This nation survived hundreds of years being repressed and humiliated by "Big Brother" Russia as an empire and Soviet Union either. This story is a great display of how we managed to do it, and why we are to prosper now. -- Ed.
I enjoy reading the Facebook page of our village.
Before the war, messages like these were common:
“Rooster for sale. Young, handsome, cheeky.”
And then the comments follow:
“Does he chase the others’ hens?”
“No. He’s pissed ours the f*ck off already.”
Now, they changed to the military ones:
“Where can I buy tobacco? Ran out of cigarettes.”
“Is the market open?”
And then the comments follow:
“Go see yourself. If you return safe and sound — tell us.”
As everywhere — people share any information. “I’ll give, I’ll sell, I’ll buy, help me with…”
And from the first days of the war there is a message which appears every day:
“I bake bread, 10-15 loaves. We will distribute it for free today in the centre at such-and-such time.”
The war is getting closer to the village.
And, nevertheless, she writes it every day, “…we will distribute it today in the centre…”
The fish factory burned down after the enemy bombardment, someone has already found an unexploded shell in the garden, some houses have burned down, people get evacuated by buses — and, nevertheless, she writes every day, “I bake bread. 10-15 loaves…”
And for some reason, Lina Kostenko’s poem “Ivan Mowing the Grass” comes to my mind [Ivan, a famous Ukrainian actor, in one of his roles looks simply beautiful while doing his everyday routine — Ed.].
Among dozens of comments of gratitude and admiration appear business comments like in Gogol stories:
“Tomorrow we will go to the village. How much yeast shall we take?”
“As much as you can.”
And, shortly after:
“Please bring some flour!”
And that’s what is happening in hundreds of towns, villages and settlements of Ukraine — people are baking, netting, helping.
Halyna Falko, you are amazing! I wish you enough strength to bake this bread every day :)
Until our Victory.
And let there be all sorts of buns to celebrate the Victory!
Svitlana Yaremchuk
March 15 at 5:34 p.m.
Read original text here
Ukrainian Text by Svitlana Yaremchuk, translated into English by Ukrainianvancouver team – Mar 31, 2022