Plast members from Canada meet the world at the Tri-annual Conference

Bohdan Kolos for New Pathway – Ukrainian News.

Over one hundred and fifty delegates from around the world came together in Poland in November to discuss the rapid membership growth and adaptation of Plast-Ukrainian scouting in Europe at the ХХІ Conference of Ukrainian Plast Organizations (CUPO).
The four-day Conference took place just thirty minutes outside Warsaw, Poland, in a small rural resort centre.

Plast in Poland has been a member of the international Plast since 1991. After the Russian attack and invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, thousands of Ukrainians initially sought refuge across the border in Poland. This was their first step to escape the terrors of war on civilians and their infrastructures, including schools and medical facilities.

Plast in Poland became involved in receiving refugees with information, housing, and humanitarian aid. For those refugees that stayed in Poland, they soon organized 12 regional Plast groups, which became branches.
The International Plast Conference (CUPO) takes place every three years in different locations to elect its leadership and review its mission and programs.

For the Canadian Plast delegates, being present at CUPO while the war in Ukraine across the border from Poland was raging on was a deeply emotional experience. The Canadian team was warmly welcomed by colleagues from Ukraine, who expressed gratitude for the support of the war effort and to Plast in Ukraine.

Canadian Plast members at the Warsaw Triannual Conference: starting from left first row: Dmytro Dutka, Kathie Doliszny, Daria Horbay, Christine Turenko, Ann Szyptur, Natalia Mysakowec; second row: Andrey Genyk-Berezowsky, Andriy Khikhlovskyy, Bohdan Kolos, Adrian Pruchnicky, Daria Kowalyk

According to Myron Spolsky, the international Plast leader, the first significant result of this CUPO was “the ratification of full-fledged membership in Plast of three countries: France, Slovakia, and Spain. The second was the integration of eleven smaller Plast groups from other European countries. This brings to 27 the total number of countries represented within Plast International.”

Spolsky said: “Many discussions centred around future developments, programmes, and visions, and the need to modify Plast programming to meet new challenges, new societies, and environments.

The biggest challenge we face is our rapidly increasing membership, and the need to service it with live, online and “library” training programs. Changes need to be made in our communication policies and programmes to make our informational sources more accessible.

The war has consolidated Plast in all countries: we are holding multi-country online training programmes for instructors (vykhovnyky) and for those who wish to join Plast. Over the last two years, summer camps with members and instructors from various countries have become the norm.

This last year, some European camps had instructors partially funded by the Canada-Ukraine Foundation from Canada. Other camps had instructors from the USA, Spain, the UK, Germany, and Ukraine. Camps in Poland included children from Poland and Ukraine. These camps were opportunities to, in a time of war, engage with other Ukrainians in a safe environment.”

Myron Spolsky continued, “When I was nominated for the head of Plast in 2019, I understood that it would be for two terms. One of the tasks of the current leadership is to propose strong candidates for the term, which will start in 2026. It is fascinating to be directly involved in the development process of an international Ukrainian community and to watch Ukraine’s society transition very rapidly from being a Soviet society to a Western one. The organization, discussions, and debates at CUPO were open to everyone and had everyone’s participation.”

Daria Horbay, leader of Canadian Plast, stated that “being present at CUPO when the war in Ukraine was going on was a profoundly emotional experience. We had a chance to thank those intimately involved in Ukraine's defence, who showed the world that tyranny can and must be resisted. The conference was a great opportunity to share ideas, successes, and common challenges and to develop a strategy for the future of Plast. Above all, the delegates demonstrated that we are all united by a common vision of Plast-scouting as a fundamental element in support of the struggle for a free Ukraine’.

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