Ukrainiana

Baba Paraska Showers Yushchenko With Birthday Wishes

…to live a lifetime of 100 years; to know no sorrow and, as they say, to have, in his home and in our Ukraine, prosperity and goodwill. What he promised to the people — I wish he would deliver that. I pray to God for this.

Paraska Korolyuk (aka Baba Paraska, or Grandma Paraska), a 69-year old activist easily recognized as the icon of the Orange Revolution, knows her way around the kitchen of Ukrainian politics. Both Yushchenko and Tymoshenko have repeatedly fraternized with her before the cameras, treating her as the ambassador of the Ukrainian people to the Ukrainian government.

Perhaps unwittingly, Baba Paraska adds a comic edge to the “our Ukraine” in her statement. (Does refer to Our Ukraine, the party, or to our Ukraine, the country?)

One can also detect a hint skepticism in her voice, as she reads out her wishlist. Now that President Yushchenko has left so many prayers unanswered, the people she represents find themselves wishing upon a star.

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