Since public protests against political corruption in Kiev’s Independence Square turned deadly, Tetiana Lytvynenko has spent much of her time engrossed in the unfolding events in Ukraine.
The Davidson wife and mother monitors Ukrainian news websites and uses social media to communicate with friends and family back home in Ukraine.
The uncertainty in Ukraine, particularly since last weekend when Russian troops began occupying the Crimean peninsula, has caused the Lytvynenkos to cancel a planned trip to Ukraine. They had hoped to fly home in April to visit family.
“I found a good deal on tickets the day before they (Ukrainian police) started shooting in Kiev,” Tetiana said. “After it settled in Kiev, our relatives said it seems to be OK”.
Then Russian troops entered Crimea.
Tetiana said her family advised her to put the trip on hold.
“Since the end of February and the beginning of March, when the Russian parliament gave (Russian President Vladimir) Putin permission to send troops to Ukraine, people are holding their breath and hoping there will be no war,” she said.
Nick and Tetiana Lytvynenko have lived in Davidson for over five years. Nick, an autobody technician, came to Canada to work at Legend’s Autobody and Tetiana followed soon after.
They have made the most of the opportunities in Canada. They own a home where they are raising their two Canadian-born children: Nina, who is almost three, and nine-month-old Ivan.
Although Saskatchewan is now home, the crisis in their homeland has Tetiana worried about her homeland.
She’s been closely following the news and speaks daily, via Skype, to her parents who live about a three-hour’s drive north of Kiev. She’s upset by what she sees.
“Sometimes Nina says, ‘Mom, don’t cry.’ I don’t cry all the time, but to see people gunned down in the square…to see people who have to die for our president to resign…”
Since November 2013, pro-European Union Ukrainians have gathered in Kiev’s Independence Square to protest political corruption and then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s pro-Russian measures. It is estimated that more than 100 Ukrainian people were killed during the deadly days of the protest from Feb. 19 -20 and thousands were wounded. Some of the injured have since died in hospital of gunshot wounds.
“It was horrible to imagine that the president would give such an order to the snipers to start shooting your own people,” Tetiana said. “I never thought it would happen that (their) own government would use violence against people.”
Yanukovych disappeared and then turned up in Russia. Shortly after, Russian troops began occupying Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
Now Tetiana and the rest of the world are wondering if this means war.
Tetiana puts the blame on Putin, not Russians.
To read more please see the March 10 print edition of The Davidson Leader.
Monthly Archives: March 2014
Hanley fire department focusses on prevention
Instead of just fighting fires, Hanley’s volunteer fire department is focussing its efforts on preventing them.
The Town of Hanley recently received a $2,410 (US) fire prevention grant from FM Global, a large commercial property insurance company.
The fire department will use the money to develop pre-fire planning to efficiently collect and track data related local to buildings. This will help firefighters to respond to emergencies and it will assist in their training.
Specifically, the funds will be used for courses to train members to do fire inspections, says Hanley’s administrator Darice Carlson. The funds will also be used to buy a laptop computer and special software that will help firefighters preplan their fire response.
“At FM Global, we strongly believe the majority of property damage is preventable, not inevitable,” says Michael Spaziani, manager of the fire prevention grant program. “Far too often, inadequate budgets prevent those organizations working to prevent fire from being as proactive as they would like to be. With additional financial support, grant recipients are actively helping to improve property risk in the communities they serve.”
The fire prevention grants are awarded quarterly to fire departments and municipal and community organizations worldwide that best demonstrate a need for funding and where the money can have a demonstrable impact on preventing fire or mitigating the damage it can quickly cause.
A moving gift
A wealth of needy Costa Rican and South American people have a new lease on life thanks to the recent kindness of a few charity organizations and the actions of two local humanitarians.
Davidson’s Larry and Judi Packet travelled to San José, Costa Rica, last month to distribute over 30 free new wheelchairs to handicapped people with the help of the Knights of Columbus, the Canadian Wheelchair Foundation and the Active 20-30 International Club. The Packets, along with a group of fellow philanthropists, gave out the wheelchairs to needy people both at their homes in San José and also at the city’s Children’s Hospital.
Larry Packet, a territory district deputy with the Knights of Columbus, said their organization collaborated with the Wheelchair Foundation to purchase the wheelchairs. He said they then partnered with the 20-30 Club chapter in San José, who assessed who needed and should get a wheelchair, to distribute the medical equipment.
“The experience with the Wheelchair Foundation was at first quite overwhelming,” said Packet, noting they actually had around 130 wheelchairs to distribute in Costa Rica, but an union dispute at a Costa Rican shipyard detained 100 of the chairs from being given out during their trip. “We went to some better neighbourhoods to deliver wheelchairs and we also went to some very poor neighbourhoods to deliver wheelchairs. We take a lot of stuff for granted here when you see how other people live. Their houses are…marginalized. They are very poor people and just giving them a wheelchair seems to be a simple gesture, but you can just tell it brought a lot of longevity to their life.”
