Vitalia stayed in Kyiv from the first days of the war. She had travelled extensively across Ukraine before – knew every city, every street. And when the shelling began, every piece of news about another strike pulled her into memories: Mariupol, where she had been just before Christmas, Chernihiv, where she had celebrated her birthday, the cities of the Donetsk region where she had worked for two years. These were not just news items – they were places she would never see again.
She found her resource where she had always found it – in nature. And in one specific image she sees every day in Kyiv traffic on Saksahanska Street: trees growing without roots on the rooftops of old buildings.
“THE STRENGTH OF A SEEDLING IS SO GREAT THAT IT CAN BREAK THROUGH ASPHALT. NATURE ALWAYS SHOWS US AN EXAMPLE OF HOW TO LIVE, HOW NOT TO GIVE UP, AND HOW TO RESTORE YOURSELF.”
Four seasons in nature are four seasons in our lives, she says. Every spring gives us the chance to reassess something, to change, to begin again. Nature does this without stopping, without complaint – and that is the most important lesson it gives us.
“Nature is a manifesto. About salvation and about understanding that there is only one queen. And that is nature.”
Project: Healing Land.Voices Voice: Vitalia Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
