{"id":638,"date":"2011-08-16T15:50:08","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T22:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=638"},"modified":"2012-10-05T16:03:41","modified_gmt":"2012-10-05T23:03:41","slug":"a-whole-empire-walking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/a-whole-empire-walking\/","title":{"rendered":"A Whole Empire Walking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Since I was old enough to comprehend, my mother has bent my ear with stories of how awful it was in the old country, before she immigrated to Canada when she was 14.\u00a0 Although my mother is a born storyteller, she can only remember so far back. She also passed on stories my grandmother told her, but these were painted with broad brushstrokes.<\/p>\n

So as I began writing her story, I found there were a few holes. I wanted to understand more about the time my mother was born–1915 in Russia (now Ukraine), a year after World War I had begun. One of\u00a0 my contacts suggested the book A Whole Empire Walking<\/a> by Peter Gatrell. It’s an account of\u00a0 refugees in Russia during World War I.\u00a0 I knew my grandmother had to escape the village with her family just after my mother’s birth–as the Germans and Austrians were coming–but I never knew about the terrors that awaited them as refugees. What I heard was bad enough, what I’ve learned from reading A Whole Empire Walking is worse than I could’ve imagined.<\/p>\n

It’s no wonder my mother, now at 96, sits and reminisces about those hard times. Although the latter half of her life was more than comfortable, the early years left scars that still aren’t healed.<\/p>\n

It’s impossible to read A Whole Empire Walking without thinking about other refugees\u00a0 running away from war or a natural disaster, like what’s happening now in Somalia<\/a> or what happened after the hurricane Katrina<\/a> struck New Orleans.<\/p>\n

Living in peace in Canada, it’s hard to understand the inhumanity that occurs during\u00a0 stressful times of war and natural disaster. It’s also hard to understand the kind of courage it takes to survive the humiliation and other kinds of abuse that come with threats of starvation and disease. The dislocation and the toll it takes on families is unfathomable. These are families, who through no fault of their own find themselves lost and without means of support.<\/p>\n

The author, Peter Gatrell quotes John Berger, author of A Seventh Man: “The road itself is a passing of stories, with its listeners in the grass on either side.” <\/em><\/p>\n

It’s the passing of stories that give meaning to our lives. These stories of courage, sacrifice, and determination make us thankful for what we have, and help us realize how much we owe to those who came before us.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since I was old enough to comprehend, my mother has bent my ear with stories of how awful it was in the old country, before she immigrated to Canada when… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88,4],"tags":[147,150,148,149,27,7,151,123],"class_list":["post-638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-writing","tag-a-whole-empire-walking","tag-katrina","tag-peter-gatrell","tag-refugees","tag-stories","tag-story","tag-storyteller","tag-world-war-i"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-ai","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":700,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/truth-and-fiction-in-the-writing-of-memoirs\/","url_meta":{"origin":638,"position":0},"title":"Truth and Fiction in the Writing of Memoirs","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"23 \u0412\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0441\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"My mother is a born storyteller. When I was young, I paid little attention; but when I became a mother myself, I began to jot down her anecdotes. I am so glad I did, as now when I visit, her memory at 96 isn\u2019t what it used to be. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/P1020115-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1102,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/writing-family-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":638,"position":1},"title":"Writing Family History","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"5 \u0416\u043e\u0432\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m back to working on my baba\u2019s \u00a0story, NO TIME FOR TEARS, which is essentially an immigrant\u2019s story. \u00a0It\u2019ll be published as a novel, as I\u2019ve had to do a lot of research to fill in the blanks. \u00a0Because she lived behind the Iron Curtain, in Eastern Europe, information has\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/P1090283-300x297.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1432,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/writing\/the-power-of-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":638,"position":2},"title":"The Power of Memory","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"14 \u041b\u0438\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember when I was counseling others, one of the things that came up was the power of memory. Whatever happens to us, our body doesn\u2019t forget. The joys, the sorrows\u2014they\u2019re all tucked away only to emerge at the most surprising times. To recall what once was can help us\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"My Baba, Lukia Mazurec","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/P1090283-300x297.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":203,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/stories\/","url_meta":{"origin":638,"position":3},"title":"My Mother’s Stories","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"10 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm visiting my 95 year old mother in a personal care home. My mother was a wonderful storyteller but now her mind is failing.\u00a0 She can no longer remember details, but when I mention a slice of a narrative she gave me many years ago, her mind clicks in and\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6400,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2024\/uncategorized\/mother-an-unheralded-heroine\/","url_meta":{"origin":638,"position":4},"title":"Mother: An Unheralded Heroine","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"10 \u0422\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Mothers, unheralded heroines, deserve our attention. They're the ones whose tireless efforts to raise a child in our increasingly complex world are often overlooked. To honour her mother who had just died, Anna Jarvis, an American peace activist, started Mother's Day in the USA in 1905. In her work with\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"unheralded heroine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/babd-1-scaled.jpg?fit=677%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/babd-1-scaled.jpg?fit=677%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/babd-1-scaled.jpg?fit=677%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5694,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2022\/uncategorized\/ukraine-the-tears-and-ties-that-bind\/","url_meta":{"origin":638,"position":5},"title":"Ukraine: the Tears and Ties that Bind","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u0427\u0435\u0440\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Me with my Dad, Mom, and Baba When Russia invaded Ukraine, the home of my ancestors, on Feb. 24th, I sobbed uncontrollably. The fact that my tears flowed so easily surprised me, but when I examined my past, I understood why. It's in my DNA. Both my parents had immigrated\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0417 20 \u043a\u043e\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0430\u0440\u044f\u043c\u0438","block_context":{"text":"\u0417 20 \u043a\u043e\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0430\u0440\u044f\u043c\u0438","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2022\/uncategorized\/ukraine-the-tears-and-ties-that-bind\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"tears and ties that bind","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mom-dad-me-and-baba.jpg?fit=490%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}