Wake up.
Telegram channels – check. EU media newsletters – check.
Contrast shower. Breakfast.
Parents safe – check. President’s daily report – check.
Good to go? Seems so. For a day. For a month. For a year.
The same routine follows me every step across the walls and borders, at the airports and co-working spaces, in shared flats and dorm rooms. It has been one year since February 24, 2022 – when Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. And this same routine became the only constant in the lives of us Ukrainians, and others whose hearts have felt for the Ukrainian nation in the past 365 days.
Beyond the routine, we, Ukrainians, still attempt to keep up hope, aiming to accomplish the life-changing milestones we initially set in front of ourselves as individuals and a nation-state. Our fighters relentlessly defend each step of Ukrainian land. Our diplomats enter each of the existing doors of the global political arena to secure support now and ensure our successful EU integration in the future. And our citizens do not remain mere observers either.
I want to believe that I am not a mere observer either.
I am determined to contribute to a better tomorrow, for Ukraine and for Europe. Determined to bring impact with the work I do every day. Determined to learn how to better tell stories that could shift political narratives and save lives. I am empowered by my nation. Empowered by my family who has stoically stayed in Odesa. And recently, I am also empowered by my team and the values Savion Ray stands for.
Sometimes exactly this, seemingly distant, workplace support is just enough to tip the scales from the state of desperate uncertainty to the strongest motivation to continue the fight.
Last year, in the midst of the Ukrainian spring northeastern counter-offensive, I was handed an opportunity to be interviewed for an internship at Savion Ray. I applied with anticipation of little to no chance for a foreign company’s willingness to deal with the complications of the Ukrainian employment contract, let alone the emotional turmoil the war was causing.
I was proven wrong. The Savion Ray team took upon the mission to not just help me get my career path started but also assist me in filing all the necessary paperwork and help with the last-minute housing arrangements. The team effort did not end with just successfully bringing me in.
Jointly, we launched the Voices from Ukraine initiative. While encouraging young and aspiring Ukrainian writers and journalists to share their stories with us, we struggled to collect and raise these voices in the way we intended. Not only was the in-house editorial work hard to fit into an already busy schedule for our client work, but many (though not all) of the approached media already had “enough coverage on Ukraine”.
While it might have been not as effective as we planned it to be, we managed to give those writers hope and extended their stories, even if just one tiny step further.
I am writing this as Putin wraps up his state of the nation address in Moscow, accusing Ukrainians of promoting the neo-nazi movement and being blinded by the western “unorthodox” ideologies. It is not at all far-fetched that we will witness another 24th of February with God-knows-what level of threat to civilian infrastructure and harm done to innocent people.
But this time it will not get anybody off guard. What may have felt like square one a year ago, today feels like one of the crucial pushes or last jumps before crossing the finish line. There will be more fights back home. There will be more stories that must be told. And there will be more authentic Voices from Ukraine that need to come out. Stories of loss, love, hope, and resilience.
One year on, I am more prepared, emotionally and professionally, to give Voices from Ukraine another push. Storytelling will be my battlefield and the freedom of Ukraine is the tale I will live to tell. The Savion Ray team has got my back.
In the words of John Steinbeck:
It isn’t that the evil thing wins — IT NEVER WILL — but that it doesn’t die.
Let’s not let evil win together. Tell us your story.