(MENAFN- The Conversation)
A colleague from Kyiv, Ukraine, whom I'll call N.M., sent me brief essays her students wrote on what they would do when the war ends. As both a scholar and a novelist , I knew that these voices, which expressed a beautifully straightforward and pure yearning for the simplest things that are lost in war, needed to be heard by the world.
The essays were written in English, and N.M., who has a master's degree in English language and literature, told me she made only“2-3 corrections.” The students attend the 10th and 11th grades at a Kyiv school, are 15 to 17 years old, and hail from the capital city and its suburbs. The essays were written between March 14 and March 18, 2022.
Several themes run through most of the essays. The teens yearn for peace and want to do ordinary things, such as meet family and friends, take walks, enjoy the city. Daily routines have become extraordinary after several weeks of war. All intend to stay in Ukraine. Despair is absent. The students expect the war to end with a Ukrainian victory, and they're decidedly proud to be Ukrainian.
Their optimism is all the more remarkable in light of the essays' having been written in mid-March, when anything like victory seemed remote. Many of the students have also learned an important existential lesson: Life can be cut short at any time, and it's imperative to live it to the hilt.
Before the war, Ukrainian teens weren't thinking about bombs or hunger. Mykola Miakshykov/Future Publishing via Getty Images Diana captures the overall mood well:
Like Diana, Masha yearns for the ordinary:
Dasha's expectations are equally quotidian:
Nastya, meanwhile, says,
Anya's discovered the depth of her patriotism:
So has Sofia:
Growing up fast: A group of teens listening to a military medic who came to teach them first aid on Feb. 20, 2022, in Skole, Ukraine. Gaelle Girbes/Getty Images Vlad is also feeling patriotic:
Hlib's optimism is both religious and political:
Anzhelika's expectations concern politics – and food:
Alina picks up on the theme of Ukraine's strength:
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A second Alina looks at the war's cost - and how Ukraine will move forward in its aftermath:
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