After an afternoon of sight-seeing Pablo s immense farm and fields, we relax and drink lemonflavored terere that his wife Elsa has provided.

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Franklin Hancock
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1 After an afternoon of sight-seeing Pablo s immense farm and fields, we relax and drink lemonflavored terere that his wife Elsa has provided. Jeannie takes her turn drinking terere. 1

The covered area was too hot, so we moved to the grassy area near Pablo &

2 My wife Elsa enjoyed the lemon-flavored terere, the same kind of drink she remembered enjoying when she lived in Paraguay. The covered area was too hot, so we moved to the grassy area near Pablo & Elsa s house. We continued drinking the lemon-flavored terere (Yerba Mate), as Elsa served us by turns. 2

3 I love this drinking terere is my favorite pastime in Paraguay. The two Pablos (Paul Wigowsky and Pablo Tsimbalyuk) and the two Elsas (Elsa Wigowsky and Elsa Tsimbalyuk) take a picture together. 3

4 Friends of Pablo, Roman Loshko and Vera Kozich, come to visit us. Elsa Tsimbalyuk and Susie become good friends. 4

We really enjoyed spending time with them and hearing all the stories of the Kowal family

5 The Tsimbalyuk family showed us their great Ukrainian hospitality by inviting us into their home and showing us around their immense farm and forest. We really enjoyed spending time with them and hearing all the stories of the Kowal family living in the same neighborhood. The two sisters pose with the hosts, Pablo & Elsa Tsimbalyuk. We say our good-byes. Sunset in Fram. 5

6 Street sign: Ukrania (also Ucrania on map) and Pedro Christophersen. Ukrania stands for the large Ukrainian population in the town. 6

Francisco San Lopez. We saw a Fram sign.

7 On the 10 th day of our journey, Susie and I walked around the town of Fram in the morning, walking down the main avenue Mcal. Francisco San Lopez. We saw a Fram sign. Susie poses on Calle 5 (the main highway through town), now known as Camino de Carmen de Parana a Fram. 7

8 Across the highway (Calle 5) is the main factory in town, Trociuk s rice factory. And we saw a monument dedicated to the Ukrainian people in the town. 8

I pose beside the Ukrainian bicentennial display: 1811-2011

9 A plaque commemorating the cultural contribution of the Ukrainian population to the Ciudad de Fram. I pose beside the Ukrainian bicentennial display: (map of territory at that time), and the recent independence of Ukraine (and map)

10 The Trociuk factory is in the background. We continue walking toward the Japanese Memorial, honoring the contribution of the Japanese farmers for bringing soy to the region. 10

11 The Japanese Memorial, with bridge. The plaza of immigrants across the street. 11

12 Plaque commemorating the Immigrants. The mansion of Trociuk, the owner of the main factory in town. 12

And so our journey in Fram comes to an end, and Sergio drives us to Encarnacion. Resources: http://www.

13 And so our journey in Fram comes to an end, and Sergio drives us to Encarnacion. Resources: (photos of Fram and surrounding areas) 13

14 Google Map of Fram. Camino de Carmen del-parana a Fram (Calle 5) runs from SW to NE. Calle F runs from SE to NW. X is the crossroads, with the northern quadrant being Kowal s farm and house, the western quadrant being the Ukrainian church and Shust property, and the Eastern quadrant being the Woronko/Tsimbalyuk houses and fields. Victor Kozaczuk explained it this way: My description should read: "Across 5th St. (Calle 5) on the NORTH corner of the intersection, settled the Koval family. Across both streets, on the WEST corner of the intersection, the Shust family built their homestead." The Voronko's would have been on the EAST corner of the intersection. In the map attached, when you open it you see a large X. Let s say the legs of the X points to hours on a clock: top right is 2, bottom right is 4, bottom left is 8 and top left is 10. The Tsimbaliuk farm is bottom right (4pm) away from the intersection. Coming up that leg of the X toward the intersection into the corner between 2 and 4 is my grandfather Voronko's farm (it has green and white rectangles). Across the street between the 10 and the 2 o clock line is the Koval farm (small red rectangle inside the big white rectangle). Going counterclockwise to the left quadrant between 8 and 10 is the Shust Farm that has a small green rectangle right at the intersection (that's where the church was). 14

