We are (all) Ukrainians

“We feel grief. We feel anger. We feel sadness. We feel mobilized to help. We feel energized. But we feel that our life, it's not the same as it was before.” // “We're on a precipice and people will say why wasn't more done. This is about Ukraine right now, but may not stay about Ukraine. And so not doing anything, it's not an option.” While a tragedy continues to unfold in Ukraine, it remains...abstract ...for many of us. Something terrible happening in a faraway place to a faraway people. We see photos and videos online - a horror is happening to a people we do not know over there, and sadly, we find ourselves going back to our busy lives over here. Ukraine is a sovereign nation of 44 MILLION, with a rich, beautiful culture and people. There's more than another 10 Million folks of Ukrainian heritage living outside of the country, among one of the world's largest diaspora populations. We can’t solve the Ukrainian crisis with our podcast. But what we can do is create more empathy and understanding. So we sat down with some Ukie friends - old and new - to learn about their Ukrainian heritage, their personal stories, and their very real feelings in this moment. Olesya Govorun was born in Kyiv, and lives in NY, and a longtime friend of Raman’s. Adrianna Melnyk is a 3rd generation Ukrainian American, a non-profit professional active in the Ukrainian American community. Both are daughters, mothers, wives, and all around amazing people living through a unthinkable moment for them, and especially their countrymen. Hear their stories, because whether we know it or not, we are ALL Ukrainians. HOW TO HELP: supportukrainenow.org MENTIONS: Zelenskyy Speech to EU Parliment: youtu.be/hVvkdwksxMw PERSON: Volodymyr Zelenskyy - wikipedia.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelenskyy BOOK: The Gates of Europe - goodreads.com/book/show/25255053-the-gates-of-europe PERSON: Timothy Snyder - timothysnyder.org FILM: Klondike (2022) - imdb.com/title/tt16315948 FILM: Winter on Fire (2015) - imdb.com/title/tt4908644 UKIE FOOD (NYC): secretnyc.co/ukrainian-businesses-nyc