…Peace. A mutilated word that has lost all meaning due to its absurdity. It is impossible to put up with evil.
What can a woman who has once again sent her husband to war write? More precisely, to the combat zone, because war is what permeates our country; in every corner the siren is wailing and the lottery is on – is this or is it not your last day, judged by the enemy missiles? We can all die every day…
What can a woman write who sees the pain of separation in the eyes of her beloved, as he looks at their dear son once again saying goodbye… At the son who is only one and a half years old. The son whom we were saving from shelling in my belly, evacuating through dangerous mined roads, hungry and exhausted. We were saving ourselves and our future lives, and even our pets, who bravely endured weeks of explosions in the city with us, listening to everything from the bomb shelter. Leaving was a way out, but not a sure one. It was also a lottery. Russian bullets were fired at the car behind us. And the next day, a family was hit by a mine on the road we were traveling… After this news, both my husband and I woke up from our own screams in our sleep…
What can a woman write when she hears her child say “dad” for the first time, and her heart is in pieces – dad is not here, he’s gone. Where is daddy? Dad is far away. He is defending our land from invaders, murderers, rapists. Non-humans who rape and kill even children. Accept it? Who can accept this? The nation’s elite is dying every day. The best of the best. This is nothing new. Not for the first time. Centuries of extermination so that nothing Ukrainian would exist, total insane russification… The imposition of their own culture and language. An executed identity, a tattered, distorted history. A total lie.
What can a woman with a broken but strong heart write about what peace means to her? … This word will only make sense when evil is overcome and punished. Otherwise, all the lives lost, literally and otherwise (because lives are taken from us even while we are alive), will lose their priceless value. Behind us, contemplating this struggle, stand our exterminated ancestors and those who died on the battlefield today, those who did not surrender when tortured, the brave angels of our time. Descendants are growing up, for whose sake the longstanding centennial war must finally be brought to an end. This point is our victory.
Peace is victorious.
Svitlana Fedeshova, actress
The initiative is implemented within the framework of the project “Strengthening the capacity of the women’s network of volunteers in Lviv region” (#FemaleVolunteersLviv) with the technical support of UN Women Ukraine and funded by the UN Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF).
The WPHF is a flexible and rapid funding instrument that supports quality interventions that increase the capacity of local women to prevent conflict, respond to crises and emergencies, and seize key peacebuilding opportunities.
* This publication has been prepared with the financial support of the United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), but the views and contents expressed herein are not necessarily those of the United Nations and are not officially endorsed or recognized by the United Nations.