“Love her in love, in labour, and in fight, As if she were a song at heaven’s portal… Love her with all your heart and all your might, And with her glory we shall be immortal.” – From the poem Love Ukraine by Volodymyr Sosiura (1944)
My mother was my stronghold, my everything. I was 20 when the war broke out. My brothers were 12 and 17. We all could have left the country but my father was obliged to stay. My mother wouldn’t leave his side. She packed up for me and my two brothers to save our lives and sent us to stay with friends in the Western part of Hungary. Days pass and we cannot communicate and when they finally call, I want to be with them. We fear for their lives each day.
Grandma was love embodied, though she didn’t have an easy life. She lost her husband very early, soon after the birth of their second child and she had to learn young to bear the challenges of life alone. She was dedicated to her family. She didn’t yearn for fame and glamour. Her grace was the strength she gained by facing questions and difficulties with faith and determination. She would say, “the thought of God turns trouble into ease, sorrow into solace, and toil into utter peace.”
Sisters, best friends, neighbours? Young Ukrainian women photographed some 100 years ago. Graceful costumes, beautiful jewellery, dignified people. Heritage carried on in souls.
“And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.” – Shakespeare
“For a long time this was my favourite photo of our family because it reminded me of the moment it was taken. My mother was holding me tight. I felt safe and protected and could never imagine anything bad happening to me. I wish I could turn back time to feel the warmth of my parents, to be able to play with my brother and sister in our garden again.”
Beautiful treasures that have come my way this week!
“O ye beloved, and ye handmaids of the Merciful! This is the day when the Day-Star of Truth rose over the horizon of life, and its glory spread, and its brightness shone out with such power that it clove the dense and high-piled clouds and mounted the skies of the world in all its splendour. Hence do ye witness a new stirring throughout all created things.” – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
“I lived in Paris at the time and on Wednesdays we would have weekly meetings for a circle of women. We would excitedly talk about the suffragette movement and how to improve the status of women. One day, an American lady, the wife of a wealthy industrialist, stopped in town, on her way to the Holy Land. She told us she was about to travel to Akka in Palestine to learn more about unity and the equality of men and women. She wanted to meet the Head of the Baha’i faith there. It was 1904 and I had never heard about this […]
“It was a summer afternoon when the photographer came to my grandparents’ home. Grandpa being a writer and grandma a famous conductor, a local magazine was running an article about them and there was a photoshoot in their home. I was 16 at the time and loved spending summer vacations at their house and enjoying their library. Grandma asked the photographer to take some pictures of me as well. And if you ask now whether my grandparents were a source of inspiration in my life, my answer is absolutely yes. We spent many evenings debating on questions a teenager would want […]
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