Some examples Packet said he heard about the difference the chairs would make to people’s lives includes one young boy who needed a wheelchair to be able to attend school and now could do so and another young woman who can now attend and excel at a business college without the burden of worrying about the troubles of her old wheelchair.
“The people at the hospital came from miles and miles,” he said. “One lady drove five-and-a-half hours from Panama to come and get a wheelchair for her son, so it covered a big area. The ones in the container I haven’t heard yet what happened, but the 20-30 Club is going to look after distributing them…I would imagine that the 20-30 Club in Costa Rica has delivered them by now.”
To read more please see the March 10 print edition of The Davidson Leader.
Kodiaks win 2014 Sun West district championship
The Kenaston Kodiaks junior boys basketball team are the 2014 Sun West district champions after putting together two convincing wins over the Davidson Raiders and Biggar Blazers at districts last Wednesday at Davidson School.
The Kodiaks held off a determined Blazers team in the fourth quarter to come out with a 51-42 win in the gold medal game to take home the championship. The Blazers trailed 49-22 heading into the final 10 minutes, but controlled the game in the fourth.
“It was a really close game,” said Kodiaks coach John Jamieson. “We had a really short bench and Biggar had (20) points in the fourth quarter. They played four quarters hard and tired us down. It was an impressive game for them.”
The Kodiaks championship win followed a close 65-54 victory over the Raiders that saw Davidson also stage a fourth quarter comeback only to fall a few points short. The Raiders put up 19 points in the last six minutes of the fourth quarter to give Kenaston a scare.
“That was our toughest match-up,” said Kodiaks co-coach Dan Marsh about the Raiders game. “It was a grudge match because they beat us in the sectional final, so our boys wanted a little bit of redemption. It came right down to the wire. They pressured us like we knew they would and we came out on top in the end.”
Davidson would finish in third place at districts beating the Kindersley Kobras 55-43 in the consolation match. The score doesn’t do the Kobras justice as the game was back and fourth throughout the first three quarters with the score tied at 20-20 at the half and Davidson only up by six entering the final frame.
Raiders coach Blair Frederickson said the main priority for him was getting all his kids onto the court in their last game of the season and he is “happy” that is what happened no matter the final score. He said some players on his team are more advanced in basketball and some are beginners, so having a game where everyone gets an opportunity to play is the best situation.
“From a coach’s or a teacher’s perspective that is great because it gives the kids something positive at the end of the season, so I can get these kids to come back out next year and keep building the program,” said Frederickson, noting in their first game against Kenaston he shortened the bench to try and get the win. “Having that second game was a great opportunity for me to get some of my younger kids and some of my kids who haven’t played that much basketball on the floor and (gain) some game experience.”
To read more please see the March 10 print edition of The Davidson Leader.
Imperial School students follow the white rabbit
Students at Imperial School are following the white rabbit down the rabbit hole this week.
The complete student body from grades one to 12 is immersing themselves in a Missoula Theatre Company musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland”. The kids are going to be studying under the direction of two trained actors/directors with the Montana-based touring company this week culminating in a dessert theatre performance of the musical at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. this Saturday at the Imperial Community Hall.
Carol Baade, a drama teacher at Imperial School, said this is the first time in the 17 years she has been involved with the annual school musical that they have brought in a touring company to help students put on the show. She said it should be a “great experience” for the students, as they’ll be able to find out everything that goes into putting on a professional production.
“It’s a really neat opportunity for the students because these are all professionals and they come and do workshops during the classes for the students and help put on the show and also involve the younger students,” said Baade, noting past musicals usually involved only the high school students. “We’ve had very successful dessert theatres in the past…but we thought we’d try something different to give our students a new opportunity.”
Ethan Park and Shelby Mariah Art, the two members of the Missoula Children’s Theatre Company that are spending the week in Imperial to help the students put on “Alice in Wonderland”, begin the production by holding auditions for the musical today at the Imperial Community Centre. The 50 to 60 students picked begin rehearsals later this evening and continue to practise for four-and-a-half hours each day before the performance on Saturday.
The students that are not cast in a role would be involved as assistants to the directors or help with stage crew work, lighting, sound or preparation and serving “Queen of Hearts Cherry Tarts” desserts. The Imperial School senior band is also performing at the show and Jeanne Knoblauch has been retained to accompany the musical on piano.
To read more please see the March 10 print edition of The Davidson Leader.
Marianne Holswick
It is with deep regret the family of Marianne Holswick (née Trickett) announces her death on March 7 in Regency Manor, Central Butte. Funeral arrangements in care of Hanson’s Funeral Home. Announcement to follow.
Judith Lindenbaum and Ivar Holswick