Have some #warcoffee

 

Yaroslava Antipina’s normal, ordinary life was shattered on February 24, 2022. 

That was the day Vladimir Putin’s Russian troops fired the first shots in their war against Ukraine. 

They were supposed to win in three to four days. 

It’s nearly 11 months and the Russians have not won yet.

Not long after the war began, Yaroslava began writing what she called a war diary on Twitter. She would post pictures of her coffee cup, full of coffee, and invite us to have #warcoffee with her. 

The idea caught on, and many Tweeters from around the world – including myself – began posting pictures of their #warcoffee to share with Yaroslava. 

She’s an ordinary Ukranian who lives in Kyiv, worked until recently in an office, and who has learned to cope with air raid alerts, bombing, power outages, and the other horrors of war that I cannot begin to imagine. 

One of her tweets read:  “Hi, air raid alert.  It’s not a pleasure to welcome you in the capital of the brave.” 

“Hi, woman from Ukraine. I’m tired so much to warn you about threats. I’d love to have some good news instead.”

“My dialogues with the war.”

As I write this, it’s a little after five p.m. in Kyiv, and they’ve just heard the “all clear” siren after another attack. 

Yesterday, the Russians attacked Dnipro. Yaroslava’s tweet read:  “You probably saw the pictures of Dnipro. These rubbles covering people. Some damn missile took lives, hopes, maybe sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters, grannies. We will win. And we will never forget.”

But between the events of bombings and air raids, Yaroslava shares her life with us, her visits to her family and a walk in the woods near their home, a “one-minute walk” around Kyiv she’s recorded and posted to Twitter, photos of the view from her home. These are glimpses into a life that is affected by war and of a spirit that will not be crushed or quenched because of an enemy. 

 

Yaroslava’s office job ended recently, and she has decided to devote herself to her writing.  She intends to write and publish a “war coffee diary”; much like Anne Frank and other wartime diarists have done. (Two other war diaries worth reading are Zlata’s Diary, written by a young girl during the war in Sarajevo, and The Diary of Nina Kosterina, written during the 1930’s and early ‘40’s by a girl living in Moscow.) 

Yaroslava is a normal person living in abnormal circumstances who chooses to live one day at a time, enjoy simple pleasures, and her #warcoffee friends. 

I know that many believe Elon Musk has killed Twitter. But Yaroslava Antipina is worth following. Look for her name or for the hashtag #warcoffee. 

She also blogs over at buymeacoffee.com. Look for the name Yaroslava. You will know you have the right person when you see under her name the words “is having war coffee”. 

If you can’t buy her a coffee, have some #warcoffee with her. 

Or, if you drink coffee, drink coffee in her name and in the name of the people of Ukraine. 

If you don’t drink coffee, drink some #wartea or #warwater and remember the people of Ukraine. 

Out of curiosity, I looked up the meaning of the name “Yaroslava”. It means “fierce and glorious”. This fierce and glorious woman would probably not think of herself as such. 

But in these times, not only the time of war in Ukraine, but these times of anger and polarization throughout the world, we need more Yaroslavas willing to share their #warcoffee with us.

 

Go join her.

 

Slava Ukraini.

 

Just my. 04, adjusted for inflation.