15 From: Victor Kozaczuk To: Paul J. Wigowsky Sent: Saturday, August 2, :52 AM Subject: Re: Trip to Paraguay Pablo Tsimabaliuk owns the Tsimabaliuk and Woronko farms across the street from the old Kowal place. He is my 2nd cousin (or 1st, once removed?). My mother Lidia Kozaczuk was the eldest daughter of Serhiy Woronko, who was Pablo's uncle. Pablo drove me around and explained the history and where former families had lived. The Nowosads and Boyko's are still in the neighborhood. When I was there, there was a small shop in downtown Fram owned by the Daciuk family. The Slavic Pentecostal church is still going, but it's in "downtown" Fram on "church row". There's a Slavic Baptist and a Russian orthodox church nearby. I'm sure that if Kowal family members showed up at a Sunday service that they would objects of great curiosity... Here's some excerpts from the family history I wrote. Eufimia s sister Paraskeva (Paraska) Tsimbaliuk had arrived to Aperia before the Woronkos. Paraskeva had married into a more wealthy family than Eufimia had. The Tsimbaliuks had already started a homestead on the southeast side of a low, wide hill about 3.5 km southwest of Aperia. The neighborhood grew as quickly as the forest disappeared. The Woronkos settled on land next to and west of the Tsimbaliuk s (see Google maps at: , ) at the corner of 5 th (now called Camino de Carmen de Parana a Fram ) and F streets. Paraskeva s son Pablo Tsimbaliuk now owns both farms. Across 5 th St. on the north corner of the intersection, settled the Koval family. Across both streets, on the west corner of the intersection, the Shust family built their homestead. These families became friends... The difficulty of living as a pioneer drew the settlers together as a community. They relied on each other for many things: shared virtues and disciplines to live by, aid in crises, advice to make better choices and friends to celebrate with. Eugenia described how the Woronko s took in the Shust Family. When Panas Shust and his family arrived in Fram, the Woronkos took them in until the Shusts had built themselves a cabin on their own homestead across the street. This experience began a long friendship. The tornado referred to earlier struck the Fram area while the Shusts lived with the Woronkos. The Koval s house across the street was destroyed by the tornado. In the Woronko s cabin the women hid under the bed. Serhiy and Panas held the door and windows closed, and pushed on the walls as the entire cabin shook and jolted. The tornado passed without destroying the Woronko cabin. Maybe their cabin was not in the direct path of the tornado. Where the tornado had passed it had killed farm animals and had leveled wide parts of the forest. Off the farm, the Woronko s life centered on their church community. At first Serhiy had built a very small cabin to live in. But as time passed he added on to his home to enlarge it. To his larger home he invited his Pentecostal neighbors to gather for prayer meetings. Once Serhiy had built a barn, their Pentecostal neighbors (Koval, Shust, Makitrinsky, Boyko, Tsimbalyuk, Novosad, Petliura, Tsverkaliuk, Krasnopolski, etc) began to meet in it for church services. In a couple of years, the neighbors erected a church building across the street on the corner of Panas Shust s farm (the lot is visible on Google maps at: , ). Their church began to meet on Saturday evenings and on Sunday mornings and evenings. 15

