My partner of almost 10 years moved to Canada from Ukraine when he was 14. His dad and many cousins still live there. I've been there 3 times, and loved every visit. Once in 2014 with the Khreschatik still a mess with tires and army tents after the Maidan protests. That trip showed me the strength, resilience, convictions and nationalism on these people. By some strange life circumstances, I've gone to a tiny Ukrainian sleep away camp since I was 7, singing the Ukrainian hymn twice a day and learning songs. That's actually where I met my current partner, when I came back as a young adult to be a camp counsellor. And where I met who I consider my best friend Vlad, amazing artist that we do fun build projects at the dacha with. The camp has been cancelled the past 2 years because of Covid, I don't know if we'll ever bring it back since it's all on our shoulders at the moment. I'm personally only tangentially Ukrainian, from my mom's mother's side - but we don't know very much about it since she was an orphan. My mom still has cousins there on the Belorussian border. Needless to say it's been a hard week, it's a people close and dear to my heart.

War sucks, Putin Huilo, Slava Ukraini, Smert' Voroham 😡