Holodomor mobile classroom readying to take to the road

The Holodomor National Awareness Tour’s mobile classroom is preparing to take to the road this fall with the goal of increasing awareness of the Holodomor across Canada. A Fleetwood RV bus has been purchased as the centerpiece of the tour, a federally funded initiative to educate Canadians about the Famine-Genocide engineered by Joseph Stalin in 1932-1933.

Through the lens of the Holodomor, the tour will promote understanding of the consequences of hate and discrimination and highlight the values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

The 40-foot RV is currently being customized – with the installation of state-of-the-art audio-visual multi-media capabilities such as 12 commercial flat-screen Samsung televisions – to ensure that the Holodomor Mobile Classroom offers a 21st century learning experience.

Bohdan Onyschuk, past chair of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF), the lead organization on the project, arranged for the purchase of the vehicle. Mr. Onyschuk traveled to Decatur, Ind., for negotiations with Fleetwood Transportation. Initial quotes for an RV that could be retrofitted into a mobile classroom were in the $400,000 (U.S.) range.

“Fleetwood Transportation employs about a thousand Mennonites,” said Mr. Onyschuk. “Their community suffered greatly during the Holodomor. When we explained the purpose of the bus and also that we didn’t need the leather couches, granite counters, king-sized beds, fridges and washrooms found in their ‘rock star mobile vehicles,’ they sold us the RV for $235,000 – a drastic reduction. They saw how important this project is to educating the public about what the Soviets did to Ukrainians and the Mennonites.”

The exterior of the Holodomor Mobile Classroom (HMC) has been designed to serve as a dramatic Holodomor awareness medium in its own right. It is a moving billboard as it travels the roads and highways, and a stationary one when parked near schools and at other venues.

Denny Dzerowicz, who is coordinating the technical details to ensure that all the major components are ready and on schedule, says the bus project fulfills a lifelong goal. “I was determined to see this project realized. We as a community need to make sure that the Holodomor is widely known, and what better way than to bring the message directly to communities across the country,” says Mr. Dzerowicz.

The Canadian government is supporting the HMC through its Multiculturalism Inter-Action program, whose aim is to build an integrated and socially cohesive society. The award was announced on January 13 by Minister for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney (today he is also Canada’s minister of national defense).

“It is by remembering the tragedies and atrocities of the past that we can equip ourselves to prevent them from happening again. That is why this national tour, which will reach Canadians of all ages and backgrounds, is an important initiative,” said Minister Kenney.

The project has also received support from the provincial ministries of Manitoba and Ontario. Canada was the first country to officially recognize the Holodomor as genocide in 2008. In the 2011 National Household Survey, more than 1.25 million Canadians self-reported as being of Ukrainian ethnic origin.

The Canada-Ukraine Foundation is working in partnership on the project with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center (UCRDC) and the Holodomor Research and Educational Consortium (HREC) of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta.

Alexandra Stadnyk serves as program manager at the Canada-Ukraine Foundation. Valentina Kuryliw, director of education for HREC and head of the Holodomor Education Committee at the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, is overseeing the development of the high school teaching content, along with a committee of educators from across Canada.

In its first year, the HMC will focus on visits to schools in Ontario, as well as venues such as festivals and community events. In the second and subsequent years, the HMC will tour the country, reaching an estimated 7,000 students per year.

The CUF Holodomor Awareness Tour has received $1.5 million in support from the Canadian government and has raised $400,000 from the Temerty Family Foundation and other private sources. It has also approached provincial governments for additional support.

The project is looking to raise an additional $700,000 to ensure that the project can continue through 2018 and beyond. The Canada-Ukraine Foundation welcomes donations big and small, which can be made on the CUF website: www.cufoundation.ca.