NEWS AND VIEWS

Plast Orlykiada in Ukraine promotes Ukrainian studies, community service

by Renata Maria Kosc-Harmatiy

KYIV - For Plast National Scouting Organization of Ukraine the year 2002 marked many anniversaries, including the 10th anniversary of Orlykiada - an all-Ukrainian academic and creative competition, which includes youths age 14-18. The participants are required to conduct a community service project related to the topic, which is evaluated prior to and during Orlykiada.

This year, over 150 children, instructors, parents and guests traveled to the capital of Ukraine for the three-day competition. Over 50 volunteers, media and local guests, also supported the Plast children. Finalists that passed through two rounds of competition arrived in Kyiv from Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Uzhhorod, Rachiv, Kosiv, Lutsk, Donetsk, as well as from Kyiv itself.

This year's topic was poetry and poets in civil society. Children identified poets who used poetry as a tool for change and increasing awareness of important issues, and demonstrated how they as children could use poetry to address ills in their community. This was yet another way to realize their personal potential and be active as scouts in the greater non-scout community. Projects were diverse, and many children conducted their own community project for the first time.

Among the more original was the team from Uzhhorod, which identified teenage smoking as a serious problem. They organized education and awareness seminars using poetry as their mode of communication. Many children also had fund-raisers, others visited orphanages, and some were inspired to even write their own poetry in order to reach their audiences. The teams learned the value and difficulty of raising awareness of issues and sensitive topics in communities.

The teams also competed in an academic game-show-type challenge, performed 10-minute skits, and gave visual presentations in which they presented their social projects, as well as the life and works of their favorite poet.

First place in the overall competition went to a team from Lviv, Troop No. 30, which also won the academic challenge. Second place went to an enthusiastic and outgoing team from Ivano-Frankivsk that managed to organize the publication and presentation of a collection of Yurii Andrukovych's works together with Lileia NV Publishing House. Third place went unexpectedly to a rookie team from Rakhiv. Honorable mentions also went to teams from Uzhhorod, Kosiv and Kyiv.

The most prestigious of awards at Orlykiada goes to the up-and-coming leaders who receive the titles of Hetmanych and Hetmanivna. Candidates prepared separate projects prior to and during the competition, and were evaluated for their work and leadership in Plast academic achievements and intellectual development, as well as for participation in their local community. Judges determined that none of the male candidates deserved such an honor, while among the females there were many very qualified girls, and the selection process was difficult.

Olena Lysenko from Donetsk became the victor. Her independent thinking was matched by an extremely high level of activity within Plast and an extraordinary effort at raising the membership and profile of Plast in Donetsk. Her work was highly commended, given that she is working in a society that is not conducive to Ukrainian-language organizations, as well as unaccustomed to volunteer-based organizations, especially of a scouting nature. In her proposal of how to improve certain drawbacks of Plast, Ms. Lysenko suggested that the organization strive for greater cooperation with local and national governments in order to support the activities of children, increase its organizational efficacy at the local levels to increase the exchanges between Plast groups in eastern and western Ukraine and increase awareness of Plast in regions that lack a strong standing of the organization. Ms. Lysenko will have the opportunity to bring her ideas to life as she serves as an ambassador of Plast in her region as well as throughout Ukraine.

Visited by the well-known Ukrainian-language singer from Kharkiv, Maria Burmaka met with Orlykiada participants. Her sung poetry was already in the hearts of many of the youths who sang along with her, and posed many questions regarding the sources of her inspiration and her career.

The primary coordinator of the competition was this writer, a member of the co-ed Plast fraternity Orlykivtsi since 1994, who initiated the Orlykiada competition in Ukraine while an exchange student at Lviv State University. Orlykiada had already been a 35-year tradition begun by Orlykivtsi, whose purpose was to emulate the patron of their fraternity, by spreading knowledge and awareness about Ukraine through intellectual endeavors.

The success of Orlykiada in Kyiv this year was due to the many volunteers, including Andriy Harmatiy, and members of Kyiv's Plast groups. Indispensable to the competition were the judges, including: poet, literary critic and professor Rostyslav Semkiv; poet Roman Skyba; U.S. Embassy representative and long-time Plast member Marta Pereyma; and art historian and museum director Hanna Oliinyk.

Orlykiada had many sponsors, individuals, organizations and corporations. In-kind donations were received from among others, Ukrzaliznytsia, which provided train transportation for all of the participants and volunteers who came from outside of Kyiv. Numerous television and radio stations covered Orlykiada, including four national networks and two local networks.

The organizers of Orlykiada are always looking for additional funds, as the competition is growing, and resources are needed for the growing electronic database of Ukrainian-language information in the field of Ukrainian studies. A scholarship fund will be set up for the winners of the Hetmanych and Hetmanivna titles once they enter university, in order to encourage and reward intellectual achievements.

Donations can be received through the non-profit, tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) organization Plast Conference Inc. For more information on donations, write to P.O. Box 303, Southfields, NY 10975. For more information on Orlykiada in Ukraine send e-mail to: [email protected], or write to Plast-NSOU, P.O. Box 395, Kyiv Ukraine 01001.

Renata Maria Kosc-Harmatiy was coordinator of Plast's Orlykiada in Ukraine.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 26, 2003, No. 4, Vol. LXXI

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