The Canadian living in Kyiv talks of her schoolwork, Ukrainian roots and wide-ranging travels.
Though having traversed many countries – Canada, France, Germany and Poland, to name a few– before ending up in Ukraine, Maria Kachmar continues to follow a thread spun by her family history. Meeting for lunch at Marrakesh, a Moroccan restaurant on Sahaydachnoho, Maria notes that she even made it to this African country in her travels. Charming and enthusiastic, the third-grade teacher at Pechersk School International is devoted to learning about her personal and cultural history and encouraging others to seek out their own roots.
The road to understanding
Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Maria grew up speaking Ukrainian to her father and his parents (her mother is of Swedish descent). She attended a Ukrainian Catholic school, but remembers turning away from her heritage as a teenager. But by the end of high school, she felt compelled to search deeper into the culture of her grandmother’s tales. “I just felt this connection; I didn’t want to lose this part of me,” she says. Not satisfied with the daily hour of Ukrainian language offered in high school, she enrolled herself in the local Ukrainian Saturday school, the first student ever do so of her own volition.
Ukrainian is only one of many languages Maria was interested in. After graduation, she became an au pair in France. “It was like this dream of mine to just leave everything behind and move to Europe,” she laughs. Like the heroine of many films about a North American who goes to Europe and returns transformed, Maria admits, “I think, in effect, that did happen to me.” She certainly realized her language goal: after three months she could speak French fluently. But she was disappointed that her host family only wanted to hear about Canada and showed no interest in Ukraine.
Writing home
After a year studying education as well as Ukrainian language and literature in college, Maria found herself struggling with the options available in Canada to master Ukrainian. Having learned from her year in France that immersion is the best way to fluency, she arranged to spend a semester at Ivan Franko University in Lviv.
Setting her sights beyond her own intellectual enrichment, Maria wanted to write a book about her semester in Lviv so that she could share her educational experiences with others. “I really felt that, since Ukraine had been behind the Iron Curtain for so many decades, there was a big gap between … Ukrainians in the diaspora in Canada and Ukrainians in Ukraine. And I felt that I wanted to write a book that could help to bridge this gap.”
Working with a mentor from the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Maria decided to write a travel diary in modern Ukrainian – complete with contemporary expressions – that could be used in language classes. She would record her observations, including descriptions of current cultural traditions, to inform the diaspora about contemporary Ukraine. Published in 2003, “Semestr u Lvovi (A Semester in Lviv)” is now a common text used in universities and Ukrainian schools in Canada.
After studying in Lviv, Maria made a point to return to Ukraine at least once a year. This was not too difficult, as she relocated to Germany after finishing her degree, then Poland, always keeping her eye on Ukraine as a final destination. Because of the many business and international aid connections between Germany and Ukraine, she felt German would be a strategic language to learn. But after two years (and having mastered German), Maria was ready to move on.
Still hungry for “one more country, one more language,” Maria took a job at a Canadian school in Poland. Drawn by a desire to explore the birthplace of her grandmother, Maria explains, “I somehow felt that if I learned Polish I could understand her better and I could understand my family history better.”
Teaching internationalism
After experiencing the high emotions and political turmoil of the Orange Revolution as an election observer, Maria finally moved to Kyiv in 2005. Teaching at Pechersk School International, she exercises her knowledge of English, Ukrainian, French, German, Italian, Polish, and Russian with her students. “I’m really happy that I work in an international environment where I have kids from all different countries and sometimes I can speak to them in their home languages,” she shares.
At school, Maria encourages the philosophy that each person must first understand his own cultural history in order to learn about others. “I feel that I am very strongly Ukrainian, but I’m also really interested in other cultures. And I really appreciate when people can tell me a lot about their culture,” she says, radiating genuine curiosity. She leads an after-school Ukrainian club where both local and foreign students are exposed to Ukrainian language and culture through songs, stories, and games.
Maria approaches the history of her current homeland with zeal; she is currently reading books about the ancient Trypillian and Scythian cultures that once made their homes here. “Ukraine is so much more than these last 20 years … and in order to fully understand the culture, it’s important to understand every part of it. And even these pre-Ukrainian cultures that existed in Ukraine left their mark on the territory,” she says, noting that Ukrainians’ strong ties to nature can be traced to pagan times.
Maria, who is smartly dressed in spring pink, loves walking around Kyiv and appreciates the effort that Ukrainians put into dressing well. She takes advantage of modern amenities like the local gym – where she goes as often as she can – and also the old tradition of buying fresh, home-grown vegetables at the bazaar. Although her travels have carried her full-circle to the land of her grandparents, Maria is clearly situated in the present, stating, “I don’t just love this idea of Ukraine that my baba told me about, but I genuinely love living here.”
MARRAKESH
24 Sahaydachnoho, 494-0494
Open 11 a.m. till the last customer
English menu: Yes
Eglish-speaking staff: Yes
