Yesterday at 19:47
Oksana Kohut learned about Bohdan after he died.
“When I don’t have enough inspiration, I think about Bohdan. He always had this fire in his soul that would awake this lust for life,” Bohdan Solchanyk Travel Grant Awardee, Oksana Kohut said
Oksana is a winner of the Heavenly Hundred Hero travel grant for young scientists. Thanks to the grant this young Ukrainian gave a speech in Oxford to speak about science in Ukraine and life, post Maidan.
“I understood that this is not just good for me, but this is also a chance to help my country, and to represent it internationally,” Oksana Kohut said.
The Bohdan Solchanyk Travel Grant was founded three years ago. It was created by the Cambridge University Society in Ukraine. As a part of the grant, five young Ukrainian scientists gave speeches in Cambridge and Oxford.
“They are happy that more and more Ukrainians come and speak about Ukraine and the Maidan. Because the Russian community there is very active, Ukrainians cannot relay their thoughts or ideas as well,” President of Cambridge Society in Ukraine, Alina Sviderska said.
Historian Yaroslav Hrytsak knew Bohdan Solchanyk since the early 2000s. In those years Bohdan received a grant to study in Warsaw University and Yaroslav Hrytsak was in the jury.
“He won us over with his charisma and extensive knowledge. He had something that made it hard to say ‘no’ to him. Bohdan really had shown that he is the best in the program,” Yaroslav Hrytsak said.
Hrytsak says that Bohdan was a man of many talents. He worked in science, taught in the Ukrainian Catholic University, led an active public life and wrote poetry.
“He had this serious obsession with history. He was burning with enthusiasm. Bohdan was far from being an ordinary person. And his death was not ordinary. This is what our whole tragedy is about, that the best ones die first,” Hrytsak said.
Bohdan Solchanyk took part in many events and Maidan came as a natural choice for him.
“If he lived longer I am absolutely sure his fame would go beyond Ukraine. The West would have to try to pronounce such a complicated surname – Solchanyk,” Hrytsak added.
Bohdan was from Staryi Sambir and the town now has a school named after him. This idea was pushed forward by Liubov Oliynyk. She says that it lifts the patriotic spirits of students.
“We tell them that he was as little like you, that he sat at this desk, loved Ukraine, learned history. When he grew up, he had to defend the freedom and honor of Ukraine and he went to Maidan without second thoughts. He gave his life for that,” Deputy Principal Bohdan Solchanyk School, Liubov Oliynyk said.
Stefania Antonovna was Bohdan’s first teacher. She remembers that since childhood he was a people person.
“He would bring books from the library to the class. Kids would surround him and he would read it out loud and show them the pictures,” first teacher of Bohdan Solchanyk, Stefania Skrypukh said.
After Bohdan’s death, his friends and relatives published a book of his poetry. He had never shown it to anyone. To commemorate their teacher, children read his poetry.
“I belong to those who sit on the end,
Who choose mountain pass over a paved course,
I belong to those who miss something,
Not money, yet just water and sand.”
