People

“I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more war.”
    E.M. Foster

My heart has been personally moved by war torn refugees for many years. In the early 1980’s President Spencer W. Kimball asked the members of the church to be prayerful and consider sponsoring (through the Catholic Relief Services with whom the church was working directly) a Laotian individual or even a family who had fled their country during war and were waiting for sponsors in refugee camps in Thailand. My husband Brent and I had been following the conflict going on in Laos, and were saddened by the suffering of the people, especially the children. We decided to pray about it and we received a strong confirmation that we should sponsor a family “that we may teach our children the love of God for all of his children.” It was an amazing spiritual experience that changed me forever, but I’ll share more in another post.

A few days ago, I was stunned when I saw the now inspiring photo of empty strollers lined up like sentinels at a Polish railroad station. They were placed there most likely by Polish mothers who, knowing the struggle and suffering that had occurred with the mothers in Ukraine, wanted them to have this comfort of a stroller for their child when the trains full of Ukrainian mothers and children arrived at the station.

 I couldn’t help but visualize something of the compassion these Polish mothers must feel for Ukrainian refugees. Poland was the first country invaded by Hitler during World War II, and they have heard stories of their parents and grandparents suffering during that war. Their deep compassion represents to me a most tender Christlike love for the Ukrainian mothers, individual strangers to the Polish mothers, but nevertheless, all united in their sacred role of motherhood.

Ukrainian mothers and children have come into Poland and other nearby countries in waves to escape shelling by Russian troops targeting civilian areas of several Ukrainian cities. The journeys often last several days.

Mothers and daughters were forced to separate from fathers, brothers, and other male family members due to the Ukrainian government’s moratorium on allowing soldier age men 18-60 to leave the country.

Just over twenty days ago I watched in real time on TV the horror of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I have watched innocent people running for their lives, young and old men become soldiers overnight–sometimes joined by their wives and other females, all equally armed with weapons as they fight with extraordinary courage to protect the homeland.

We see on the news Ukrainian women, mothers, and children—many of them refugees now, leaving bombed out homes, carrying a backpack or two, walking along dangerous roads with their children hoping to reach safety beyond their borders.  Others are hiding out in apartments, underground subways and basements, many of them running low on food and water. Some are staying behind to care for an invalid friend or relative. Some such as pastors, stay behind to care for their community members.

Other noble ones are staying to run soup kitchens– one in Kiev feeds 5,000 people a day during the fighting, feeding Ukrainian soldiers and civilians alike.

For example, Maria has been baking bread for Ukrainian defenders in Ternopil, Ukraine.  She works day and night, baking bread for others.

In Ukraine, bread is the symbol of life.  The round bread “Kolach” is a symbol of eternity and represents hospitality. The baking of homemade bread is one of the most important Ukrainian traditions that were inherited from mother to daughter.

 As of today, nearly 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24, 2022.

 I knew very little about Ukraine until a few weeks ago, but their traumatic history tells us much about their courage and determination to never again be controlled by Russia.

At the entrance to the memorial park in Kiev, Ukraine there is a sculpture of an extremely thin girl with a very sad look holding a handful of wheat ears in her hands. Behind her back is the Candle of Remembrance, a monument with details reminiscent of authentic embroidery that can be found on traditional Ukrainian costumes. This is a monument that commemorates a historical event known as the Holodomor.

What is the Holodomor? 

 After the end of the First World War, Ukraine was an independent state, but in 1919 the Soviet Union took it into the community of Soviet states. The Ukrainians, who even then considered themselves a Central European people like the Poles and not Eastern European like the Russians, tried to restore Ukraine’s independence.

In 1932, not wanting to lose control of Europe’s main granary, Stalin resorted to one of the most heinous forms of terror against one nation. In the process of nationalization, he took away not only the grain-producing land from the Ukrainian peasants, but also all its offerings, thus creating an artificial famine. The goal was to “teach Ukrainians to be smart” so that they would no longer oppose official Moscow. Thus the people who produced the most grain in Europe were left without a crumb of bread. The peak of the Holodomor was in the spring of 1933. In Ukraine at that time, 17 people died of hunger every minute, more than 1,000 every hour, and almost 24,500 every day! People were literally starving to death in the streets.

Stalin sent Russians to settle in the emptied Ukrainian villages. During the next census, there was a large shortage of population. Therefore, the Soviet government annulled the census, destroyed the census documents, and the enumerators were shot or sent to the gulag, in order to completely hide the truth.  Their poison gas was hunger. Their Hitler was Stalin. Their Holocaust was the Holodomor. For them, fascist Berlin was Soviet Moscow, and their concentration camp was the Soviet Union.

  Today, 28 countries around the world present the Holodomor as genocide against Ukrainians, which you could not learn about in school, because almost all evidence was destroyed and victims were covered up for decades, survivors were forcibly silenced by not having the right to vote until recently.

The Holodomor at that time broke the Ukrainian resistance, but it made the desire for Ukraine’s independence from Russia eternal.

One Ukrainian mother could not leave her elderly widowed mother behind, so in the midst of Russian shelling in Zaporizhzhia, she packed two small bags, her son’s passport, and a relative’s number written on his hand, and put her eleven-year-old son Hassan on a train to his neighboring Slovakia.

When Hassan finally arrived at the border, he was helped across by Slovakian officials who said he won them across with his smile.

Once in Slovakia, he used the phone number written on his hand and a note attached to his waist to contact his family who later collected him.

