UWC President: Preserved Ukrainian identity abroad will contribute to Ukrainians’ return

Preserving Ukrainian identity abroad will contribute to the return of Ukrainian citizens to Ukraine. The primary principle of this process is knowledge of the native language, Paul Grod, president of the Ukrainian World Congress, shared in an interview with Radio Liberty.

“If a child cannot go to a Ukrainian kindergarten or school, they will lose their language and not return home. These institutions are needed as safeguards so that people feel Ukrainian and it is beneficial for them to return to the Motherland. When children lose their language, it will be more difficult for them to return to Ukraine. Children must preserve the language through a network of educational institutions, which is important for the return,” Grod emphasized.

Ukrainian institutions in foreign countries slow down assimilation, the UWC president explains. “… “from the cradle to the grave,” people are accompanied by the Ukrainian community. [A person] is born in a Ukrainian family, baptized in a Ukrainian church, goes to a Ukrainian kindergarten, to a school, to a youth organization in parallel with studying at a school in the host country,” Grod says.

The Ukrainian World Congress is active in organizing the life of Ukrainians abroad. “It is very important to create … a Ukrainian world so that they [representatives of the diaspora] remain Ukrainians,” the president of the UWC concluded.

Paul Grod’s full interview for Radio Liberty can be found here.