By Admin1 (admin) (pool-141-157-42-145.balt.east.verizon.net - 141.157.42.145) on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 12:32 am: Edit Post |
RPCV Carol McLaughlin speaks at Ukrainian American Club of Southwest Florida
RPCV Carol McLaughlin speaks at Ukrainian American Club of Southwest Florida
The Juliano Conference Room at the North Port Area Public Library was "bursting at the seams" last Friday evening due to the capacity attendance at the monthly meeting of the Ukrainian American Club of Southwest Florida.
The guest speaker was Peace Corps volunteer and Business Advisor with the United Nations in Ukraine Carol McLaughlin, originally from Rochester, N.Y., who captivated the audience with her experience in various Ukrainian cities, and especially in Crimea.
A retired Southwest Regional Manager for Eastman Kodak Company, Carol decided to join the Peace Corps, and as her assignment she chose Ukraine. Her experience included the basic training in the "heart of Ukraine," Cherkasy, not far from the "Ukrainian Mecca" -- graveside and museum of the national poet, prophet and revolutionary Taras Shevchenko, and the subsequent assignment in Crimea, where she was working with Tatars who were returning to their ancestral homes after being deported to Siberia by Stalin to make room for the Russian settlers who now refuse to yield to Tatars their lands and homes.
The guest speaker at the next month's meeting (Feb. 27) will be Alexander A. Csizinszky, Ph.D., University of Florida professor of horticulture, who was the guest speaker last year. He spoke about the progress of agricultural modernization and "de-collectivisation" in Kherson region of Ukraine. Last summer Dr. Csizinszky visited Poltava region of Ukraine.