Life is like an embroidered canvas. So many hours of painstaking work and tiny stitches made by skillful and deft hands. Colors and patterns are so intertwined that you can no longer tell “red that is love” from “black that is sorrow.” Yet, if you look closely at Ukrainian embroidery just once, no one and nothing will convince you that life consists only of black and white stripes. In fact, we are surrounded by a gigantic canvas with a magnificent pattern!
Start
Vision and mood
Granddad Vasyl and Grandma Shura have been together for 57 years, in joy and sorrow, trials and hardships. It is too much of the latter, but they do not complain. Their neat and pretty home was always filled with love, warmth of heart, coziness, and care for each other. The house is no longer there, but care and love remain. This is what keeps the couple going and keeps them from despair.
Step 1. Dress
Their Novoselivka house was destroyed by a Russian shell this spring, and everything they had created and gathered over their many years together was turned into rubble. But Granddad Vasyl and Grandma Shura grieve most not over their lost property but for family photos, Oleksandra Hryhorivna’s embroidery, and Mr. Vasyl’s woven baskets. The hard-working couple is widely known as talented craftsmen in their native Novoselivka.
“My wife is a great embroideress. It is not easy to find towels and shirts that can compare with her work,” the husband says with pride. “And I wove baskets. I rode a bicycle for 15 kilometers, gathered and prepared vines, and got to work! This is not an easy task; it requires skills, time, and patience. And it makes seeing the destruction of my work’s fruits harder yet. Almost a hundred baskets turned into ashes in the shed, and nothing remained of my wife’s embroidery. It is good that we are alive, and we are thankful to the kind people who sheltered us”.
“The war destroyed their home but didn’t break their spirits. It didn’t take away their kindness and humanity,” the Goodacity volunteer Oksana says about the couple.
“When I called them for the first time to ask what they needed, Granddad Vasyl modestly asked for a gas cylinder and a meat grinder and gently added, “Can my Grandma Shura have a dress?” Then, when he started talking about their last day at home, he couldn’t hold back the tears. Well, how could I resist helping them?”.
Step 2. Love is caring
Indeed, goodness is born from love! Having love in your heart helps to live through even the most difficult trials together! And to love means to care. “What, you even brought a gas cylinder?” Granddad Vasyl could not believe his luck, meeting the Goodacity volunteers bearing gifts. “And thank you so much for the dress! Most of all,l I was thinking about my Sashenka, wanting to please her; she’s so beautiful to me!
She will embroider more shirts, and I will weave new baskets to our victory!”.
“Such trips cannot last for only a few moments, as people want to share the pain they’ve experienced and sweet moments of kindness and care,” says Goodacity volunteer Oksana.
“Sadness and joy were delicately intertwined as Granddad Vasyl spoke of their happy life in a home that no longer existed. Grandma Shura tried on new clothes and danced happily for their guests and a new dress. And I know for sure that I will come back to them more than once. You always want to return to places full of kindness and care”.
Finish
Time to sum it up
War cannot destroy our kindness and humanness or the desire to live and enjoy life! Your soul is filled with light when you understand that you and those you work with contribute to today’s happiness of these people!
You can afford yourself the luxury of goodness!
Doing good is very simple!
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