Program of the project
The rule of conducting interviews, audio recordings, video – and photography in the field
Useful tips for interviewing
Contract with the respondent (sample agreement)
Questionnaire for Ostashino
Respondent’s questionnaire
Rules for photographing and working with photos in the BAUI
The project “Ostashino: the Miller’s Path” was launched in the framework of the international project “The Living History of My Territory”. This project is implemented by the Representative Office of the registered company Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband eV (Federal Republic of Germany) in the Republic of Belarus with the financial support of the European Union and dvv international (from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany). The project is aimed at the development of rural regions through the use of elements of local culture, history and natural potential; support of local historical and cultural initiatives.
The project covers the entire territory of Belarus: in each region there is 1 pilot mini-project and 2 mini-projects that were selected by the competition. In the Grodno region it is Shchuchin, Radun Voronovsky district and Ostashino Novogrudok district. The local organization that initiated the project was the Education, Sports and Tourism Department of the Novogrudok District Executive Committee.
Village Ostashino as a place of implementation was chosen not accidentally. It is the oldest village in the Novogrudok District – first mentioned in 1401. it had 1116 inhabitants, in the 1970s. – more than 700, and a local school attended by about 300 children from Ostashino and nearby villages. At present, the situation has not changed for the better.
At the same time, rich history and local culture can serve as a basis for enticing this area into active tourist activities. In the vicinity of the village there were preserved a manor house and a unique park park of the 18th and 19th century, a system of ponds, sluices on the Valoўka river, used to operate water mills, the ruins of mills of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Local residents recall that once on the river there were 13 mills, to which people gathered for tens of kilometers. The key person who combines all these objects was a peasant, an employee, a miller who lived and worked here, often walked along these paths, experienced both happiness and unhappiness, and therefore he himself became a part of our common past, our heritage.
In this regard, the main objectives of the project “Ostashino: the miller’s path” are the development of the tourist potential of the village of Ostashino through the development of a tourist route, involving local residents in the revival and preservation of a unique local culture.
The project is implemented through a number of complex, multifaceted activities:
· Conducting the seminar “Oral History: Methods of Information Collection”, which will help to competently conduct a survey of local residents of the unique memory of the past of the village;
· Carrying out a number of expeditions to the village, meetings with local residents;
· Creation on the basis of the rural library-club of the Information and Tourism Point, where information about the village, historical and cultural sites of its environs, activities of mills, etc. will be placed.
· Study of the terrain, its natural and historical and cultural features for the development of a tourist route;
· Preparation and publication of the book “Ostashino – the history of the senior village of Novogrudok”, as well as booklets;
· Landscaping, including the installation of information stands and signs;
· Conducting excursions along the developed route;
· Summing up the results of the project implementation during the round table “Tourmarshrut” Ostashino: the miller’s path “- prospects for the development of the village.”
This project is an excellent opportunity to preserve for a following generations a unique local history and culture, attract the attention of a wide range of the public to the area, encourage tourists to visit the village, which is especially important this year – the Year of Hospitality.
The project activity is calculated before the beginning of June 2014.
Start of the project “Ostashino: Miller’s Path”
On Novogrudok the project “Ostashino: the Miller’s Path” starts in the framework of the international project “The Living History of My Territory”. This project is implemented by the Representative Office of the registered company DeutscherVolkshochschul-Verbande.V. (Federal Republic of Germany) in the Republic of Belarus with the financial support of the European Union and dvvinternational (from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany). The project is aimed at the development of rural regions through the use of elements of local culture, history and natural potential; support of local historical and cultural initiatives. The local organization that initiated the project was the Education, Sports and Tourism Department of the Novogrudok District Executive Committee.
This project is an excellent opportunity to preserve for a following generations a unique local history and culture, attract the attention of a wide range of the public to the area, encourage tourists to visit the village, which is especially important this year – the Year of Hospitality.
The project activity is calculated before the beginning of June 2014.
The first meeting of the participants of the project “Ostashino: the path of the miller”
February 13, 2014 In the Tourist Information Center of Novogrudok the first meeting of the participants of the project “Ostashino: the Miller’s Trail” was held, which started on Novogrudokin as part of the project “The Living History of My Territory”. The meeting was attended by Liana Shumskaya, the regional representative of the project. She introduced all present to the work of the Representative Office of the registered association Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband eV (Federal Republic of Germany).
The coordinator of the project “Ostashino: the path of the miller” Yaroshuk Marina introduced the participants to the project, its goals and objectives, the main activities.
In the course of the discussions, joint actions were identified to implement the project.
The nearest event will be a workshop “Oral History: Methods of Information Collection.” The main activities of the project are available here (dock1, dock2).
