Tag Archives: Ukraine

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The meaning of bread

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Bread carries so much meaning.

It is food. It is survival. It is a sign of community. A symbol of hope and love.

When there is plenty, it is taken for granted by those who may never have known its absence. Where there is none, it is treasured beyond measure.

Last night this loaf of brioche – golden and glowing – was presented by an all-female choir of Ukrainian refugees, to their host for the evening. I was lucky enough to get a taste of the delicious bread, and to hear the choir.

It was an emotional evening. There was such passion in the songs, every word ringing out with hope and strength.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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Ukraine – filling our news today

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There has been a lot about Ukraine in our news recently. The country is never forgotten, but I’ve heard and seen its name a little more often over the last day or two. The difficulty is that when the media spotlight sharpens its focus, it’s hard to look, and hard to look away.

The human cost of this war is truly shocking, and the price is being paid by both sides. Already there are thousands of bereaved families and thousands of amputees, and yet still bodies are flung towards each other, tasked with the deadly burden of advancing.

As I carry on with my daily niffnaff far from Ukraine, I struggle to imagine these blood-soaked lands, Ukraine’s and others, where bombs fall into buildings, soldiers serve, families crumble, and so many brutalised bodies lose their minds. How is it that we are all under the same sky, and yet we are unable to co-exist in peace and respect?

Should we not listen to each other a little harder? Try to hear each other a little better? Force ourselves to keep our attention nailed to the hope that evenutally our compassion might prove stronger than our greed, our pride, our cruelty?

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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Ukraine – always in our news

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This flag was flying in New Zealand when I was there last year.

Wherever I see the flag, the blue and yellow seem so full of sunshine and hope, despite the bitter assault faced by the country it flies for.

Ukraine has been in the UK news for over a year now. We hear daily of devastation, too horrifying to believe at times, and yet it is happening – families, lives, whole towns are being destroyed. And the abuse is multiplying, continuing through the freeze of winter.

As we listen, one question, keeps repeating in my heart. Surely we cannot be doing this to each other now? History is flooded with needless bloodshed, but that is history. Surely not now?

And yet the scarring continues. Last Saturday in Dnipro, an apartment block full of life was shelled. A few days ago a helicopter crashed on to a kindergarten. And all the while, thousands of troops on both sides are losing their lives.

The trauma reaches us daily through the media. Like a muffled pain it throbs incessantly, flaring suddenly with news of a disaster, or stilling briefly, before hopes of talks collapse. It seems wrong to continue our day to day around it, but that is what we do.

And over us, and in between us and our every day lives, the beautiful flag keeps flying.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023