I have always been mildly curious about my Russian Mennonite roots. However, it was the prospect of spending some time with an number of friends and acquaintances that persuaded us to register for the cruise. Little did we know the spiritual and emotional impact those ten days would make on us.
Seeing the actual places, walking in the villages where our parents and grandparents walked was, for this nostalgic creature at any rate, a profound pilgrimage. As I stood in the ruins of the church were Maggie's mother worshipped until she and her siblings fled the Ukraine in 1926, I realized what a proud legacy of faith, commitment and sacrifice had been handed down to us. We sat with the other 160 passengers in the evening as we were gliding down the Dnieper, sharing memories, laughing, weeping and singing together. There was a sense of community there that quite astonished us.
We saw long-lost relatives united, we were able to comfort new friends who were recalling excruciating episodes from their Russian Mennonite past. Almost every evening, just before turning in to bed, I would walk out to the foredeck of the ship and spend a few mintues watching the stars in the clear Ukrainian sky, feeling the warm autumn breeze against my face and thinking, "This is where I come from. These are indeed my roots. These same stars twinkled on my ancestors as they struggled to wrest a living from a bountiful but also cruel land".
Almost two years have passed since that memorable trip but the experience remains vivid in my memory. I'm grateful to Marina and Walter for their warmth and professionalism. The two were able to defuse one or two potentially catastrophic situations without any of us realizing at the time that there was even a problem. Walter's daily greetings on the ship's intercom were reason enough to get up in a cheerful mood!
The days were long, the bus excursions even longer - who will ever forget the bush stops when washroom facilities were non-existent - Maedels among the trees on one side of the road and Jungens on the other side. I was a kid again. It wasn't the most restful holiday we've taken, but would I do it again? Yes, in a flash, without so much as a second thought. If you have a drop of Russian Mennonite blood coursing through your veins, I dare you to go on the Mennonite Heritage Cruise and not have it change your life.
Howard Dyck is the Music Director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Philharmonic Choir, founder of the international singing ensemble, Consort Caritatis and the host of CBC Stereo's Choral Concert and Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. He is the conductor of the Gift of Messiah Sony compact disc, available through MCC self help stores. In 1998 he led a series of performances in central Europe and conducted Verdi's "Requiem" for a compact disc project in aid of victims of landmines. In 1999 he took Consort Caritatis to China. In 2000 Howard and the choir performed during the Salzburg Festival in Austria.
Howard Dyck will return as musician in 2001
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