Dear Friends,
I am writing to you from Kyiv. Since our last meeting on 24 August, life in Kyiv has changed dramatically. At that meeting, Olena and I didn’t yet realise how lucky we actually were, as we were only facing night-time rocket and drone attacks.
Since 27 August, there have been daily, massive drone attacks on Kyiv. The alarm is now almost constant. The number of strikes and deaths across the city has increased. Many food warehouses in the Kyiv region have been destroyed.
Just a few days before the start of the school year, this came as a shock to parents and teachers. Schools are not prepared to keep children in shelters for almost the whole day. Most schools do not have these shelters, and those that do are not suitable for children to stay there for long periods. Children are growing tired of the shelters because they are cramped, noisy and lack sufficient fresh air.
Among parents, there is panic, tension and, at times, aggression. Some have already left, whilst others are hesitating and making plans. Some are hoping that the situation will improve.
Some parents expect teachers to come up with miraculous solutions. But we do not have these miraculous solutions, because we are just as frightened and stressed by the threats, which have increased significantly.
Drones are falling on streets, houses, shops, hospitals… We had come to expect night-time attacks. Now, however, it is impossible to predict the threat, as jet-powered drones are moving very quickly across the entire region.
This forces us to monitor the drones’ movements constantly. As a result, we are under far greater strain than we were before August.
Teachers feel as though they have been working hard for a long time now. Although the holidays ended just two weeks ago, we’re already longing for another break!
I am writing this letter to describe the sense of disarray among teachers in Kyiv and the region. We don’t know which parents will be the next to crack under the pressure and move to calmer regions. All of this affects the school’s or nursery’s budget and our ability to plan ahead and take responsibility for meeting our financial obligations.
The war leaves fewer and fewer good options with each passing day.
We are trying to build a foundation for ourselves so that we can do our work to a high standard every day. But this foundation is now being knocked away with great force.
That is why your support means even more to us right now. We have faith that ordinary people outside Ukraine will come together to support us until the enemy finally loses the strength to continue the genocide of our people.
My colleagues and I are so grateful for the warmth of your thoughts and actions! Because the worst thing after terror is to be abandoned in a world of billions.
With hope,
Natalyia, Kyiv
Sept 1 2026
Dear Friends,
I can confirm all that was shared by Natalia. Hard times. And life becomes even harder from day to day. It's so painful to see all the distractions created by the enemies. But what destroys us even more the nights full of terror, sounds of explosions, shaking house walls and the feeling that you can do nothing but just except. Our bodies react instinctively and you feel destroyed, sick and tired for the next few days.
We see how the children live in school, when they look at something beautiful, something nice, when they play music, sing, dance, we see how they survive.
And this trauma does not come into the body and does not become a trauma.
Children come to school being, you know, scared or... After a sleepless night, being tired, being pulled together, and after some time, being in school, seeing something beautiful, tasting something sweet or something nice, working together, how they open up.
And this trauma is not penetrating the body, but it can leave the body, and the kids can have a normal childhood, and sing, and dance, and write, and paint, and do some theater together, and games, social games, and everything, how they revive.
And it's so hard for us as teachers doing this everyday job to pull this trauma from the body, you know, to revive, to sort of rehabilitation, to do this rehabilitation for their souls, because we are tired as well.
We also have sleepless nights. We also have our kids. We also have our problems. And one can observe. I mean, it's even one can compare the teachers from the beginning and the teacher from the end of the year.
They're absolutely exhausted, absolutely exhausted, and every day they have to pull from themselves these forces to serve kids, you know, to serve our kids.
But we can't, despite all of that, can't allow ourselves to lower our hands and say that we don't have the power to make beautiful places, we don't have the power to music, play games, we can't allow to But despite of this tiredness, despite of this exhaustion, we cannot say ourselves, now we stop, we are not going to do anything, we are not going to create the beauty, we are not going to heal the students, we cannot do that.
We don't have right to do that. We must. That's why when you look at the photos and the videos that we sent you, you will see really beautiful places, beautiful kids, nicely dressed teachers, and very, very, very nice pictures.
We will see nice pictures because we cannot do otherwise. We cannot do the other way. Because what we can do, we must create this beauty.
We must create... We have to create this calmness and joy, that's why our pictures, you know, full of joy, full of beauty, full of calmness, not hard pictures or videos.
Otherwise, that is our way to survive. That is our way to heal our kids, creating this beauty around them.
It's just for you to know that if there are nice classrooms.
Thank you,
Olena, Kyiv
Sept 2026
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;...
...The game's afoot: / Follow your spirit
Dear All,
Safely crossed the Dneister River into Ukraine from Moldova yesterday about 1:45 pm local time after a half-hour delay due to an air raid alert that closed the border. We crossed on a rapidly constructed new bridge, the fourth one Ukraine has constructed after three previous were destroyed by rocket attacks. Lots of heavy truck traffic in both directions. Just before the bridge: the sobering twisted wreckage of a tanker truck blasted apart by a missile strike.
Other than that, on the rest of the trip to Odesa and once in the city (although I'm staying more on the outskirts), there were no outward signs of war or destruction except for lots of military billboards honoring soldiers and encouraging enlistment and quite a few reinforced small military outposts periodically along the road manned (or womanned) in a rather desultory manner. One gets used to things after 4-1/2 years of war.
People in the streets just seemed to be going about their lives—what other choice is there? Air raid last night but I was oblivious between fatigue and having my hearing aids out. It wasn't so bad that my hosts had to come fetch me to the cellar.
Staying once again at the home of Olga, the rather well-off founder (and still director) of the oldest Waldorf school in Ukraine (which just had its 35th anniversary), which she manages to keep alive often by dipping into her own rapidly dwindling reserves. Staying in the same room as last year with the fantastical ceiling mural of mother and daughter unicorns dancing in purple clouds and three-dimensional oversized lily-of-the-valley weaving their way up the walls with a slight “Little Shop of Horrors" quality. Again hosts totally dedicated to overfeeding the guest in that nearly overwhelming Ukrainian way of which they are so proud. Again, at least 15 different delicacies for breakfast.
Afternoon today will be a pretty general lecture and discussion today for parents at the Stupeni Waldorf school here: “What (in the World) is Waldorf Education" then it's on to a full week of teaching and teacher observation tomorrow. But things are far from easy here. As Olga said: “The war is draining all our energy. The teachers are already exhausted. We spend all day sitting in the basement shelter and many parents are leaving Odessa. It doesn’t get any easier with each passing year. It just gets harder and harder, especially now.”
On to Dnipro early Saturday morning, and 8-1/2 hour bus ride under adverse conditions--trains are no longer very functional, or safe--also my furthest point east on this journey.
All the upcoming schools write: "We are all waiting for you." It is not who I am, it's the importance of someone making the journey and walking with them for a short while on the path they all walk each day. Asking how they are, paying witness.
The importance of these schools cannot be overstated. Nataliya Shpilka, one of the lead teachers at the Borysphen school in Kyiv wrote:
"For many parents, the very existence of a school is a sign of the country’s resilience. When so much is being destroyed, a thriving school keeps the spirits of Ukrainian parents high. It enables them to stay in the country and not give in to despair. That is why it is so important that we keep our schools thriving."
Attached is a lovely piece sent to me today by Aleksandr Chernis, the most experienced Waldorf teacher in Ukraine (on his 5th class cycle) in response to a recent Michael Howard article in Being Human.
with love to you all…
Karl Schurman
Ukraine
September 19, 2026