We are posting a series of articles with stories from our employees in Ukraine in their own words. Below is one of those stories; if you'd like to read more, click here.
Alex
I stayed in Kyiv with my mom and cats. After some time of agonising indecision (on my part) and relaxed decisiveness (on my mom’s) a decision against evacuation was made. Admittedly, I kept questioning the decision during the most troubled period when the capital was at risk of a siege, yet I still felt and continue feeling that we are well-protected here. I’d say my mom worries the least, cats were unsettled at first but then got used to it quickly and are only vaguely bothered by the air raid signal from my mobile. It seems that it is left to me to worry for the lot of us. But jokes aside, I do feel extremely lucky that we happen to live in a place removed from most of the action.
After the initial shock we all tried to salvage as much of the normal-life bits as possible, and to continue doing regular things. In came the unholy amount of sugary snacks and junk food, summoned to balance out the incessant updating of the newsfeeds. I try to work out and walk as much as possible in these conditions, which amounts to trying to enjoy nice spring weather while avoiding air raid sirens. In the end, I’m focusing on maintaining my mental health, because apart from the help we can offer to the war effort, I believe that should be our main objective as civilians. Because the war will end, and we will need to live normally again.
Along with my colleagues we continued to work throughout the war, which actually did help a lot, especially at first, to get the mind off things. And I was deeply touched by our customers offering their concern and thoughts, and actual help. Such seemingly small acts of kindness strike the most in these times and help wait out the darkness until the inevitable light finally comes.
Update:
It’s the middle of February and I personally am ready for winter to end. Nevertheless, I’m pretty happy that despite us gearing up for a nearly apocalyptic winter with risk of electricity, heating, and water supply infrastructures going down, it ended up better than feared. But I have to say it was worse for some people, and better for others in terms of power shortages (I was one of the lucky ones). Nevertheless, we did spend our fair share of time without electricity, so candles were a very popular gift this Christmas season. All in all, the objective hasn’t changed - I’m working to keep my mental and physical state as healthy as possible to be able to support myself and donate to help our Armed Forces and volunteers as much as I can to bring the victory closer.