Sofiia Ogerchuk, a junior at Manor College from Ukraine, places a stuffed animal near a replica hearth in the Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center to honor children affected by the war in Ukraine. (Photo courtesy Manor College)
Among all the feelings she had when the war in Ukraine started four years ago, Sofiia Ogerchuk remembers the confusion the most. Not her confusion, but that of her four younger siblings.
“They knew something was wrong,” Ogerchuk told a crowd gathered this week at the Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center at Manor College to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the start of war after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “They knew their backpacks always had to be packed
As the explosions rattled her home in Lviv, Ukraine, Ogerchuk thought of her siblings.with essentials, to stay in the kitchen away from the windows and sometimes to sleep on the floor.”
“I wished more than anything that they could have a peaceful childhood filled with safety, happiness and dreams about the future, not fear,” Ogerchuk said.
Ogerchuk, now a junior at Manor College, retold her story during the ceremony commemorating the fourth anniversary of the war in Ukraine on February 24. The ceremony highlighted the children affected by the war, including the 664 killed, nearly 4,500 injured or missing and nearly 20,000 deported or displaced.
“This is not simply a wartime atrocity. It is a deliberate attempt to erase Ukrainian identity at its most vulnerable point,” said Nicholas Rudnytzky, Dean of Academic Services at Manor College. “Make no mistake, this is genocide at a primal level. It echoes a centuries-old pattern: Take the children, reshape them and destroy the nation from within.”
In addition to Ogerchuk and Rudnytzky, the crowd heard a prayer from Sofiia Myronovych, a dental hygiene student at Manor College who fled Ukraine with her daughter, and Vera Penkalskyj, a Manor College alum who spent time last summer working with children in Ukraine. The ceremony was attended by many of Manor College community members, including Manor College President Dr. Jonathan Peri and Pennsylvania State Representative Ben Sanchez.
Manor College, founded in 1947, carries significant ties to Ukraine. It is the only institution of higher learning in North America that was founded by Ukrainian Sisters, the Sisters of Saint Basil the Great. It is also home to the Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center on campus, where Tuesday’s event was held.
Following the event, the Manor College community placed stuffed animals near a replica hearth in the Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center to honor the children affected by the war.
“These are not the memories children should carry,” Ogerchuk said. “Children should remember bedtime stories, birthday parties and laughter, not the sound of explosions or the fear that comes with air raid sirens.”
Rudnytzky said that despite the attempt to destroy Ukrainian culture, the nation would continue to celebrate its culture and live on.
“(Ukrainian culture) destroyed the bans on language, the Holodomor, and the deportations and it will survive this,” Rudnytzky said. “Ukrainian identity is not something that can be stolen. It is carried in memory, culture, faith, and in stories passed down through families. We are defending the future of a nation.”
