UKELODEON: For The Next Generation (10/09/05)

UKELODEON

For The Next Generation

SUM's Orange Kozaks invade Ellenville campground

ELLENVILLE, N.Y. - For two weeks in August, members of the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) camped together at their mountain home away from home in Ellenville, N.Y., at the Recreational Camp under the fitting name "Orange Sich."

This year's adventure took its participants on a journey that spanned several hundred years. Children age 6-14 traveled 400 years into the past to witness the founding of the Kozak Sich, then returned to the recent past to relive and participate in Ukraine's Orange Revolution.

The program became an immersion experience, with all of the youngsters involved in a process that tied the historic past of Ukraine's Kozak heroes to the most current events in the land of their ancestors. All became increasingly aware that the spirit of the Kozaks exists today not only in Ukraine, but even here, far from the geographic place once called Sich, embodied in the lives of everyone in their community.

The summer air was filled with songs that brought the past and present together, as children's voices sang out "Razom Nas Bahato" (Together We Are Many) and "Otaki My Kozaky" (Such Kozaks Are We).

From the very first day, camp began to transform itself physically into the Zaporizhian Sich. Banners and "bunchuky" stood in front of campers' quarters, while inside the adornments included the traditional symbol of authority among kozaks, the "bulava" (mace), as well as swords and an assortment of handmade items crafted by the campers themselves.

Authentic Kozak councils were held to elect a leadership, including the posts of hetman, bunchuzhnyi, secretary, standard bearers and obozni. Councils were subsequently called according to democratic principles, whenever each Kozak group established the need for such a gathering. The responsibilities of each member of the young Kozak leadership were established and upheld with a strong sense of tradition, including recording the Kozaks' exploits, protecting the community wealth and safeguarding their cache of weapons (which consisted mainly of carefully constructed water balloons always kept handy in case of urgent need).

The first evening also bore witness to the planting of a single acorn from which, in the coming days, arose a sibling of the massive Zaporozhian oak (this oak grew on the island of Khortytsia, growing for over 400 years, until its recent death several years ago). The great oak developed at an amazing pace, quickly growing to tower above the two-story neighboring structure where camp counselors lived. It continuously bore "leaves of good deeds" as well as "language acorns" that were awarded to delighted campers on a daily basis by the camp's mascot, a pesky little squirrel.

Throughout the two-week adventure, campers learned much about the life of a Kozak. They fished at a stream on the grounds, hiked in the forests to pick berries, learned to shoot an arrow from a bow, and crafted clay pottery cups that they baked in a home-made outdoor kiln for 48 hours. A group of creative young ladies, with the help of Bohdanna Wolansky, their music coach, even authored an authentic Kozak duma that lamented life in camp.

The Kozaks were blessed with many of life's finest attributes - courage, self assurance, fraternal warmth, faith in God, democratic ideals, unity, honesty and creativity. Their spirit somehow swept along the steppes and landed amidst the Ellenville campers, taking root across the ocean from the land where it originated.

77 young athletes complete SUM's annual Sports Camp

ELLENVILLE, N.Y. - The Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) completed yet another successful Sports Camp here at the SUM resort. The two-week camp that began on July 24 had 77 participants, 12 sports instructors and 25 staff counselors (as seen in the photo above). Sports available to the participants included: volleyball, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, and softball. Nightly league games were the highlight of each sports-filled day. Campers competed against one another, giving them an opportunity to display their learned skills. In addition, campers were taught sports terminology in both Ukrainian and English. On July 30 the Ukrainian Youth Olympics sponsored by the Ukrainian Sports Federation of the U.S.A. and Canada took place on the sports fields and swimming pool at the SUM resort, with more than 175 athletes - including many SUM sports campers - competing.

Mishanyna

To solve this month's Mishanyna, find the words that are capitalized in the text below hidden within the Mishanyna grid.

The Ukrainian INSURGENT Army, or Ukrainska POVSTANSKA Armiya, was a heroic military formation that fought from 1942 through 1949 against both the SOVIET and GERMAN occupations of Ukraine. The first units of the UPA were formed in the spring of 1942 in the western Volyn region.

The Encyclopedia of Ukraine notes that the army's immediate purpose was to protect the Ukrainian population from repression and exploitation by the Germans and the Soviets. Its ultimate goal, however, was an INDEPENDENT and unified Ukrainian state.

At first, UPA units operated independently of each other in various regions of Ukrainian territory, but in late November 1943 a single command for all three regions where the insurgents were active was established. Called the Supreme COMMAND of the UPA, it consisted of the Supreme Military Headquarters, or general staff, and was divided into six sections: operations, intelligence, logistics, personnel, training and political education. Lt. Col. ROMAN SHUKHEVYCH was appointed commander-in-chief. The original UPA of Volyn was designated as UPA-North, central Ukraine became the territory of UPA-South, units in Halychyna became UPA-West.

Non-Ukrainians, too, joined the UPA's RANKS. The largest national units were those of Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, Georgians and Tatars. The UPA recognized the importance of national aspirations and, as a result, organized a Conference of the Oppressed NATIONS of Eastern Europe and Asia, which was held on November 21-22, 1943. Representatives of 13 nationalities participated in the conference and agreed to support each other's struggles for FREEDOM.

Later, on July 15, 1944, the UPA Supreme Command established the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council to serve as a provisional GOVERNMENT that would express the political will of the insurgent MOVEMENT.

The UPA established officer training programs and published journals, military textbooks, newspapers, pamphlets and leaflets.

The UPA was mostly an INFANTRY force, though it did have some cavalry and artillery UNITS. According to some German and Soviet reports it had 200,000 members. However, UPA historians in the West say that at its peak the UPA had between 25,000 and 44,000 members. It must be noted that WOMEN also served in the ranks of the Ukrainian Insurgent ARMY.

After 1949, when the commander-in-chief ordered the deactivation of COMBAT units and the command structure, the UPA continued its armed struggle in the UNDERGROUND until 1954.

Source: "Ukrainian Insurgent Army," in Volume V of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993.

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