Helen Michaluk

Helen Michaluk (Belarusian: Алена (Лёля) Міхалюк, née Marcinkevich; born on 15 May 1930) is a prominent figure of the Belarusian diaspora who was a long-standing (and the only female) head of the Association of Belarusians in Great Britain.

Michaluk receives a Belarusian Democratic Republic 100th Jubilee Medal in March 2019

Life and work

Michaluk was born in the village of Lonskija, Braslau County in the North-East of the Second Polish Republic (now Sharkawshchyna District Vicebsk Region in the Republic of Belarus). She went to a Polish and then Belarusian school.

In 1947 she settled in the UK and two years later married Janka Michaluk. She became a member of the Association of Belarusians in Great Britain and the Anglo-Belarusian Society and was also actively involved with St Cyril of Turau Belarusian school in London and the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

In 1982 Michaluk became a member of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. In 1997 she was elected the chair of the Association of Belarusians in Great Britain  - the position she held until 2013.[1]

Awards

In 2019 Michaluk was awarded a Belarusian Democratic Republic 100th Jubilee Medal for her contribution to Belarusian public life in the diaspora.[2][3]

References
  1. "Гардзіенка Наталля, Беларусы ў Вялікабрытаніі - Беларуская Інтэрнэт-Бібліятэка Kamunikat.org". Гардзіенка Наталля, Беларусы ў Вялікабрытаніі - Беларуская Інтэрнэт-Бібліятэка Kamunikat.org. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  2. "Алексіевіч, Пазьняк, Вольскі, Эрыксан, Белавус. Хто яшчэ ўзнагароджаны мэдалём у гонар БНР-100". Радыё Свабода (in Belarusian). Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  3. "Уручэньні Мэдалёў да стагодзьдзя БНР: Таронта, Лёндан, Вашынгтон – Рада Беларускай Народнай Рэспублікі" (in Belarusian). Retrieved 2021-04-05.
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