In Valerie's FB page it says that her nearest town is Dniprorudne.
https://www.facebook.com/jiako...
The wikipedia page for that town says that is was occupied by the Russian army during the first weeks of march 2022:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
The power plant is close to Enerhodar:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
So Lyn is correct, Valerie's location is very close!
So beyond whatever loyalties may be at stance, I still pray she and her family is spared from further destruction. I was able to keep private correspondence with her at first and I got heartwrenching feedback. From my own family stories of what civilians go through when they are caught between sides and fire: Not a single person is spared...
I still keep my Armenian heritage very much alive, but I also am so grateful to God that I was able to grow and reach relative old age far away from direct war. The rest of the world is seeing through images what hatred and wholesale destruction brings about. Although present circumstances are the direct consequence of the invasion, hostilities are very old, at least existing from almost after 1991, since the dissolution of the USSR. I can easily see how one is forced to take sides, yet deep inside one senses the senseless escalation. My family had no other choice than exile, rennouncing the return to our homeland.
Fortunately, like Valerie, I love irises, spring is around the corner. Some of my seedlings may shoot up their maiden blooms. They spring out of the earth, as they would have done in the old country. They don't need a nationality to generously spread happiness. Somewhere in heaven my massacred ancestors will be able to greet spring likewise. Then we will all be happy, regardless where we are just now. My irises, like Valerie's, brings us together. Peace allows pain to subside, and eventually regain fruitful co-existence. That is what I pray for...🙏🙏🙏
Arturo
