Daddy, we are waiting for you at home - October 27th 2023

October 27th 2023

Yuriy shares a story of a two-year-old girl's innocent hope amidst the backdrop of conflict. Her unwavering belief that her father will return home serves as a powerful reminder of the human cost of war and the indomitable spirit of those left behind.

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TRANSCRIPT: (Podbean app users can enjoy closed captions)

  It is October 27. 

Recently, we buried the brother of my colleague in journalist work- a very young man who from the early days of a full scale invasion, joined the army, bravely fought and was killed a few weeks ago in enemy shelling. 

His entire family was present at the funeral. We were all grey with grief, standing with trembling arms, unable to do more than cry or pray. Only his two year old daughter who still doesn't understand what death is, ran cheerfully among the graves. When the funeral was over and the wooden cross with a photo over fallen shoulder was placed over his fresh grave, she ran up to the portrait of her father and began to show a small Ukrainian flag to this portrait. She told how kind people gave her this flag, how she would play with it, waiting for her Dad. And when the relatives let her away from the cemetery, she ran back to the cross, looked at the photo with a smile and said, "Daddy, we are waiting for you at home." 

She doesn't understand that her Dad is no longer, where she still thinks it's some incomprehensible adult game, just hiding her father somewhere and not seeing him for a long time. She does not like this game much, but if adults decided to play with her, what can she do? She'll wait for her dad. 

But he won't come back. He will never read her stories again or teach her to ride a bike or accompany her to school or visit her a happy birthday. He's gone because our reckless neighbors decided that we must come to our land and kill the father of this little girl and thousands of other fathers, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, brothers and sisters of such little girls and boys.

You know, for me, Russia now forever associates with woes great people at the funeral with an unquenchable grief, with endless roles of graves where very young people lie. And when someone even many years later starts talking about the need to forget all the evil brought by the Russians, to forgive them for the terrible crimes, I will see in front of my eyes that two year old girl talking to the photo of her father on the grave: "Daddy, we are waiting for you at home."