Workshop “Oral History: Methods of Information Collection”
Within the framework of the project “Ostashino: a Miller’s Path”, on February 27, on the basis of the Homozygia No. 2 of Novogrudok, a workshop “Oral History. Method of information gathering “. The seminar was coordinated by the project “Belarusian archive of oral history” Kashtelyan Irina and the head of the consulting office for the Grodno region in the framework of the project “Living history of my land” Nikolay Evdokimenko. The participants of the seminar got acquainted with the presentation of the project “The Belarusian Archives of Oral History”, with the basic rules for collecting and processing oral interviews, each participant received a package of necessary methodological materials, and participants discussed blocks of questions directly in the village of Ostashino, corrections were made to the questionnaire.
Expedition to the village of Ostashino
On Novogrudokin, the implementation of the project “Ostashino: a Miller’s Path” continues within the framework of the international project “The Living History of My Territory”.
The participants of the workshop “Oral History: Methodology of Information Collection” implement the trips to local residents in order to collect information about the past of the village of Ostashino.For the three expeditions that occurred on March 24, March 31 and April 1, the following villagers were interviewed: Shklyar Fedor Lazaravich (formerly Astasynsky school teacher), Ivan Ivanovich Sylvanovich (former director of the Astashinsk school), Turaukevich Nina Nikolaevna, Bodal Nina Mikhailovna, Turyakevich Anna Mikhailovna, Shklyar Tatyana Ivanovna (collective farm workers, residents of the village of Ostashino). The villagers shared their memories of the life of the village during their childhood and youth, told about the events of the 1930s, the times of the Great Patriotic War and post-war life, about their work and everyday life, as well as the condition of the remains of a wooden mill, manor and park, architectural features of the village and the natural environment.This information will be a good addition to the book “Ostashino – the history of the oldest village of Novogrudok”, which is being prepared for publication.
The expedition continues
On 7 and 17 April, two more trips to the village of Ostashino took place. Members of the initiative group got acquainted with Bushma Elena Vladimirovna. She is a very friendly woman, she gladly shared her memories, albeit tragic: about the hard life of a large family without a father during the war, about working in a kolkhoz created after the war, about her family, children, about the problems of the village and the villagers in the present. Elena Vladimirovna – a woman, a handrazel, is capable. She has been beautifully embroidering, knitting crochet since the very childhood, striving to make everyday things beautiful, to please the eyes of both the hostess and the guests. Embroidered towels, pillowcases and other bed linens, crocheted curtains trim its small cozy hut.
Elena Vladimirovna also introduced us to the family of Gnilyakevich, Fyodor Fіlіpavіch and Vera Kanstantsynіnay. They are more than 80 years old, they are open, friendly people. They shared their memories of life under Poland, about working in their farm. Many experiences with them are associated with the events of the Great Patriotic War, when there were policemen in the village and Vlasovites came to see that they were stationed in neighboring Pantusavici, Nyankawa and Novoselki, and partisans. About the post-war construction of the farm managed to learn from Fedor Filippovich, who worked all his life on the collective farm on a tractor, was constantly in the forefront, has many awards. He talked about the difficulties of the first days of the collective farm, and about the technology that was used. Vera Konstantinovna spoke about the hard work of a village woman, who had to work on the collective farm, and raise three sons, and take care of her own farm. Years and hard work have not spared her – she, as she says herself, grew old. But, despite the difficulties, she managed to create magnificent embroidered towels, pillowcases and other decorations of her village hut.
During the expeditions with his memories of the work of the Astashyn school and the life of the village in the 80-90s. shared the Moroz Dmitry Borisovich, the former director of this school, and now the teacher of the history of the Verab’evitskaya school, local historian.
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Seminar-training “Using the potential of rural areas for the development of tourism”
On April 18, a seminar-training was announced earlier on the basis of Verab’evitskaga kindergarten – secondary school. It was attended by Nikolai Leontievich Evdokimenko, the head of the Advisory Point for the Grodno region as part of the Living History of My Territory Project, invited by the leading experts and Humenna Vitaly Stanislavovich, biologist, editor and presenter of the popular science program of the Grodno television “In the Naturalist’s Lens” . Among the participants there were representatives of the Education, Sports and Tourism Department, teachers of the local school, employees of the rural club and libraries, representatives of the museum and tourist company “Novogrudok-Tour”, schoolchildren.
During the seminar, the project coordinator Yaroshuk MV acquainted with the current activities within the project and the immediate tasks and planned activities. Teacher Verab’evitskai School Moroz D.By. told about the interesting places of the Astashinsk village council, both natural and historical. All those present were struck by the admiration with which Dmitry Borisovich talks about his native land, the depth and thoroughness of his knowledge, his indifference to the fate of his land. The principal of the school Dranitsa AV analyzed the present situation of the villages of the Astashinsk village council.
