From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 925)
Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
Psalm 25:3
The air raid lasted through the night – from 11:30 pm until 8:30 am. It took me about an hour to get to school (instead of the usual 20 minutes). We started our lessons late but most students were still joining us an hour later.
I caught myself feeling grateful that these unbearably long air raids happened at night and not during our school day.
Today was the first time (since we started our school year) that we had to go to the basement with our students. The air raid wasn’t long, but an observation struck me. When the sirens went off, I had a lesson with the kids who started school in 2022 during the full-scale invasion. They don’t know a reality in which they don’t have air raids. They were extremely fast and organized when going to the basement, and one of them casually reminded his classmates, “Guys, let’s go! If it’s the threat of ballistic missiles, we only have about a minute!”
I wanted to freeze in my footsteps, but life is too intense and fast-paced to process these abnormalities that we barely notice anymore.
One of my students wrote in their journal today, “Today, rockets were flying towards Kyiv, and I couldn’t sleep. But I go to school, and I’m happy. I love my school very much.”
This became the encouragement that kept me going for the rest of this crazy day. If our school can be our kids’ highlight and safe haven amid war, then we’re doing the right thing.
Voice of Ukraine 