On waves of positivity

Our life is filled every day with all kinds of events, and these events bring a whole range of feelings – sometimes positive, sometimes the opposite. But we will not talk about the negative; let’s talk about the positive, especially since there are several wonderful reasons for it.

Ukrainian societies around the world, and in Estonia too, try to find ways for people to find something positive even in this difficult situation, with war raging in their homeland – to gladden people’s hearts and fill their souls with warmth and hope for the better, because it is faith in goodness that helps overcome the hardest troubles…

Almost every Sunday, in large and small towns across Estonia, interesting and varied events take place with the participation of the Ukrainian diaspora, which has grown considerably for reasons known to all…

It is enough to tell you about the latest May events that I know personally:

On 20 May in Sillamäe (organised by the society “Vodohrai”) there was a large book exhibition and a round-table meeting dedicated to the international year of the book; on 25 May a seminar for refugees was held in Tapa Parish, coordinated by Mrs Larysa Zhytnyk, head of the Ukrainian society “Vodohrai”.

On 28 May 2022 the whole area around the Tallinn TV Tower was buzzing with Ukrainian voices, colours and treats. Led by Women of Ukraine, a grand charity fair took place there, aimed not only at raising funds to support Ukraine but also at bringing together Ukrainians – both local and those who have found temporary refuge in Estonia… Here people found not only things they needed but, most importantly, met each other, sometimes running into close compatriots, as happened to me….

The next day, 29 May, was filled for the Ukrainian community with children’s voices, smiles, bright costumes and little heads crowned with wreaths…

From every corner of Estonia and Ukraine our young talents – singers, dancers and instrumentalists – gathered under the roof of Tallinn’s Kaja Cultural Centre.

On Sunday, 29 May, the XXII International Festival of Children’s and Youth Creativity “Flowers of Ukraine” took place, organised and tirelessly led all these years by the Ukrainian Youth Association in Estonia, a member of AUOE, headed by Mr Vladimir Palamar.

Every year the festival has been filled with new colours, discovering new talents...

This year the festival’s main aim was to fill people’s hearts with positive content and create an atmosphere in which the energy people received from the skilful performances would stay in their hearts for a long time and comfort their souls. The main theme of this year’s festival was HOME, FAMILY, KIN.

A pleasant surprise at this year’s children’s and youth arts forum was the arrival and performance of a young, talented songwriter and performer from Kharkiv, OLEKSANDR KVARTA, whose name has become very well known thanks to his active volunteer creative work, songs reflecting current events in Ukraine and, above all, the extraordinarily positive image this musician with a very pleasant voice carries.

Oleksandr began his performance with the words: “Let’s spread positivity – we will help ourselves and others with it, find a positive note for everyone and give it to them!”

The audience supported Oleksandr Kvarta by singing along together and later lighting up each of his songs.

On this wave of positivity our young talents from Ukrainian cities continued their performances: from Kremenchuk – Anhelina Molodchyn, from Zaporizhzhia – Illia Sliusarenko and Kateryna Holubieva, from Poltava – Olia Tkachuk, children from Lutsk and Mykolaiv, ensembles and soloists from Sillamäe – the Sunday school of the society “Vodohrai”, from Tallinn – AUOE’s Sunday school “Nadiia”, the dance ensemble “Kolor”, and the vocal studios “Karamel”, UN CANTO and Laulame Tallinnas.

Of course, the children’s mastery shown on stage is the result of sometimes quite intense work by young people under the guidance of their teachers. It is the teacher who takes responsibility for what a child’s or young person’s creative path will be and what musical taste will form the basis of the pupil’s worldview – the pupil will remember the teacher’s lessons all their life and carry them on in their own creativity!

On behalf of the festival organisers, we sincerely thank all the teachers who, in Ukraine and Estonia, shape children’s musical paths and worked hard so that their pupils performed so successfully in the concert programme of “Flowers of Ukraine”: Nina Hets, Liudmyla Hramiak, Alla Inno, Svitlana Stashkevych, Yana Boiko, Mariia Kondratieva, Svitlana Zaitseva, Zhenia Khovsepian – we wish you and your pupils a successful creative journey.

I would like to mention one more positive moment of the festival. This year the concert was hosted by a mother and son, Tetiana and Luka Klymenko.

The Klymenko family is already well known not only to the Ukrainian diaspora audience but also to Estonians, who often see our Sunday school “Nadiia” teacher Tetiana Klymenko on TV, where she shares her knowledge of Ukrainian history and traditions, including folk costume, the art of krashanky and pysanky (decorated Easter eggs) and much more. Tetiana can be held up as an example to our local Ukrainians in quickly mastering Estonian, which she and her boys – sons Luka, Zakhar and the youngest, Nazar – now speak quite well. Luka even took on the role of interpreting the Estonian speeches of the officials who greeted the festival, among them the Ambassador Extraordinary of Ukraine to Estonia Mrs Mariana Betsa and the President of the Association of Ukrainian Organisations in Estonia Vladimir Palamar…

The Sunday school “Nadiia” and its folk-crafts teacher Alla Inno-Yakymenko prepared for guests an exhibition of our pupils’ creative work: postcards, paintings and many other handicrafts, which the audience, our children’s parents and, of course, the concert participants viewed with pleasure.

Summer usually marks the end of the school year in various schools, Sunday schools included, but the “Nadiia” creative group will continue to perform in June: the bandura ensemble can be seen during the Old Town Days on 4 June and in a programme led by Ruslan Trochynskyi on 10 June, and young people from Tapa Parish (Illia Sliusarenko and Anhelina Molodchyn) are preparing a programme for Tapa Town Days on 6 August 2022.

So the positive line in the life of our Ukrainian community will continue whatever the circumstances – we must be kind, wise and strong!!!

Liubov Laur, Vice-President of AUOE