We used to read about war in books

Novi team member, Luda, recently went to an exhibition in Ukraine. Here she writes what she saw, and what it made her realize: 

We used to read about wars in books. We watched movies, listened to stories from older generations, and believed it all belonged to the past. War felt like something that existed only on the pages of history textbooks. But now we are living through a war, and we see its consequences almost every day.

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What struck me about this exhibition is that it is placed outdoors, right beneath the windows of a residential building. The sun shines on the balconies, everyday life is visible through the windows… and right beside it lie the remains of war.

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Parts of rockets, launch tubes, pieces of metal that not long ago carried death. Nearby stands a car riddled with bullet holes, as if someone tried to erase it from the face of the earth. And suddenly you realize: this is not a museum somewhere far away. This is our reality.

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Looking at these fragments, I think about children. About the children we work with. About how they are growing up surrounded by these stories: by sirens, by news about missiles. And at the same time, they continue to laugh, to dream, to draw, and to make plans.

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What amazes me is not only the cruelty of war. What amazes me is the strength of people who live alongside its traces and still choose life. One day, the metal and debris will be melted down. The destroyed cars will disappear. The walls will be repaired.

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But I hope the memory will remain. So that we never forget the price we pay for peace. And so that our children can have a future without war.

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That is why I work with children today, to help them get through this time, to overcome the consequences of war, and not lose their faith in life, in people, and in their country. Because children should grow up with hope, not with fear.

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And that is something worth working for every single day.

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Luda comes from the Donetsk region of Ukraine. When Russia invaded Ukraine, they occupied her part of the country and she and her family lost everything they owned, their home, their business, their community. Luda is currently living with her family in Kyiv and she works with Novi.
 

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