TestimonialsIn Paris, Olga takes advantage of the presence of her mother. In kyiv, Sasha, haunted by the war, finds solace in Ukrainian poetry and plans to teach her native language. For the nineteenth week, the two sisters tell their daily life.
Olga and Sasha are two Ukrainian sisters. The first is 34 years old and is a wine merchant in Paris, where she has lived for seven years. The second, aged 33, lives in kyiv, like her mother and her partner, Viktor. Recently, she has been working remotely for a French digital communication agency. The two sisters have accepted, since the beginning of the conflict, to keep their logbook to M. This week, while Olga enjoys her mother’s presence in France, Sasha, haunted by the war, finds solace in Ukrainian poetry and plans to teach her native language.
Find the diary of the two Ukrainian sisters.
Tuesday, June 28
Olga: Last night, we went to pick up mom at the airport! She took twenty-seven hours to come from Kyiv [Kiev, en ukrainien]. She arrived very tired and fell asleep in a second. I went to work this morning and she woke up late. I think she really needs quiet. I imagine we haven’t been sleeping well in Ukraine since February 24th.
Sasha: Mom is in Paris. I’m so happy that it calms me down. I continue to try to recover from the experience of Sunday, when the missiles whistled overhead. But I know something has changed inside of me. After months of certainty, I doubt everything, I no longer know if victory is really possible, I can no longer draw sufficient energy from myself to reassure myself and not to be afraid of everything.
But I’m trying to change that. Work makes me feel good. So I work at home with the air conditioning – it’s 32 degrees. Like that, I stay with my dog. I miss him all the time right now and worry about him whenever I walk away.
I saw one thing that made me laugh: the video of the G7 roundtable where the leaders make fun of poutine [Olga et Sasha ont choisi de ne pas mettre de majuscules à « poutine », « russie » et « russe »] and those images where we see him shirtless on a horse. It’s good trolling. They take him for a jester. A buffoon who plays with the lives of Ukrainians… The missile that fell in Kremenchuk during the G7 united them even more in their support for Ukraine and their condemnation of Russia.
The siren sounded tonight just when I wanted to go for a walk with the dog. We stay in the corridor and we hope.
Wednesday, June 29
Olga: It’s concert day! With my choir, we will sing the Requiem of Mozart. I’m so happy my mom is here. It reminds me of childhood memories. Mom and Sasha and the whole family who came to all my concerts in Kyiv. But, in truth, I can’t relax, enjoy the moment, it’s the first time I’ve felt this feeling so clearly. I know Sasha is there. Papa, Babounya and my aunt O. too. I constantly think about it. Especially to Sasha. Can’t get rid of this thought and the guilt of being safe when it isn’t. And it’s all the harder since that Sunday when the missiles fell a few kilometers from my sister.
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