16 Their neighbor Onisim Koval was chosen to pastor and served there for over two decades until In Ukraine, Onisim had been an altar boy in the Orthodox church before he became a Pentecostal in 1925 at the age of 14. Once he d grown he became a traveling evangelist in Ukraine. He and his wife Eva Kotsuba married in 1935 and arrived in Fram in 1937 or They raised a large family on their homestead.... Often they held full-immersion water baptisms in the pond on the Tsimbalyuk s farm. The baptized dressed in white clothes. The girls put on scarves for the first time. Pastor Koval officiated at many wedding and funerals over the years. He baptized several of the Voronko children and officiated at Lidia Woronko s marriage to Andrei Kozaczuk. Church meals (baptism potlucks, etc) were held across the street from the church on the Voronko farm. The church members parked their horses, wagons or bicycles on the Woronko farm because the church across the street had no parking area. Catalina Woronko de Prokopczuk remembers her chore of bringing water for all the visiting horses to drink as they waited for service to end. Everyone wore their best clothes to service, and those who had shoes wore them then. But since shoes were expensive, tedious to clean and uncomfortable, most people who walked to services came barefoot carrying their shoes. They washed their feet at the Voronko farm, put on their shoes there and entered the church building with clean feet and shoes. p. 37 Serhiy taught the Sunday school for many years. At first his brother-in-law, Vasil Tsimbalyuk, helped teach. Later, Mr. Ralitz helped teach and then Mr. Novosad helped for two years. Sunday school was first held in the Voronko barn and then on the Koval farm. Though Serhiy was a serious man, when his barefoot students learned their memory verses, he gave them candies. Besides teaching the students about the Bible, the teachers also taught the students to read and write in Ukrainian. Serhiy taught the children until 1949, at which time many new Slavic Pentecostal families arrived from China to Fram... By 1941 the large number of Pentecostals in Colonia Fram had split up and built churches on 5 th, 6 th and 7 th streets. Each church in Fram belonged to an organization. Ivan Zub- Zolotorow was superintendent of the Union ( Soyuz ) of the Assemblies of God in Argentina. He d been a military officer in Poland, and had completed Biblical studies. Ivan Vinichik, who had been secretary of Schmidt s East European Mission in Poland was now the superintendent of the South American Pentecostal churches affiliated with Schmidt s organization. Both Zub-Zolotorow and Vinichik pastored churches in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The third type of churches were the Free Pentecostal churches who were not members of the other two organizations. Pastor Koval s church on 5th Street was a Free church. Mr. Labotski pastored the first Assembly of God (a Pentecostal denomination from the USA and affiliated with Zub-Zolotorow) church in Paraguay on 6 th St, down the road from Pastor Koval s church. Alexei Botsun pastored the 7th Street European Mission church (affiliated with Vinichik). Onisim Koval moved to Asuncion and lived there from 1958 until 1962 when he emigrated to San Francisco, California. p. 38 In 1949 new Slavic immigrants arrived to Colonia Fram. Part of their story is described in Peter Iliyn s book, Out of the Far Corners. Families named Shevchenko, Dumanovsky, Ilyin, Iliyn, Shevchuk, Velichko, Brachunoff and many others had been migrating through China since 16

17 the late 1920 s. Most of the new families in Fram from China had become Pentecostals during the Ukrainian revival of the 1920 s under Ivan Voronaev. They had fled Stalin s persecution by escaping first to Kazahkstan and then into China. Mao began the Chinese Communist revolution in the late 40 s. After their many years in far western China, these families were then evacuated from China to the Philippines by the new United Nations. From the Phillipines these families chose to immigrate to Paraguay. Most of these families joined Pastor Koval s church and began actively participating. A choir was formed and directed by Alexander E. Shevchenko. Lidia and her future husband Andrei sang in that choir. Vera Iliyn and Alexander E Shevchenko took over teaching the Sunday school from Serhiy Voronko and Mr. Novosad. Taught by Ivan Voronaev 20 years earlier, the more recent immigrants practiced foot washing before each communion service. Mr. Shevchenko opened a tailoring school and taught young Lidia Woronko how to sew. Pastor Koval baptized their young people including young Alexander Shevchenko Jr., Paul Iliyn and Peter Dumanovsky. Some of their young people married children of the earlier immigrants. Eventually, Mr. Shevchenko Sr. began co-pastoring the church with Onisim Koval. Other families like the Produns and the Daciuks also attended the church during this time. In the late 1950 s most of the families from China left Fram, and many of them immigrated to San Francisco, California where they started a large Russian Pentecostal church. This church began a short-wave radio broadcast to preach the gospel into the atheistic Soviet Union. They produced albums of Christian choir music that they sent into Ukraine, where some were confiscated by the Soviet government and displayed in a Museum of Atheism in Rovno, Ukraine (which Victor Kozaczuk visited in 1986.) Pastor Koval left his farm in Fram in By then most of the Chinese Pentecostal families had also left. Many young people had been leaving the homesteads and moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina. These big changes (including the loss of pastor s Koval and Shevchenko) caused by this wave of emigration likely had an effect on Serhiy and Eufimia Voronko feelings about continuing on in Paraguay

It was raining pretty hard when we arrived at Hotel Parque in the small town of Fram.

We were at the Bus Terminal in Encarnacion, and we were waiting for a taxi that would take us to Colonia Fram (or Fram), the place where Elsa and Jeannie were born. It was raining pretty hard when we arrived