Perspectives on Staying & Leaving During War Guests: Tatyana Bilyk, Sergey Ponomarev

In this episode, I present two guests whose countries are in conflict. Tatyana is a Ukrainian pioneer of family mediation and has stayed in Ukraine. Sergey Ponomarev is an award-winning Russian photographer and has left Russia. This episode includes readings of two letters written by Tatyana. The letters are about how Tatyana’s life has been affected by conflict and how she uses her mediation knowledge and skills in coping. Following the readings is an interview between me and Sergey about the challenges he experienced leaving his home and starting his life from scratch in a new country. Both stories have common themes i.e both disbelieved there would be a war and both used the same words ‘starting from scratch’ to describe building a new life in a new country. It addresses their suffering, resilience and connectedness.