From Friday the 11th of April to Sunday the 13th of April, the 2009 CYM Australia Leadership Training Forum was held in Perth, Western Australia. This is the third leadership type forum following the one in Adelaide in 2007, Geelong 2008 and now Perth. The forum was run under the guidance of the National Executive of CYM Australia Druzhynnyk referentura. The aim of the forum was to provide potential future leaders with an understanding of key elements of CYM, understand to what leadership is and entails, community structure, politics and own personal traits, to and help empower participants to make a difference in their community and take on the challenge of leading CYM and Ukrainian organisations into the future.

On Friday morning, 25 participants from oseredky Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney and Perth ranging from the ages of 15 to 21 together with the forum presenters, met at the Catholic Pastoral Centre in Highgate to partake in the leadership forum. The forum began with an apel with the national druzhynnyk co-ordinator Paul Kaminskyj welcoming all attendees from around Australia. Once the apel was closed everybody took their seats and Mark Tkaczuk opened the forum with introductory ice breakers and explained the all important question of why we are here. After everybody introduced themselves, the first speaker Paul Kaminskyj covered various topics including an overview of CYM as an organisation covering its history, CYM’s role and place in a local, national and international environment, the relevance of CYM to our youth and explained the opportunities available for leadership development via the existing CYM structure.

After lunch Nadia Tkaczuk lead the group in a exercise to help identify individual leadership characteristics, which lead into a discussion on what is leadership, why are leaders required, and the emphasis on CYM being a great platform for leadership experience and to prove that we all have an ability to make a difference.

Stepan Tkaczuk closed of the first day session with a discussion on CYM key facts, where participants were tested on their knowledge of CYM’s history etc. Once completed and participants were swapped test papers and marked each others tests, some red faces where seen as results were shared. As the final activity all participants were given a copy of the CYM pravylnyk and as a group we went through it to better understand and discuss the content of it.

In the evening everyone headed over to a relaxing evening generously hosted by the Marunczyn family. People took advantage of the very warm evening (especially those from the Eastern Australia who loved the 30 degree plus days, who kept asking if this was normal for this time of year) and had a swim in the pool whilst others feasted on a dinner of fish and chips and socialised with old and new friends.

On Saturday the forum continued at 9.30am with Marian Tkaczuk presenting on topics covering nationalism as a driving force using relevant examples from around the world. Participants were able to distinguish the difference between patriotism and nationalism. Stepan Tkaczuk followed by speaking about OUN (Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists) and identifying what guiding principles are and how these apply to an organisation. There was a focus on Ukraines history during the early and mid 20th century which all participants found interesting and eye opening. Marian Tkaczuk continued with this theme when highlighting the plight and importance of been aware and spreading the word regarding the Famine of 1933.

After lunch Mark and Nadia Tkaczuk lead a group discussion and group workshop highlighting the workings of and leadership in our community. The presentation included a review of the community structure and a discussion on the positives and negatives of the Ukrainian community answering the question of what needs to change?

Perth local Bohdan Mykytiuk lead the forum in the afternoon session titled Ukrainian song – the heart and soul of our nation. The group was taught a song called “Kolu y Pyt.” During the session all participants added a verse to the song as a memory of the weekend.

In the last session on the day Mark Tkaczuk lead the session titled Planning for Action, showing a model way of planning a project or activity. As an activity participants were split into their respective oseredky, and using this model put together a plan for a project to complete when the return to their oseredok. Some fantastic ideas were presented and we are looking forward for these plans to follow through with the support of the local upravy.

Saturday evening everybody met for a cruise down the Swan river which was organised by CYM Perth. A delicious meal was catered for again by Perth CYM members and a great and relaxing night was enjoyed by all. Sunday morning saw everybody in full cym uniform attend Divine Liturgy followed by an apel outside church. After lunch at the parish hall we all made our way back to the Pastoral Centre for the conclusion of the forum.

Participants throughout the weekend were asked for feedback after each session to ensure that topics covered were relevant and interesting. The feedback showed that leadership and being community members and leaders is important to our youth, The youth want and need guidance in this regard and all look forward to the next leadership forum. Mark Tkaczuk went over the sessions that were covered over the weekend and at the conclusion Paul Kaminskyj on behalf of the CYM National Executive thanked everybody for attending, the presenters for their time effort and dedication in preparing and presenting, and lastly thanked oseredok Perth for hosting the event and making us all feel welcome.

Paul Kaminskyj
CYM Australia National Druzhynnyk Co-ordinator