"The war is here."
Random thoughts on being in the country next door to the war in Ukraine.
That’s what my friend Marek said (meet him here) as we walked through the main train station in Krakow a few days ago. He pointed out the food pantry (pictured above) and temporary shelter for Ukrainian women and children who have no place to go. There are volunteers from various agencies and security detail keeping close watch.
Once he said those three words, I began seeing for myself just what he was talking about. Signs of war were everywhere, and not just the banners hanging on terraces like this one…
…or blackboards outside bars like this one….
…or even rallies and heart-felt speeches in the Rynek Główny (Main Market Square) in Old Town like this one…
I’m thinking of the young woman in the train station, maybe in her twenties, who was struggling with her suitcase as she tried pulling it up a flight of stairs. I lent a hand, then patted her arm. She began to cry. So did I. She turned away and joined the line for supplies.
I’m thinking of the three boys, maybe brothers, who threw a bouncy ball against a low wall several feet from the World Central Kitchen tent outside of the train station, presumably to pass the endless hours of unknowing and uncertainty.
I’m thinking of the sound of chanting I heard from my hotel window, coming from the Orthodox Christian church just a few hundred feet away. It was midnight, the first moment of Orthodox Easter. People gathered in the street, holding candles. Some carried baskets filled with provisions for the priest would bless. The priest looked down at the crowd from a second-floor window of the church. They sang and chanted well into the night, maybe until around three.
When Marek came to meet me for breakfast around nine, a new, even larger group of worshippers emerged, standing in the rain in a line that extended for several blocks. We marvelled at the massive crowd (pictured above) and then it occurred to Marek: Orthodox Christianity is the dominant faith in Ukraine (not Poland, which is majority Catholic). Faith is one of the few things Ukrainians have left. This is why they stand in the rain waiting for their baskets to be blessed and for a glimmer of hope that one day soon, this horror will end.
But for now, the war is here.
(For a deeper dive on Orthodox Christiantity within the context of war, I recommend reading this great explainer in The Washington Post.)
@monica mcduffie writes: My heart was heavy and happy, secure and and saddened to read this .
I feel sooooo happy she is there with Marek and he with her outside of their initial meeting at train station ; a lifelong friendship and bond they have and are forming fitting for these moments in this historic time for Polandia extended