“At night, the grounds shake and the lamp near my bedside goes out. We have lost more than power here (in Ukraine), I am scared to go to sleep most nights.” Throughout my childhood, I have always felt my most authentic self when giving to others and advocating for those whose voices remain unheard within society.
In eighth grade, I created a small business as part of my gifted and talented curriculum. I led several fundraisers and marketing projects that would help raise over $1,000 for the city of Pflugerville animal shelter. Since then, I have strived to lead a life built upon the foundations of compassion and advocacy as I work towards becoming not only the first woman in my family to attend college but an international lawyer specializing in growing cultural and societal understanding in the pursuit of the sustainability of peace across the globe.
Now, five years later, I am leading the change I have always wanted to see in the world. “Dear Isabella, I will have to reschedule our session today. We have been without power for many days…I hope things will be better by next week.”
I first came across the ENGin nonprofit organization when starting my undergraduate education at the University of Texas at Dallas. After competing in speech and debate during all four years of high school, I was familiar with the humanitarian crisis occurring within Ukraine and the country’s geopolitical rivalry with Russia.
However, my understanding of the crisis stopped short behind the invisible border that globalization has failed to destroy to this day. Protected behind a glass of ignorance, it was not until I began working with students in Ukraine, did I open my eyes to the full extent of division within the world around me.
Unbeknownst to most of my peers, students the same age as us were suffering, along with their families, in a war-torn country plagued with fear. Working as a volunteer with ENGin I spent time communicating with students in virtual sessions where I would create and lead lesson plans to aid in their English fluency.
I worked hard to create a safe environment where I could connect with students over the English language and learn the unique perspectives of those across the Atlantic Ocean who were in need of help. “My favorite thing to do is drive on the roads around mountains. Me and my friends will take them (hammocks) and hang them up on trees. I miss doing this with my friends. I hope when it is safer, I can go back to the mountains.”
In Kyiv, Ukraine citizens gather within metro stations and wait out drone attacks that threaten hundreds of innocent lives within the country. In my pursuit of higher education and global understanding, I can not imagine a more important focus of my passion for advocacy and my practice of compassion, than to raise awareness for those suffering in Ukraine.
My growing understanding of the humanitarian crisis within the country has highlighted an important facet of who I am as an individual, who I want to become, and what I want to represent. Beyond fueling my desire to bring change through sustainable peace to the families suffering in Ukraine, learning about the state of life for thousands of people in Ukraine can change the outlook, my generation has on fueling ideas and issues of importance within society.
In an age where my generation is connected through a simple tap on our mobile screens, it has never been more pertinent to practice compassion and spread kindness for those suffering under the political turmoil of their country. I continue to work on advocating for the voices of those in Ukraine and hope to one day hear my students speak of peace within their families and in their country.
*Note on the entry: The quotations within this written entry represent the true words I have recorded from my students who reside in Ukraine.
EPPS Student Blog 