UCPBA

TALK TO YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT JOINING:

Let them know about the benefits of membership, the fun of being a member and the potential for community service.

NEWSLETTER & MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY

MEMBER EVENTS

• Speaker’s Dinners

• Golf Tournament

• Annual Barbeque

• Christmas Dinner

• Historical Walking Tours

• Crafts Workshops & More

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

• Yearly SCHOLARSHIPS: designed to assist undergraduates

• IVAN FRANKO LECTURE: Done in cooperation with the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Ottawa, this annual lecture brings the best of academic research on Ukraine and Ukrainians in Canada to Ottawa.

• THE RAMON HNATYSHYN MEMORIAL LECTURE: Also run with the Chair, this occasional  series takes advantage of high-calibre academics, politicians and others passing through Ottawa.

• DAVID BURLIUK EXHIBIT. He was the founder of the Futurist Movement in art and literature in Eastern Europe before the First World War,  We have been working the Winnipeg Art Gallery to do the show
  
  SO WHO ARE WE, REALLY? 
       We’re a service group, bringing together business persons & professionals with disparate political, religious and generational origins and viewpoints in the service of Ottawa’s Ukrainian-Canadian community.  We work hard, but also like to enjoy ourselves.  If you want to be part of the most dynamic group in the Ukrainian community of Ottawa, fill in the membership form and mail it in, along with your first year’s dues.

WHY JOIN THE BOARD?

You get to be one of the people who run the most active Ukrainian community association in Ottawa: one that serves the whole community. As a member at large, you get practice in running a whole range of events and projects, in teamwork, in administering a community service organization, in lobbying and a whole host of other areas.

Don’t worry, the whole pile doesn’t get dropped in your lap on the first day! You’ll work on a project or event of your choice, along with an experienced Board member who’ll show you the ropes.

Got an idea? Do you want to do something in the community, but don’t know how to get started? UCPBA(O) can offer you an organizational home and help. Convince the Board it’s a good idea and we’ll give you a hand.

If you’re interested, call anyone of the members of the Nominating Committee: Bob Seychuk, Ron Sorobey or Borys Gengalo. Their contact info is in your membership directory.

Find the membership form on:

http://www.infoukes.com/ucpbaott/docs/mem_appl.htm

POTENTIAL EVENTS FOR 2008-09

• Historical Walking Tour

• Ukrainian Independence Day (at the Royal Oak)

• An Evening with a Ukrainian Canadian Opera Star

• Wine Tour of Prince Edward County

• Christmas Dinner (including awards, scholarship and more!)

• Road Trip to the Trypillian Exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum

• Hnatyshyn Lecture

• Franko Lecture

• AGM/BBQ

And: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?

 
YURIY KULCHYTSKY : HERO KOZAK & COFFEE HOUND

Irena Bell

     Yuriy Kulchytsky, a Ukrainian kozak, is a hero in Vienna, as he is credited with a major role in saving Vienna, and Europe, from the Turkish invasion of 1683. It is also said that he was likely the first to open a cafe in Vienna, and that he invented Viennese coffee, and the croissant (in the shape of the Turkish crescent). I have been fascinated by this figure since I read a Kyiv Weekly article (Feb. 22/02) about him, reprinted in the Nasha Doroha journal edited by Oksana Bashuk-Hepburn.

     On our recent trip to Vienna, I was determined to locate the street named in Kulchytsky's honour (Kolschitzky-gasse), and his statue. The street turned out to be quite central, and the u-bahn subway exit even had a large sign prominently indicating Kolschitzky-gasse.

     Kulchytsky seems to be a well-known personality in Vienna still. On a Vienna city tour, it was intriguing to hear the guide wax eloquent for some time about Kulchytsky - afterwards I gave the guide a copy of the Kyiv Weekly/Nasha Doroha article so that he would be aware that Kulchytsky was Ukrainian (he is often considered to be Polish, because many kozaks were in the Polish army of King Sobieski that liberated Vienna). And it seems that until a few years ago, the cafes in Vienna put a picture of Kulchytsky in their windows once a year to honour him.

     Although the Polish army is credited with saving Vienna, it's interesting that in a foreword to the bilingual (Ukrainian-German) publication Viden 1683: Kozaky i Kulchytskyi, published in Vienna in 1983 by the 'Soiuz ukrains'kykh filiatelistiv Avstrii', Patriarkh Iosef Slipyi states that in 1684 the Pope held a special service where thanks were given "for the victory that the kozaks achieved over the Turks and Tatars'.

     The Vienna Historical Museum also exhibits an engraving of Kulchytsky, but states that he was Armenian! I spoke with a curator, and promised to send through some information in the hope that the write-up will be corrected.

     There is quite a bit of information on the Internet about the siege of Vienna in 1683, and Kulchytsky, but under various spellings. In Wikipedia, search for "Vienna Kulczycki ". It's a fascinating topic.

  
Irena Bell points out the statue of Yuri Kulchytsky. Look carefully and you’ll see he’s pouring a cup of coffee.

A Viannese subway station

The sign reads (roughly) Kolchytsky alley. Franz Georg K.(1640-1694) During the Turkish siege of 1683 he contacted the relieving army.

Editor’s note:

     The Turks came very close to conquering most of Europe. Were it not for their defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1683, they would have debouched on the south German plain, with little to stop them before reaching the Baltic.

