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| Young Belarusans from USA to Fellow Belarusans in Belarus |
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| Tuesday, 16 January 2007 | |
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Belarusan Youth Movement of America (BYMA) has marked its first year of existence in USA. Young men and women belonging to BYMA organization keep Belarusan traditions alive overseas, help fellow Belarusans back at home create internet in native tongue, and spread information and knowledge about Belarus in USA. First Belarusan immigrants’ surrounding emerged in USA after World War II. Not to assimilate in multicultural country completely, Belarusan immigrants aimed to preserve Belarusan way of life being far away from Motherland by creating Belarusan organizations, building Belarusan churches and public organizations. Such preservation of culture gave immigrated Belarusans the sense of identity and belonging to lost Motherland, which had been occupied by communists at that time. Young Belarusan immigrants, which became more or less noticeable in USA only a couple of years ago, are gradually starting to replace an older generation. In spite of the increasing concern about the scarce activity of newly emerged Belarusan Diaspora, new Belarusan Americans have pioneered not only in preserving the cultural remains from the previous immigrants, but also in successfully implementing new initiatives. BYMA, an organization of American-Belarusan volunteers, has been actively working to maintain Belarusan culture in the US and help fellow young Belarusans in Belarus not to forget to do the same. Even though BYMA was created about a year ago, the organization can be proud for its achievements. The organization started out from creating internet pages, yet the sphere of activity had started to spread widely. Zmicier, one of the founders of BYMA, shares his thoughts about the organizational activity: “Everything had started out from an idea to popularize Belarusian matters on Internet. First, we created web sites for Belarusan Popular Front (BPF) and personally for Zianon Pazniak. Later on, we created our own web site. We started working on spreading Belarusan language on the Internet. Now we have more than 20 projects. We also maintain informational portal www.prauda.org, which consists of different news individually chosen by us from different sources of information and presented in electronic format”. In short period of time, the organization members created more than 30 different web sites of different character and for different organizations. All this work is done purely voluntarily and during time free of official work/study. All the services BYMA offers, such as providing free hosting to Belarusan web sites and helping anyone create his/her web site in Belarusian language, are absolutely free. There are just two conditions to meet to qualify for free help. First of all, the project must be solely in Belarusian language; and secondly, the project must be commercial-free. Ales, another one of the founders of BYMA, comments: “We help Belarusans in Belarus create independent internet. Each organization, political party, or movement may refer to us to help them get free hosting that will not be controlled by the government. The users may choose any domain name they wish. The only condition is to have a Belarusian and commercial-free project. Many people have used our help. We helped create the web sites for Maladechna, Saligorsk, Slycak, and other cities. We either help them in technical aspects or do all the technical part ourselves”. Besides Internet projects, BYMA friends help spread Belarusian culture in USA. Not that long ago, the organization members organized an exhibition of Belarusian art in American famous Glazer Museum. Ales comments: “On the 3rd of March many Belarusian exhibitions took place. We helped Alexey Marachkin, Ales Shaternick, Uladzimir Susloyski, and other most famous Belarusian artists bring their works here. We also brought to the US the statue of Vasil Bukay, which is the first abroad statue of the genius of Belarusan literature. Right now the statue is placed in the church. We had an idea to place the statue at the New York Public Library. However, we are still unclear, which would be a better place for the statue, because mostly Belarusans go to church where the statue currently remains. And who will go to library to see the statue is unknown. Now we created a new web site for St. Cyril Cathedral, which is located in Brooklyn and where every Sunday New York Belarusans get together for worshiping”. Zmicier adds: “After we got s permission from the church, we did not hesitate to create a web site. Yauhen Unuk was responsible for the design. Now church news is better presented, pictures are more abundant, and media files will be introduced. Also, a new web site for Belarusan Institute of Science and Art will start its existence. The work on the web site is finished”. Besides electronic help to church, BYMA members also aid into church’s remodeling. The repair works take place every Saturday morning. Young activists try not to skip these days and invite anyone willing to help in church’s restoration. Zmicier says: “Every Saturday at 11 A.M. anyone is invited to come and help us remodel our Belarusan church. We have done a lot of work, yet there are still things to do, like fixing the walls with deal board and arranging the basement. Maybe in a couple of months the church’s reconstruction will be fully accomplished”. Young men say that the existence of national immigration would be hard to imagine without fully-sufficient cultural life. That is why, a new Museum of Belarusan Art is about to open its doors. The first exhibitions are planned for summer. Ales: “We plan to maximize our contribution through informational and electronic spheres. In March, we plan to register Belarusan Museum of Art, and maybe in summer the first exhibitions will take place. We have already arranged the exhibitions with the artists”. The activity of BYMA is mostly concentrated around New York and New Jersey, but the organization also has its supporters in Philadelphia, Boston, Washington DC, and Canada. Worth noticing is the fact that the activities of BYMA youth is not sponsored by anyone, but the organization members themselves. Written By Dmitry Gurnevich, Radio “Polonia” |
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