Humenny Vitaly Stanislavovich shared his rich experience, knowledge about the possible use of natural features of the region, its unique rural flavor. He also touched upon the legal foundations of tourism, design and implementation of the tourist route</s>.
Afterwards, under the leadership of Evdokimenko ML and Humenna V.S., they jointly drafted a tour route within the framework of the Novogrudok district and the Astashinsk village council including. The aim was to create a route attractive for a wide range of tourists with the inclusion of natural objects and monuments of history and culture and places of recreation. Discussion of the project showed that for the popularization of their locality new approaches are needed, including the local residents for the pleasure and domestic needs of tourists, and for demonstrating certain activities. It is animation and sabyatsynaya warehouse make the route non-standard, zapaminayuchsysya and famous.
The practical part of the seminar was held directly on the ground. A manor-and-park complex, ruins of a mill, ponds near the village of Ostashino were visited. Vitaly Stanislavovich spoke in detail about the layout of the park, based on the preserved avenues, trees, the age of trees, the uniqueness of the terraced park. The river Valoўka and its banks also have their charm and attractiveness, which can be used for organizing a tourist rest.
What will he see in Ostashino?
Result of research of Ostashino village, historical and cultural and natural objects in its vicinity was the development of the tour route “The Miller’s Path”. On May 20 and 30, excursions to the village of Ostashino and the surrounding area took place in order to approbate this route. The participants of the excursions were urban and village residents, youth and adults, representatives of the initiative group and public organizations. During the excursions, tourists got acquainted with the fate of the older village of Novogrudok district: the life of the villagers in Poland, the peasants’ performance in 1932, the events of Vov and the hard work of the collective farmers. The interest of the participants was also caused by the history of the appearance of Astashinsk ponds, stories about the activities of wooden mills in the vicinity and an attempt to restore them in the 1990s. The park greeted visitors with dense greenery, which further emphasized the majesty of old trees. After the open space of the fields, the tourists appeared to be in a mysterious corner, where they still needed some effort to find the manor house. However, it was in this environment that all kinds of stories from the life of the owners of the estate, including criminal ones, were well received.
Also, an experienced guide introduced participants to the rules and secrets of conducting an excursion, its main stages and means of focusing the attention of listeners.
Of course, the excursions were unusual, they opened for participants a new, almost unknown corner of native Novogrudok. The participants came to the conclusion that it is necessary to continue working in this direction in order to attract more tourists here, to make the village and such beautiful surroundings a popular holiday destination.
Round table “Tourist route” Miller’s path “- prospects of development of the region”
June 26 on the basis of the Novogrudok regional crafts center a round table was held, dedicated to summarizing the results of the project. Representatives of educational institutions, libraries, tourism, hotel and restaurant business, entrepreneurs, local historians and journalists were invited to the meeting.
Fedorchuk L.M., the main expert on tourism and agrarian issues of the Novogrudok District Executive Committee, introduced the guests to the historical and cultural sites, the natural potential of Novogrudok, the development of tourism, and the services provided.
Yaroshuk MV, project coordinator, spoke about the progress of the project “Ostashino: Miller’s Path”, about its main activities, ways of solving the tasks, problems that arose during the implementation. The main results of the project are the opportunity to draw more attention of the local community to its history and culture, the opportunity to acquaint the wide community with the past and present, the existing problems of the oldest village of Novogrudok, including through media publications, leaflets, books. A touristic route is developed with appropriate information stands and signs on the terrain, with the action of the Tourist Information Point on the basis of the Verab’evsky school to facilitate acquaintance with the village of Ostashino and its surroundings. Yaroshuk MV expressed her hope that the initiated work will be continued and will push the initiative people to new ideas.
Shumskaya LR, regional coordinator of the project “Living history of my land”, introduced the participants of the round table to the activities of the Representative Office of dvv international, with the project “The Living History of My Territory”, with successful examples of mini-projects. Liana also presented current projects of other organizations. in which there is an opportunity to participate and submit their applications.
Klimko NA, the director of the Crafts Center, conducted an exciting excursion, introduced the activities of the center, with the Maystrahami, who work here, demonstrated their work. Natalia Alexandrovna told about the services provided by the center, she called for representatives of various organizations to actively cooperate. After the master of the center, they conducted master classes on lazaplyatsennya, salomaplatsennya and weaving on a real workbench.
Participants of the round table also worked on making a souvenir – a symbol of the project: a small bag of grain and a logo of the project.
During the discussion the participants agreed that the main problem in the development of both the local community and the tourist potential of Novogrudok is a certain isolation of individuals and organizations that work in the area, including tourism, and the lack of information about our region and the skills to represent it in such a way as to interest the general public. The importance of such meetings was stressed to discuss problems and search for joint solutions.