BRAMA, March 21, 2002, 12 pm ET

Eggs-citing exchange

Wendy Menczel's inner-city class at Queen Alexandra Senior School in Toronto reflects the diversity of the city's new immigrants. They come from many faith and cultural backgrounds, but are predominantly Asian. So what are they doing, learning how to make Ukrainian dumplings and Easter eggs?

VisionTV Insight Producer Inge Johnson visits a group of grade six students, studying Ukrainian traditions in preparation for an exchange later this year with a class in Dauphin, Man., a community where Ukrainian is the first language, French the second and English the third. Johnson's story airs Tues., Mar. 26 at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET.

The cultural exchange, arranged through the YMCA international exchanges program funded by the federal government, allows a new generation of immigrants to appreciate an earlier generation, who settled in the Canadian Midwest. In preparation for the exchange, Mary Skambara of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and art teacher Halia Dmytryshyn paid a visit to Menczel's class. The children enthusiastically decorated eggs, using beeswax and dye, learned what goes in a Ukrainian Easter basket and were taught how to make dumplings.

Continuing with the Holy Week theme, VisionTV Insight features Johnson's visual essay on Passover on Thurs., Mar. 28 at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET. Passover is a time of family gatherings and lavish meals called Seders when the Jewish community commemorates the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and slavery. Johnson visits a Jewish family as they sit down to a Seder where the visuals and conversation create a sense of the various traditions and rituals celebrated at Passover.

Johnson's two stories are just a couple of a number of special feature segments appearing during Holy Week and concluding the 2001-2002 VisionTV Insight season.

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