Hi!
I am writing to you from the train. It’s hot in here. The train is old and creaking. The train is talking to me:
- Hi. To Vinnytsia?
I’m answering:
- Yes. The war cannot stop me.
The train:
- Oh, girl. You’re doing the right thing. You should live. Look at me. I’m old and tired but still on my duty.
I imagined that the train winked at me.
So, I’m on my way to the city I’ve been to twice. The first time was sad and cold. I went to the funeral of my Uncle. It was many years ago. I came early in the morning and desperately needed some hot coffee. And I found the cafe. I remember very well an honorable grey man serving me a cup of something hot. Probably, it was coffee. I was always a coffee person. There were also a lot of clocks. An honorable man showed me them and told the stories.
I want to find that cafe, that man, those clocks.
OMG. I planned to start with quite a different story. As the letter about Vinnytsia with some pictures and places (I hope) will be on Sunday or maybe tomorrow.
So what is the story?
He is from Kharkiv.
He? The taxi driver took me to the railway station in Kyiv. His name is Yuriy. Father of two little princesses. His family fled from Kharkiv in March last year. Firstly, they came to Western Ukraine and stayed there till September. Yuriy took his family to Kyiv after that.
- You know, children need to study. My tiny princess is five. Now she goes to kindergarten. My oldest one goes to school and also dances. In Kharkiv? I’ve been there recently. Schools and kindergartens don’t work. Oh, life is more frozen there. No traffic jams, the cars are almost flying on the streets (and by the way, it causes a lot of accidents on the roads).
Yuriy cannot return to his hometown as it will be hard to find a job. He is a taxi driver. He needs people going here and there.
- Kharkiv has changed. I walk through the streets. Unfamiliar faces are looking at me. A lot of people fled from the city. New ones came…
They rent an apartment in Kyiv. Yuriy desperately wants to go home.
- I need to work. And the girls feel good at their new school and kindergarten. What if we return and the situation in Kharkiv will be even worse? I don’t know. I don’t know.
I hugged this wounded family with all my heart. Yuriy, his wife, and his two princesses left everything at home. Their friends, habits, familiar faces and places, jobs, and well-being.
I gave him generous tips and warm wishes to be ok.
It hurts how much this war ruins our lives. It shouldn’t be like that. It shouldn’t.
The train sings its song for me. I look at the window, my eyes absorb spring beauty, and my heart repeats in the rhythm of the train’s song:
- We should win. We should win. We should… We…
And the moment of silence now for all dead and wounded during the night’s attack. For these small children whose lives took missiles. For these adults who had plans to live today. For all lost dreams.
Just to remind you: this night, russians sent 21 missiles over Ukraine. They hit apartment buildings in Uman and Dnipro, killing innocent people. Children among them.
That’s all for today. I hope to come back to you soon with a new letter.
Strong hugs from Ukraine,
Yara (or Yaroslava)