Have No Fear!

On September 18, Aleksander Pohranicznyj, the director of the mission and values of the School of the Free (Wilni) and Concerned in Lviv, along with four students, visited 2 SLO. During the meeting, the director spoke about the school’s day-to-day operations amid a real threat of war, about implementing a program to learn about the cultures of neighboring nations, and about the effort to build a world of understanding in defiance of Russia’s anti-Western narrative. In urging cooperation, the director invoked the tradition of the Parisian “Kultura” and the wonderful initiative of Jerzy Giedroyc, who in 1959 published an anthology of works by Ukrainian writers from the 1920s titled “Rozstrilane widrodżennia” in Ukrainian.

Students at a school in Lviv described an incident in which the school building sustained serious damage from shrapnel from a downed rocket, which shattered all the window panes and tore down the drywall inside the building—fortunately, early in the morning, before anyone had arrived at school. Maja shared her strategy for getting through this difficult time: she tries not to read too much news and to focus on everyday life and the little joys. At the same time, she realizes that her parents, feeling responsible for their children’s well-being, cannot afford to do the same.

During the conversation, the guests were asked about their favorite writers; they mentioned Pavlo Tychyna and Vasyl Stus. Olga Kalinowska highlighted the interesting facets of contemporary Ukrainian pop music and bands such as Okean Olzy and Odyn v kanoe.

At the end of the meeting, director Pohranicznyj warned against underestimating the threat, urged everyone to prepare to respond to missile alerts, and assured the audience that he would take his optimistic account of his stay in Warsaw back to Lviv. He added that being prepared to face threats does not mean to give in to intimidation.

(Text: Beata Ciacek translated with DeepL.com; photos: Beata Ciacek)