We are seeing first hand how children are responding to this crisis. They are demonstrating great empathy, strength and solidarity for their peers around the world. On the left you will find a link to send us your pieces, below, you’ll see a selection of work we have already received.


Ukraine

Artem, Ukraine, 9-11 Years Old

Ukraine Now

I want the whole world to see and hear our pain.

Artem, Ukraine, 9-11 Years Old


Life after the war. Imagine for a second that the war was over. The war, which has been going on for eight years. The war that is beating the fate of Ukrainians with blood and pain.

I woke up and… No more war. Ukraine is free and independent. The morning sun peeked into my room. The gardens bloomed. For some reason, I definitely want it to be spring. As nature wakes up after winter, so does the country. Slowly, with a groan, the battle wounds hurt badly, both on the human body and on the ground itself - funnels, funnels from the ruptures of “tornadoes” and “hail”. Slowly, day after day, they will be covered with green grass, colorful flowers and trees. In a few years, it will be difficult to identify the site of the brutal fighting. Yes, the Earth will endure everything. And people? How can the loss of relatives and injuries be erased from memory? This pain will never go away. She will only blunt.

How to perpetuate the feat of Ukrainian heroes who gave their lives for our freedom. No granite or metal is able to convey our gratitude. Only memory! As long as we remember, they will live in our hearts.

Spring will come to the whole territory of Ukraine. Greening Donetsk and Lugansk. The gardens of my native Mykolayiv region will blossom. And, as always, the question of further coexistence will arise. This question arose after the end of World War II. How to coexist with the victim and the former invader. In World War II, Ukraine lost more than 13 million of its citizens. And now that we have lost more than 13,000 in this undeclared, hybrid war, this problem cannot but be solved.

Of course we will forgive. Gritting our teeth, stepping on the nerve, sorry. But forgiveness without repentance does not happen!

I believe that Ukraine, like the phoenix, will be reborn from the ashes. New cities will grow, factories will be built. The refugees will return to their homes. Jobs will appear. Workers will return from foreign countries. Children will not wait for their parents from the war. There will be no orphans and widows. Mothers will not mourn their sons. New, modern schools will be built… Ukraine will become a center of cultural and economic development…

I believe in spring!
— Життя після війни (Life After the War) by Sofia, Ukraine, 14-16 Years Old

Ukrainian Father and Son

The father played his beloved flute to comfort the injured child. The father was completely devoted to the music. Desperate encounters happen in an instant, but it takes a long time for people to accept the harsh truth.

A father's music can't make a child's wound heal right away, but it can make the child stop worrying and crying. Music is a healing thing for anyone who is hurt.

Yanjun, China, 11-14 years old


Hello everyone.

From ancient times to the present, “war” has always been a scar in human history. Once it is uncovered, it will show scenes of blood dripping. I always thought that I was just a reviewer and reflector of the long history. Unexpectedly, one day I became a witness to history.

2022, February 24th, an ordinary Thursday. I was sitting in a comfortable classroom for math class. The afternoon sun was too warm and I was a little sleepy; my mother had just finished cleaning, looked around the clean and tidy home, and sat contentedly on the sofa watching the drama. At the same time, the other side of the world is experiencing the bombardment of artillery fire and the cries of life. The Russian-Ukrainian war, like a bomb that had been buried for many years, suddenly detonated in the thick night, beyond the expectations of the whole world. , sounded quickly and without warning. Overnight, the Ukrainian people’s homes were destroyed. Perhaps some of their parents were preparing to go to the next day to visit their children they hadn’t seen for a long time. Perhaps some of their lovers, when the sun rose again, would welcome them for a hundred years. At the moment of happiness, perhaps some of them have just achieved their long-struggled goals and are preparing to call three or two friends to celebrate together. Unexpectedly, after the sun went down, some people fell asleep in the endless night.

Perhaps I am not qualified to call myself a witness to the war, because I have always been separated from Ukraine, thousands of miles away, by a screen, but through this screen, I can feel that not far away, when my wife sent her husband to enlist in the army. Reluctant and helpless, when the white-haired mother received the news of her son’s death on the front line, she knelt down on the ground and cried bloody sadness. I could see the gray sea surging in the eyes of passers-by on the street, a mixture of numbness and panic. confused.

I do not understand. I don’t understand the point of this war. Just 30 years ago, Ukraine and Russia were still eagles flying in the same sky; 30 years later, they have become mortal enemies, and a peaceful country has become a purgatory on earth.

All wars are against the people, against humanity, against national sovereignty, and against international rules. Regardless of the end result, the lives lost in this land, the spiritual cultures destroyed cannot be returned either way.

The suffering brought about by this war will be permanently and deeply imprinted on the flesh and blood of every Ukrainian people, condensing into a deep sorrow on the charred ruins.

Can you hear the cry, from that not so far away?

This concludes my speech, thank you for your patience.
— 并不遥远的远方 / Not so far away by Xiaomei, Armenia, 16-18 years old

Tragedy of War

Inspiration and response from the painting The Petrograd Madonna (1918) on the current war in Ukraine.

Anonymous, Russia, 14-16 years old


Sunflowers sprout onwards,
Upwards, seeking sunlight,
Roars of resistance,
Pride, power to the people.

Blue-yellow, yellow-blue.
Respect for the nation that fights for their hearts,
Their minds, their loves.
‘For your freedom and ours’,

Rebuild, recover, remember,
The dignity, the pride,
We fought so hard to keep,
Stay strong, fight on.

Trills of the nightingale eternally sound.
Echoing around our world,
Lamenting for the justice of
Slava Ukraini.
— Ukraine by Natasha, England, 16-18 Years Old

Molotov Cocktail for Peace

This conflict has been characterised not only by devastation, but also by fierce retaliation. Not just soldiers and governments, but by the common people. The bravery of the Ukrainian people has been almost unbelievable, inspiring protests all around the world, including in Russia. The people fight with Molotov cocktails, entirely useless against tanks and machine gun fires. It represents the people’s bravery to fight for peace. That is what I wanted to depict in this piece, the fire of retaliation that these people embodied will burn brighter and longer the more Putin tries, because these acts are merely a fuel for their courage.

Olivia, South Korea, 11-14 Years Old