Baba and Bob

Shevchenko Icon

"This is me and my mother holding an icon of Taras Shevchenko - the national Ukrainian poet. My parents were both immigrants, who came to Canada in the Fifties - in that wave of Post WW II displaced Eastern Europeans. They were both Ukrainians by birth who found themselves in Canada almost by accident. Shevchenko is a national hero and most Ukrainians keep pictures of him in their homes. My mother is too practical to care much about poetry. But she always missed her home - and this was made worse by the Cold War politics that made travel back home for her a virtual impossibility. So this icon reminds us all of where our family's roots are. They actually brought this embroidered Shevchenko back from Ukraine with them when they did return in the late Sixties. When we took this photo she went out of her way to point out how much she likes it. She also was cursing the French government, as they are withholding my father's wartime pension, despite the fact he served in the army.

We also have a stuffed squirrel in the living room that seems to be there for the sole function of making people uncomfortable."
-As told to The MOMMA by Bob Mackowycz, Toronto