Look, here's a picture of two-year-old me, sitting snug in my jammies on my grandfather's lap in our basement at home. As a first-phase renovation of their tiny lakeside fishing cottage, my parents literally dug this basement by hand before we were born, with nothing but a pair of shovels and their own determination. My mom cozied up the space to turn it into an agreeable sleeping area and playroom for us kids until a phase two addition with proper bedrooms came along a few years later. The basement went on to serve other needs for our family, such as an impromptu hockey rink and a bunker for watching Hogan's Heroes, but more than any others, I treasure the days of waking up in my snug Michigan basement bed full of dolls and teddies, feeling safe, warm, and loved.
* * * * *
This year, I have a math student who is from Ukraine. He has fairly recently been adopted by a local American family, but he grew up in his motherland in a city to the southeast called Mariupol. His childhood was not easy and he spent years in an orphanage so the friends that he made along the way and his older sisters who looked after him are especially near and dear to his heart.
This week, when the Russian army invaded Ukraine, Mariupol came under heavy fire.
Thank goodness, my student is safe here in the States. But his loved ones remain in the city.
They are hunkered down in a basement together, a group of young people mostly cut off from the rest of the world as shells fall relentlessly overhead. Cell phones work intermittently, as electricity is available to keep them charged. My student tries to talk to his sisters every day, and they tell him in no uncertain terms that they are terrified.
He is terrified for them.
These Ukrainians hiding in their Mariupol basements are not safe. And I doubt very much that they are warm. But I hope they know that the whole world is praying for them, and I hope they know that they are loved.
* * * * *
Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes! More stories about an unjust war:
Life of A Math Teacher: Unifix Cubes
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please comment...I'd love to hear from you!