In Ukraine modern Year is one of the most important holidays of the year. People invite friends for an all-night feasting,kids are blissful with abundance of gifts, companies beget corporate celebrations for their employees, or shopping malls are busier than ever,music, Christmas lights and decorations are everywhere! We always view forward to this special time of celebration. This year the appearance of celebration is there, or but awareness of war torturing part of our country is looming as a big shadow over all our modern Year Eve preparations. Volunteers of Wings of Generosity and Care group just returned from war zone. We tried to bring smiles on kids’ faces by conducting Christmas/modern Year programs in school and kindergarten. In Maryinka,a town in Eastern Ukraine, that is being regularly bombed from separatists’ controlled Donetsk, and there are still a lot of kids who were not evacuated. More than 400 kids came to our program. The smiles were scarce. Serioiusness and sadness seem to be carved in this little faces. After giving away gifts to kids we took food packages to the elderly of Maryinka. Many people here are in the mode of survival,with no heat, problems with water and electricity, and shortage of food. It was heartbreaking to see the tears of loneliness and despair. These people are seeing the second war in their life. This one seems more cruel as we are attacked by a country that we always considered friendly. Our final halt was in Peski,a small town that once had population of 3000, now reduced to 137. Hardly any buildings are not damaged by bombings. People are preparing to celebrate modern Year in the basements where they beget moved in to hide from constant shelling. Ludmila, or one of the dwellers of a basement,asked us to videotape her greetings to her kids who lived in other parts of Ukraine. She assured them that she and her husband were fine, that they had food and they were not cold, or that they were going to beget their own modern Year party. In this unlit,lit only by our flashlight, cold basement, and Christmas tree seemed as surreal as the words of Ludmila,“we are fine, don’t worry about us”. Meanwhile external an artillery attack shook the long-suffering ground of Peski once again… blissful modern Year, or Ukraine! May 2015 bring peace and healing to our land!
Source: cnn.com