Welcome to the Mriya Aid newsletter! Our apologies for the late start - but please join us in celebrating today’s launch of the newsletter with this inaugural first issue!
This week, high school graduates in Kharkiv celebrated their graduation on the ruins of their school that, along with 111 other schools in Ukraine, was shelled and completely destroyed by the occupying army.
A photo by Anna Episheva of her niece standing in a graduation dress on what remains of her school and a video of 10 high school graduates performing a dance on the ruins of the same school, School No. 134, have been widely circulated as a reminder of the resilience of Ukrainians and the criminality of the Russian regime.
The dance in the video is choreographed to Jerry Heil’s song, Mriya. The song (Ukrainian lyrics with English translation) expresses the pain and fear felt during the first weeks of devastation, and Kharkiv School No. 134 was completely destroyed only a few days into the invasion - but the need to defend and support Ukraine remains urgent today. We get closer to rebuilding Ukraine by first helping Ukrainian units on the front lines repel Russian shelling, bombing, looting, and occupation of Ukraine.
Last week’s assertion by Putin that a 17th-century imperial and colonial order must be restored in Europe provides another reminder of the urgent need to help Ukrainians defend democracy and protect their right to exist.
Thank you for supporting Mriya Aid, a 100% volunteer Not-for-Profit sending non-lethal military and medical aid to Ukraine. Our network of experts in logistics, defense and security, and procurement get badly-needed reconnaissance and emergency gear directly to the front lines.
By helping Ukraine repel and overcome the invading Russian army, together we can give today’s Ukrainian youth hope and a chance to rise above the broken pieces of their shattered world. Photographer Stanislaw Senyk set out to capture the pain of the war felt by the students of three graduating classes in Chernihiv so that the students’ future children could see and understand what their parents lived through and survived. He was struck by their strength, resilience, and ability to feel joy in their friendships despite being surrounded by destruction.
The poignancy of those moments captured in ten of Senyk’s photos posted on TheVillageUA reminds us all of the value and importance of freedom, democracy, and caring for others in their darkest days of need.
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