Hello, My Friends,

My name is Olga O’Mara-Raven, living in Canada at the present time.

I was born in Ukraine, which at the time was under the Communist Regime, during the turbulent years of that country and my life continued the chaotic pattern for quite some time to come.

My Father’s ancestors were musketeers for centuries, so it was natural for them to be officers in the White Army under the Czar and that was enough reason for the Communists to eliminate the Family and confiscate their property.

By luck or by my father’s prudence he escaped the execution. He made his way to a big city  (Charkiv) and was able to get “lost” amongst the construction workers living in the rooming houses, which were overfilled with the peasants, who were moving to the cities to build “the new country, the bright future”, promised by the Communists.

To cover up the past, we had to move from one rooming house to another and from one city to another every few month, for we really lived illegally in the country of our birth. (I, of-course, was too young to comprehend the political situation and the reasons for moving that often.)

It was possible to lead a vagabond life at the time of the chaos in that Country, for the citizens and the workers were not registered as yet – they did not have their SIN numbers.

Then came the World War II and the hardships, cruelties and uncertainties continued only now under a different governmental power, the Nazis.

The End of the War brought its own hardships for the Stateless – the Displaced Persons, who were stranded, unsheltered, and  unsupported in the ruined and over-crowded Europe.

If it were not for the material as well as spiritual help from North America most of those D.Ps would have perished.

(Thank you American and Canadian People. God Bless North America!)

My life began when I put my foot on the sacred ground of the North American Continent.

I learned what is it like to live in a Democratic and Free country and I daily thank the Lord for this Providence.

At about the Age of 40+ I was able to, finally, achieve my childhood dream: to become a teacher. It happened at the wrong time as the dropping enrollment at the High School Level was apparent as well as my Teaching Certificates in Foreign Languages were not in demand.

And here I am - like “a bat out of hell”  at my advanced age I set about to “get my feet wet” in the busy and vibrant life of the Internet, which I hope to “master” and enjoy for many years to come.

Olga O’Mara