Let’s Not Forget Ukraine
Dear Leading Ladies,
After three years, Oleksandra Kavulchuk is leaving her adopted home in the United States to move to Romania with her husband and their young son. They found refuge in Salem when the war first ravaged their city of Odessa and so much of Ukraine. Although she once found safety on our shores, she now feels at risk here, too. The Trump administration, with its feckless efforts to broker a peaceful and just end to the war, combined with increasing difficulties with work visas and permits, make Oleksandra fearful. In Romania, she hopes to feel more secure.
We recently heard Oleksandra speak at a small gathering in Beverly hosted by Leading Ladies supporter Joanna Liss and her husband, Loring Merrow. Oleksandra talked about the current state of the Odessa Art Museum, where she is deputy director in absentia. She described the museum’s response to missile strikes that directly affected the museum's building, and spoke about preservation efforts and the state of the arts in Ukraine. She showed slides of the classical art, wrapped in cloths and wooden straps, before being stored in the basements of the museum for preservation. She also showed slides of the contemporary art, much of it with themes related to the war and its accompanying pain and deprivation, that now hangs on the museum walls. Some of the public wish the displayed art was more cheerful and less morose. She shared slides of schoolchildren who still visit the museum for activities and classes, even as missiles and sirens blare overhead.
Credit: Ukrainian World congress.org
Oleksandra’s reflections went beyond arts and preservation, however, to politics and the future.
During her past three years in Massachusetts, Oleksandra has traveled at least a dozen times to deliver medical supplies as simple as tourniquets that are sorely needed by the Ukrainians. She dropped them off at the country’s border to avoid entering the country and endangering herself even more.
Her take on Russian citizens was both amusing and demeaning. She accused them of having trouble figuring out who the good guys are since they are alternately told by Putin that the Amerians are their friends and enemies. She suggested that the Russians can’t think for themselves and just try to keep up with the latest state point of view.
Olesksandra addressed the question of what Ukrainians will settle for as conditions for the end of the war. In an apparent reference to Crimea, she believes Ukraine may agree to the land boundaries made in 2014 but no further sacrifices of land to Russia. Even the annexations of 2014 may only be tolerated temporarily, she suggested.
What can we Americans do to support Ukraine?
Oleksandra thanked the audience members for their continued support of Ukraine and its people. She asked that we continue to hang Ukrainian flags outside our houses to show that we have not abandoned her homeland, despite often contrary messages from our government.
She also asked for donations to worthy organizations that are preserving Ukrainian art and culture and providing supplies to soldiers and families.
One such organization is Museum for Change (mfcua.org), an NGO she co-founded that provides vital support to Ukrainian cultural institutions during the war.
Another is Dobro New England Inc.(dobroinc.org), a women-led, nonprofit organization bringing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine and raising global awareness about Ukraine.
Finally, as always, she encouraged us to write to our senators and representatives to let them know we still care about the people of Ukraine and their quest for peace and continued independence.
Listening to Oleksandra talk about her country, the culture and arts that are in jeopardy, the now double displacement of her young family, was profoundly touching. Seeing a young woman — devoted to the arts, devoted to keeping her little boy safe, devoted to doing all she can to get supplies to those fighting on the front lines — was a reminder of how difficult the choices we make can be as we try to live by our values and protect what we love.
Be well,
Therese (she/her/hers)
Judy (she/her/hers)
Didi (she/her/hers)
Leading Ladies Executive Team