top of page

Lina sings her thanks for us on Easter Day

Invasion day +52 Today we offer our wishes and thoughts for all in Ukraine and all those in refuge in the surrounding countries. You are in our minds and our hearts hoping for peace soon. Lina sings words of thanks and calm from Kharkiv and we offer a poem from H.E. London and encouragement to donate for the book 'Sunflowers for Ukraine'. Please send us your address and we will send you a copy against a donation if you can.


Easter, traditionally a time of peace and joy for those who are free, sees this terrible war increasingly removed from public immediacy to the inside pages of our contemporary narrative. Except for those who have to suffer it first hand. We ask that, as far as we can amidst all our pressures of life right now, we keep Ukraine in the forefront of our minds. Not to do so will give tyranny a helping hand. The world, and Ukraine in particular but not forgetting Yemen, the Middle East and all those places at war, need us to focus on all our efforts for peace.


Please pass on the blog to your friends and wherever you feel able, it is a small gesture but one of many as we shall see in the plea we will post tomorrow from Alexie Navalny, a Hogsward hero, as well as a global hero for freedom, justice and truth.


But firstly, an apology for suggesting there was an element of hope to the families of the 510 sailors of the Moskva. In our post on Thursday we expressed the wishful thinking that Putin, just for once in his sordid, grubby life, might have been telling the truth and that the crew of the Moskva had indeed been saved. It seems that according to the latest western analysts, most, if not nearly all of the crew perished with their ship. Another thousand, probably more, grieving relatives and friends. It is Easter: we had things to say but will hold onto them. We need peace soon.


Todays Letters:


From Lina, in Kharkiv


Anna writes about Lina:


Lina’s song is about Ukraine. She is saying how much she loves the country she lives in and asks the Lord to protect Ukraine.


Lina and Lora are sisters, and Lora is older. Lina studies at the musical college and Lora is a student of the Arts University. Lora can dance very well and at the moment she is trying to find a part time job as a yoga or dance instructor. Lina is too young to work, in Ukraine employers are rarely ready to hire someone under 18. Besides, now there is not a lot of work in Kharkiv. Lina is in Kharkiv right now. She is staying with grandmother.


The family is quite poor and they even have to grow vegetables to store for the winter. That is one of the reasons why Lina and one of the grandmothers refuse to leave - they still hope to be able to plant some vegetables. Lina is studying to be a conductor. She is talented at music and baking. When we had offline classes in Kharkiv, she brought home made cakes.


I’ve known them for about 2.5 years. They’ve always seemed to be very hard-working, and what fascinates me is that unlike many other teenagers, they never look for excuses to skip classes. A couple of times Lora had online classes from a changing room of the university gym and Lina has classes even during shelling, staying in the basement or sitting in the corridor (the corridor is considered to be the safest place because people are protected by two walls).

Have a good Easter weekend.


Anna


Dear Hoggy,


Hope you are well. Here is a video from me. I am saying thank you and I have prepared a song as a gratitude for you all.




I hope you have a Happy Easter,


Lina.


Dear Lina, (and Anna)


It is a beautiful song again and thank you for sending it. You are so calm and this is as inspiring as your courage.


Thank you Anna for telling us more about the girls, moving stories which have generated a wave of support here and we hope to be able to send out some more money to help with food for you all very soon.


We send you and Lora, your friend, every wish for peace, safety and a future without fear.


Ukraine will be rebuilt brick by brick and peace will one day flow over your land again.


And we all hope we can hear you sing live before too long!


Thinking of you both and your families,


Hoggy



From H.E. London, writer and poet, Devon.


Dear Hoggy,


Here is an Easter poem for Ukraine.


Sunflower

Reach high sweet little sunflower

To escape the tenebrous weeds.

Reach up towards the clear blue sky,

To spread your tenacious seeds


Let not the early eastern sun

Cover the end of day with gloom.

Open out your yellow petals,

To the western afternoon.


Thrive and grow on bombsites,

In fields, hillsides and lanes.

Spread fast and thick throughout the land,

Let your yellow petals reign.


One day you will stand triumphantly,

Linking leaves thickly row on row.

No chance for the creeping tendrils

Of the morbific weeds to grow.


The ground will blaze bright yellow,

Proclaiming for all who care to see.

That the sweetest little sunflower,

Can smother the aggressive weeds.



H.E. London


Dear Miss London,


Thank you. A very fitting poem given the vegetable growing of Lina and her grandmother that we hear of in Kharkiv today.


You certainly use some interesting words and like many of us may need to I imagine, I dived into the dictionary for tenebrous, certainly an appropriate word for the situation, thanks for extending my vocabulary! It is a heart warming poem for the future.


Hoggy


From Will Henry P. , writer and poet, Scotland



Dear Hoggy,


'Sunflowers for Ukraine' arrived yesterday and I thought this friend of mine might well be one of the first to donate from the book? Here he is to mark the occasion anyway,


Easter wishes to all.


Will Henry P.




Dear Will,


Thank you and thanks to your friend, I hope he doesn't mind us showing his picture and well done for thinking of the photo!


He may well have been the first although that would depend on timing as several copies went out from here at around the same time. Who's counting! You are doing a brilliant job and please keep spreading the word for Ukraine.


Please ask all your donors to check into the blog whenever they can? We need support to support Ukraine. Freedom and peace will return for the people of Ukraine.


Best wishes for Easter Will,


Hoggy


We had a busy mail box today but as it is Easter and much will be happening we will keep the letters for the coming days. Please do keep writing in, it is very powerful, we may be few but we are providing much hope and active support. Thank you everyone and may the peace of Easter hopes be upon us all. Soon. Hoggy






























Comments


bottom of page