I've had one pen pal in my life — and I am deeply worried about her. When Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, my thoughts immediately went to my Ukrainian friend, Yaroslava Sidorenko.
When I was a freshman at T.L. Weston High School, we had a Russian teacher whose name I unfortunately do not remember. I did not take any of her classes, but I was that weird student who befriended teachers more than my own classmates. From time to time, I would stop by her room between classes just to chat, usually about her life in Russia.
I don’t remember any of the details of what she told me, but she made Russia sound like this incredible country I desperately wanted to visit someday.
I’m quite sure, being I was just a 14-year-old student at the school where she taught, she left out all of the negative talking points and only told me the good things about Russia’s culture. We never discussed politics, the country's history, who was in power, nothing along those lines. Instead, she focused on the everyday people and told me about their music, food, clothing fashions, etc...
One day, this Russian teacher told me she had a friend in Ukraine — Feodosia, Crimea, to be exact — whose daughter wanted a pen pal in the United States. She asked if I would be interested and I didn't hesitate to say ‘yes.’
I remember how nervous I felt when writing that first letter to Yaroslava. I wasn’t sure what to say to someone I had never met who lived in a country on the other side of the world that I knew very little about.
And so, I just told her about my life — the subjects I was studying in school, my family, church, the foods I eat, my hobbies and interests, and so on.
It was several weeks before I heard back from her — mail between our countries was quite slow. Her first letter to me was just like mine, explaining about her culture, schooling, foods, etc. She told me she went by the nickname Slavik, and I told her my nickname was Cat. She liked my nickname so much, all her letters from then on would include at least one sticker of a cat.
Our letters went back and forth throughout our high school years. She would send me postcards and letters from her family's vacations to the Black Sea and often commented that I should visit so we could vacation there together.
One time we even sent each other packages filled with snacks, movies, toys, pictures and more of items from our country.
I still have the package she sent me. The only things left in it now are two stuffed animals, a chicken and a bear, and a desk calendar with pictures of various places throughout Ukraine.
Inside that package, I found two letters from her I saved.
One was a lengthy letter telling me about the International Coral Club Company she was a member of. On the backside of the letter, she put a picture of Tom Hanks and wrote, “it is your best actor, isn’t it?” Underneath Tom Hanks is a picture she drew of a man holding a martini while laying back under a beach umbrella at the Black Sea.
In the other envelope was a very colorful birthday card from the year I turned 17. The front of the card pictures the band Aerosmith, a can of Coca Cola and a bucket of popcorn. The words on the card are all in Ukrainian and to this day I still don’t know what it says.
Inside the birthday card was an even smaller card that reads, “I’ll never 4get U” on the front. Inside, Slavik wrote this message: “Let every day be brisk and interesting, let your beautiful dreams come true! Let all world be wonderful and joyful, as in this day when you are seventeen.”
If only things today were as they were when I was 17.
I’m sad to say Slavik and I slowly drifted apart after I started college. I’ve tried finding her on Facebook throughout the years, but I haven’t had any luck.
As I watch the news of the events unfolding in Ukraine, I can’t help but worry about Slavik. Is she OK? Is she and her family safe? I hope and pray they are.
This developing war should be focused on more than foreign politics. It’s about the "everyday people" — they are the ones being affected the most. People in Ukraine have already started losing their family and friends. I just read a terribly sad story of a 6-year-old girl who died from Russian shelling. That small child did not deserve to have her life cut so short. And for what? Her story is, sadly, not unique.
If the likes of Vladimir Putin would open their eyes and see what truly matters — the people — a lot of this nonsense would stop. What good is a nation without its people supporting it?
We've seen throughout history the results of where lust for power and control gets you. It's never a good ending.
Catherine Kirk is managing editor of the Delta Democrat-Times. She can be reached at ckirk@ddtonline.com.
