This morning I attended a service for 2 soldiers from Lviv who were killed days ago. The Church of the Most Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, where these services are held, was filled with weeping women, grim-faced men, and both male and female soldiers. Here's a picture of the pre-funeral service held in the church.
Here's a picture of the coffins being carried into the church for the service.
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Afterward I found my friend, Lise. outside the church, with tears streaming down her cheeks. I asked her to come have a coffee with me and we went to a nearby cafe, where tourists around us chatted and laughed, oblivious to what had just happened 3 blocks away.
Here's a pic of Lise with a special Ukrainian roll of toilet paper.....
I haven't been able to find a venue to offer acupuncture at, but Lise and I are volunteering at "Make It Possible Ukraine", a non-profit that gives a variety of enrichment experiences to children who've fled the war zones with their families (mostly mothers).
On Monday Lise led an art project of vision- boarding that allowed children to use various media to express their feelings about themselves, what they've been through, and what they hope for. I was assigned to sit with a 3 or 4-year old girl who had one of the most haunted expressions I've ever seen on a person's face. We traced the children's outlines on construction paper for them to fill with what seemed right to them. Then I just sat with her and held out a sheet of images till she pointed to one for me to cut out so she could glue it onto her outline.
The first image that she glued onto her paper, at the level of her face, was a tank.
It was a slow process, but when we finished she came over to me and hugged me.
The next day there were more boys in the program and I noticed how they often took things from the girls. So it was touching when a volunteer handed out potato chips and this little girl brought her chips over and set them on the table right next to me, looking up with a searching expression to confirm that I wouldn't let anyone take them away from her.
All the children in the program come and hug or shake hands with each of the volunteers when they arrive in and leave the classroom. It seems to me like I can feel what an effort it takes for them, with all the trauma they've experienced and the churn of volunteers arriving and departing, to do this, but there's a level of graciousness that I feel in them that I have rarely experienced in American children, an apparent confirmation that terrible things can bring out the best in us, as well as the worst.
I feel grateful to be here with the other men and women who felt called to come here from all over the world. And proud that there are so many of us from the U.S.
"Make It Possible Ukraine"'s website and donation page are here:
https://makeitpossibleua.org/
Here's a pic of the view from my hotel room window when I got back tonight.
More tomorrow.
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