Editor’s Note: United by Ukraine is a collaboration between the Kyiv Post and the Ukrainian World Congress. It offers special coverage that showcases the contribution of diaspora Ukrainians to their homeland.
Even though Nataliya Poshyvaylo-Towler lives some 14,500 kilometers from her hometown of Poltava for the last decade, her devotion to Ukraine is almost palpable.
“If you want to generate knowledge about your country, you have to teach people, you have to put them in your shoes,” she says. Despite a full-time job as a bid manager at Box Hill Institute in Melbourne, Australia where she develops tenders and proposals, she maintains strong engagement with the Ukrainian community in Australia and New Zealand.
In 2018, Poshyvaylo-Towler was elected vice president of Eastern, Southeast Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania from the Ukrainian World Congress following the reorganization of the UWC that same year. Since then, she has been working with representatives of 27 Ukrainian communities from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, China, India, Mongolia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Mozambique, South Africa, and other countries, of which only Australia is a full member of the UWC. The rest are representatives of organizations that function as associate members and those who liaise with the UWC.
Poshyvaylo-Towler has always been passionate about her Ukrainian heritage and wants the world to know about her homeland. Luckily, she has had many chances to prove it.
She was born in Poltava and moved to New Zealand when she was 24. “Everything was very different (from Ukraine), very green. New Zealand is surrounded by water and two islands and there you can experience lots of rainbows, it’s quite spectacular scenery-wise.”
It took some time to meet new people and to establish her network: Some 751 Ukrainians lived in New Zealand in the late 90s when Poshyvaylo-Towler moved there, according to the local census, and so the Ukrainian community as such wasn’t established there at the time, she explains. “We met through English classes, study, work, just talking to other people, and sometimes they would be like ‘oh, I know some Ukrainians.’ There’s wasn’t a club or a Ukrainian school. You met by chance.”
The Ukrainian World Congress is the international coordinating body for Ukrainian communities in the diaspora representing the interests of over 20 million Ukrainians.
The revival of the community
When the Orange Revolution brought hundreds of Ukrainians to streets in 2004, on the other side of the ocean Ukrainian community of New Zealand became active too. At that time, Poshyvaylo-Towler lived in Auckland, the largest city of New Zealand, where she met other Ukrainians. The community was still very dispersed but soon enough there was a chance for it to reborn.
Ukrainians held a special meeting in two biggest cities to support the Orange Revolution, there was also a demonstration in Christchurch, the main city square. “In Auckland action, we had hand-made orange flags and orange-and-white balloons. It was very visual. There was press, we gave interviews to the main local media, the Ukrainian flag was raised at the City Council. It was special.”
“It was the catharsis of the community, it renewed,” Poshyvaylo-Towler recalls. “After those events, sometime later we called a meeting and there was a renewal of the Auckland’s Ukrainian Association of New Zealand (Northern region).
There was a lot of educational work to be done then, she said, as people in New Zealand didn’t know much about Ukraine. “There was still some stigma, as (Ukraine) was heavily associated with the Soviet Union.
She was part of the leadership committee from 2007 and later became a president of the Ukrainian Association of New Zealand Northern Regions. During that time, the community participated in many events. They took part in the Christmas parades, multicultural festivals. “We tried to promote our culture,” she adds.
One of the most notable events where the Auckland-based Ukrainian Association of New Zealand (Northern region) participated, happened in 2007 when through their efforts, a commemorative limited edition stamp was issued – the first Holodomor commemorative stamp to be issued anywhere in the world.
“Emotionally festivals might be important to the community, but the stamp was something outstanding and amazing,” she said. Then New Zealand’s Ukrainian Community in Auckland also planted over 1,200 trees in Shakespeare Regional Park to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Holodomor in Ukraine.
“The local government-appointed land we could use and provided seedlings – we planted the trees to remember the souls perished in 1932-33,” Nataliya said. “It was a great event.”
After relocating to Australia, Poshyvaylo-Towler didn’t stay away from Ukraine affairs. She is currently chairing a branch of the Ukrainian Women’s Association in Melbourne with the poetic name “Malvy” (Mallows). “It was the first time in 3o years when the new branch was created,” she said. Their major activity stemmed from one of their member’s dream – to allow for Ukrainian kids to be adopted in Australia.
The association wrote a petition to the Australian parliament for Ukraine to be included on the list of countries where adoption from is permitted. “If you want the adoption to happen, Ukraine has to be on the list which is valid for two years, then the list of countries is changing,” she said. “At the time when we applied only Poland was on the list, no one else from Europe.”
They collected 221 signatures, filed a petition to the Australian federal government, and also submitted copies to the Ukrainian government. The petition was reviewed by the federal government but the result was negative. The reason: Ukraine hasn’t ratified the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (better known as Hague Adoption Convention). The situation may change, however, as the Cabinet of Ministers in August has approved documents allowing Ukraine to join the Adoption Convention.
“Until it’s ratified, there’s nothing we can do in Australia to get Ukraine included on that list,” Nataliya said. “There’s a possibility to change it but I don’t think there’s enough interest in Ukraine because there’s a different vision over there on how adoption should proceed. It’s up to the Ukrainian government to come up with a good strategy regarding this subject.”
Tumultuous times and new connections
When Ukraine was shaken by the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution that ended Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency, the Ukrainians in Australia also wanted to help. “We did lots of fundraising and donated to Ukraine – specifically to Poltava and Zaporizhzhya regions.” Nataliya was later recognized by the Poltava Regional Council for her support to Ukraine.
In 2018, Nataliya undertook a new role with the UWC to develop networking and establishing contacts between people from Australia and Oceania to Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
“It’s a very friendly environment,” she said. “Just the other day I called a meeting – online – and we spent three hours, talking, laughing, and even finished with the song. It was amazing,” she adds. “It’s very motivational to see, for instance, Ukrainians in Jordan, how would you otherwise know there are 10,000 Ukrainian women in Jordan? There’s a (Ukrainian) music school, performance schools and they are doing extremely well.”
People often don’t know much about far-away countries, Poshyvaylo-Towler said, and those countries are typically very open and supportive of other cultures – like Jordan, Lebanon, and South Africa, for instance. “It changes the perception of the world, brings more understanding of how Ukrainians can feel quite comfortable in new lands, they are using their instinct of survival, regrouping, and create something beautiful.”
Working with Ukrainians from different parts of the world, Nataliya said she realized it is Ukraine that unites them. “We have different backgrounds, live in different countries, adjust to the local cultural rules. We are different in Ukraine but Ukrainians abroad are even more different. However, we are united by this patriotic drive and love to preserve our identity, and by the desire to meet in Ukraine one day.”
Diaspora’s help
After living far from Ukraine for many years, Poshyvaylo-Towler thinks she knows what diaspora needs to do to help Ukraine effectively.
“I don’t live in Ukraine and so we often have our perception of Ukraine but the country is changing. For us to understand Ukraine’s needs we need to be there or at least we need personal contacts,” she explains.
“Just the other day we had a guest from Denmark during our online meeting and this young man spoke about his work in volunteering organization helping Ukraine. I was inspired by his and other volunteers’ work as he assesses humanitarian needs in Ukraine, goes to grey zones and they together deliver medical supplies and other first-aid goods where it is needed. I think that’s what diaspora requires – to have an understanding of the real situation and what the real needs are.”
