?
A: Viktor's mother was afraid to meet me for quite a while. Like many in Ukraine, she thought that Ukrainian Americans were different, that I probably did not know how to cook "our" food, that I might not feel comfortable in her humble, rural home. Even my husband seemed to put off this first introduction.
My relations with Viktor's mother grew very warm very quickly. She became convinced that I was more Ukrainian than American, that there was no real difference. In his village, the people were surprised at how "simple" the American was - their greatest compliment. I remember when I was pregnant, half the village gathered to see how the "American" was digging up and peeling beets!
My parents also grew to love Viktor. They had always wanted me to marry a Ukrainian. They dreamed of communicating with their son-in-law and grandchildren in their native language.
On the one hand, my parents were proud that I returned to Ukraine, since we all dreamed that one day we would go back, but on the other hand, they were afraid for me. Their memories of life in Ukraine were complicated, difficult - they were associated with the Famine, repression, war.
Q: What made you move to Ukraine?
A: I visited Ukraine in 1975 and 1979, when I was still in school. Even then I had the desire to live and work in Ukraine; I had a very romanticized view of it.
In 1991, before it became independent, my parents and I traveled to Ukraine. This was my father's first visit to his homeland since the war. It was a return to his youth, to his family - he had not seen one of his sisters for 50 years. It was a very emotional and moving trip. My father found his village ruined. He was disappointed that people in Kyiv spoke only Russian, and also by the poverty. Once he saw an old woman at a bazaar selling what might have been her last sweater, after which he cried for an hour over what had been done to his people.
In the summer of 1991, his conclusion was quite harsh. Before returning to America he warned me: "This country will not be independent for a very long time."
Then, after the coup in Moscow, after the declaration of independence a month later, I called him immediately. I was jumping around the room screaming, "Tato, we're free!" That is how I remember August 24, my father and I over the telephone, both weeping. It was truly joyful.
Unfortunately, my father died in 1998. Per his request, he is buried in Kyiv, next to my mother's parents.
Q: Have you ever regretted your decision to return to Ukraine?
A: No, I am happy with my family, our friends, and with the new interests and hobbies that I have formed in Ukraine.
Q: Why have the diaspora and Ukraine never been able to form optimal relations?
A: I am convinced that since 1991 our diaspora has been more active in its attempts to help Ukraine than other nationalities that traditionally promote ties with their historical homelands. Ukrainians from the diaspora have tried to cooperate with Ukraine at various levels - government, business, humanitarian.
There are many diaspora organizations that do operate effectively in Ukraine. I have worked with some of these directly - the Canadian organization Help Us Help the Children, UCARE from the United States, the US-Ukraine Foundation. And there are many others, such as the Children of Chornobyl Fund, and the various professional organizations.
And I believe that relations between Ukraine and the West were established quite effectively at the government level. The Ukrainian diplomatic corps is, on the whole, quite professional.
But, with time, the flow of "people's diplomats" to Ukraine significantly declined. The main reason is that Ukraine never created mechanisms to utilize the diaspora's abilities and resources effectively. Instead of promoting cooperation, the bureaucracy placed barriers in its way.
It is a shame that many in Ukraine did not welcome Ukrainians from the diaspora. I believe that a serious obstacle to good relations was old Soviet thinking. Representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora found it difficult to work in a business and humanitarian environment dominated by Soviet bureaucratic unreliability, a lack of professionalism and corruption.
PART I
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 10, 2002, No. 10, Vol. LXX
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