     At a critical point in the siege, the commander of the Viennese troops had to get a message out through Turkish lines to the relieving army of Polish King Jan Sobieski. Kulchytsky volunteered. Disguised as a Turk, and knowing the Turkish language, he succeeded. Attack from both sides, the Turks were routed and abandoned their camp and all their goods.

     Asked what he wanted for a reward, our hero said he would take the hundreds of bags of strange beans left by the Turks. These turned out to be (and having been in the Ottoman Empire, he knew) coffee. Kulchytsky opened the first coffee shop in Vienna (the Blue Bottle). Since that time, he has been the ‘patron saint’ of Viennese cafes.

     In a chapel on the major hill in the ViennA Woods there are murals of all the types of soldiers in the relieving army. These include a kozak.

2008 TRADE SHOW

Bob Seychuk (L) presents organizer Vicki Karpiak with a bouquet. Andriy Sawchuk (middle) insists on being in the photo.
Probably been hanging around with the editor too long.

Pres Ron Sorobey, manning the Knights of Columbus booth, fends off an assault by a sword-wielding urchin.

Natalia Romas extols the virtues of Zirkova Vodka and Slavutych beer.

Body language tells us Real Estate Agent Cornell Popyk (L) seems to be experiencing some sales resistance from
Ukraina football (soccer) team captain Walter Usyk (R).

Oksana Piaseckyj explains the work of Children of Chornobyl.

At the Trade Show: Nadia Dubik of Buduchnist Credit Union seems overjoyed at signing up a new member.
 

TALK TO US!

Do you know someone who has reached a significant milestone in their life (birthday, wedding, 1,000^th pint of Guiness and the like? Let Your Humble Editor© know! Embarrassing details/ photos are particularly welcome. Anonymity guaranteed.

Thanks to Vicki Karpiak, Irena Bell and Anonymous for items in this section.

The President, Board of Directors and members of UCPBA(O) express our sincerest condolences to Oleh and Vera

 VYACHESLAV BELKIN

Father of Oleh Belkin

Father-in-law to Vera Hutzuliak

Passed away suddenly in Lviv, Ukraine

5 March 2008

In his eightieth year.

The President, Board of Directors and members of UCPBA(O) express our sincerest condolences

to Robert and Ivanna and Stephanya

SUZANNE CLAIRE ALBOTA

Sister of Robert Albota

sister-in-law to Ivanna,

Aunt to Stephanya

Passed away suddenly in Ottawa

Saturday, 7 June 2008

In her sixty-first year.

COME OUT TO SEE REAL FOOTALL!

     Ottawa Ukraina has started the soccer season on a very positive note by winning their first two games, against some very good competition. In past years, it has been one of the winingest teams on the soccer pitches of Ottawa.

     Ukraina represents the Ukrainian Community in Ottawa. Hey, that’s us! So we should be out there urging them on. Check the team website: http://www.ottawaukraina.com/ to find out the latest details about, and locations of, upcoming games. Get to know the team and its players. Come and support the Ottawa Ukraina Soccer team as they battle to try and win the league championship!  Team Captain Walter Usyk says they’re heavy underdogs this season and are in a strong division. Our support is important!

     Bet you didn’t know that Marc Lapointe-Denysewych, founder and coach of the team, was the highest scorer ever in Carleton U soccer team history! We have to boast- after all, he’s a UCPBA(O) member!
 

Holodomor commemoration

     President Victor Yushchenko moves through the crowd at the conclusion of the Holodomor commemorative ceremony on Parliament Hill. In his face one can still see the ravages of the dioxin poisoning three years on, one can see the strain of three years of office in turbulent political times, both internal and external to Ukraine.

     Fr Onuferko reads the prayer at the Holodomor commemoration ceremony. Behind him, to the left of the podium, is Ambassador Ihor Ostash. To the right: Mrs Kateryna Yushchenko, President Yushchenko, translator Victor Shevchenko, Sec of State for Canadian Identity Jason Kenny, Nat’l Ukrainian Canadian Congress President Paul Grod, local UCC Pres Boris Sirskyj and MC Borys Gengalo. A project of the Ottawa UCC (of which UCPBA(O) is a member), the success of the ceremony was in no small part due to a number of UCPBA(O) members directly involved in its planning and execution: Committee Chair Julia Woychyshyn, monument co-designer and co-builder Tatiana Martschenko, publicist Irena bell and MC Borys Gengalo. Mr. Kenny took the opportunity to announce the government’s recognition of the Holodomor as genocide.

UCPBF Convention

      The UCPBF is a federation of local Ukrainian Canadian Professional & Business associations. UCPBA(O) has been a long-time member.

     The Ukrainian Canadian Professional & Business Federation (UCPBF) will be having its national convention in Calgary during the Thanksgiving long weekend in October. In the past month our community has achieved two long-range goals: acknowledgement, by the Canadian Parliament, of the Holodomor (artificial famine in Ukraine: 1932-33) as a genocide and settlement of the World War 1 internment (of Ukrainians as enemy aliens) issue. The question to be answered at the convention will be: where to from here? What do we need/want as a community? As a federation?
 

     In response to immense popular interest and demand, Your Intrepid Editor© managed to track down Past President Iris Bradley in her temporary lair in Regina. Iris says she will be back to Ottawa and UCPBA(O) sometime soon. Maybe. Possibly. In the meantime, she’s off to China to see the preparations for the Olympics.

     Our e-mail address!

To assist in the electronic distribution of the newsletter, we now have a new, permanent e-mail address:

ucpbaottawa@infoukes.com

You can use it to communicate with us.