Slovakian officials wrote, “He won them all over with his smile, fearlessness and determination worthy of a true hero.

Each day the war continues the humanitarian crisis grows more and more severe.  For example, in the city of Mariupol, which is 90% Russian speaking, the Russian army has surrounded the city.  They are not allowing people to leave and the attempts to set up humanitarian corridors have not worked. With supplies cut, the people are drinking from puddles.

Russia is in breach of international humanitarian law and is seriously committing war crimes by bombing innocent people.

As we see in the news, many Russian soldiers are surrendering and refusing to fight.  Many of these soldiers are very young, almost boys. They say they were tricked, threatened, and abandoned during invasion.

 No one wins in war.

 Big Ocean Women www.bigoceanwomen.org –an organization out of Provo, Utah is open to all women and has service projects in Ukraine and the surrounding countries.  Check out their website for more information. I am honored to be a member of this organization that supports women and families around the world.

Big Ocean Women Founder and CEO

For many years, I felt philosophically displaced from a feminism that didn’t exactly celebrate my faith, family, and identity as a mother. I had always felt internally powerful but couldn’t reconcile it with the victimized worldview that seemed to permeate traditional feminism.

This reconciliation came in April of 2012 when I attended the funeral of my dear sister-in-law, Moana, in Hawaii. Upon arriving at the funeral center packed with so many people that she had influenced, I noticed a group of 8-9 very large and strong men that walked in together as if in a pack. As the pallbearers were getting ready to take her coffin out, these men stopped the procession and said they wanted to offer a tribute. As they performed one last Haka for Moana, something happened within me. It was earth-shattering to me to witness these men paying tribute to their fallen sister with such a raw anguish, yet loving tenderness. Tears streamed down their faces as they expressed the profound way Moana had shaped their lives. Later we would find out that they were her young choir and seminary students from a high school where she had volunteered for many years.

 I was witnessing a woman who had completely influenced an entire community because of her goodness and her kindness, her loving heart, and her “Aloha Spirit.”

For many hours, I kept pondering on what I had witnessed earlier. Finally, in the early hours of the morning I felt that I could bear it no longer and decided to walk out to the beach to work through my thoughts. I offered a prayer to God and asked, “What is this all about? What is the purpose and the role of women? Where do I fit in within feminism?” I felt a stillness come over me as I started walking along the water’s edge. I heard small gentle waves breaking on the shore; they were peaceful and soothing to my soul. As I walked, I noticed a large cluster of rough rocks up ahead. As I climbed on top of them, I felt the roughness on my bare feet. When I looked underneath them, they were smooth, as for thousands of years each small wave had polished them. It was beautiful to see.

Just as the sun was beginning to rise, I looked out at the many waves of the ocean. I realized that like the small waves, I was not insignificant, and my contribution mattered.  I influence and shape generations! As I looked out at the horizon glowing in a light-filled sky, I saw the vastness of the big ocean. This experience instilled in my heart that women are innately powerful, and that we are part of a mass collective. We are all part of the Big Ocean! This experience solidified in my mind the capacity that we have as women to come together and harness our energy to influence, nurture, and shape generations! And that’s true power!

 Here are some of the details of Big Oceans work in Ukraine:

Anna Lewis is from Ukraine and lives in Spanish Fork, UT. She had been contributing to and following the work of Marta Levchenko who lives in Ukraine. Before the war, Marta founded a women’s and children’s shelter for women fleeing domestic violence in Chernivtsi. When the Russian invasion started, Marta welcomed women and children fleeing from bombs and bullets. Beds were filled, then floors, as she was housing much more than her building was designed for. Anna was connected with Big Ocean Women who wanted a way to help with the horror that had been reported. At 2 AM MST on February 28^th, a prayer vigil and international Zoom meeting was held at Thanksgiving Point thanks to the generous Ashton Family Foundation, and the Director of Private Events, Molina Welker who came herself.  Big Ocean Women and their friends from around the world gathered to hear and see Marta explain what was happening. She was late because they had been in the bomb shelter that had no WiFi signal. She showed the beautiful building that she had for women and children where they could be safe and learn skills. She introduced some of the women who were thankful to know that people cared about them and what they were facing. The children sang and played in a brightly colored room, and Marta explained that they tell the children they are playing hide and seek when the sirens signal it is time to play (go to the basement/bomb shelter). She showed the bread they are making to feed the defenders. As the meeting was nearing the end, Marta’s signal dropped. She messaged to say they had to go play their hide and seek game.

We hoped to be able to raise money to help her finish her building to have more space for refugees and to restock her empty pantry. If there was enough, we would also donate to her friend who ran the National Children’s Specialized Hospital. Already there were children who were victims of the shelling and invasion. That was only the beginning of what generous donations and miraculous connections enabled Big Ocean Women to do.

We are looking for an inexpensive way to ship some things or a connection with a private jet that could fly much needed and miraculously collected bullet proof vests and tourniquets to the EU which could then be driven by volunteers to the Ukraine border.

To date, $33,344 has been donated online at https://secure.givelively.org/donate/big-ocean-women/ukraine-support and over $30,000 has been donated directly from private donors.  Big Ocean Women has partnered with www.liftinghandsinternational.org  (Lifting Hands International) and www.stitchingheartsww.org  (Stitching Hearts Worldwide) as well as with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to coordinate immediate efforts and long-term help for refugees.

Sarah Hinze is a wife, mother and author. She and her husband Brent are the parents of nine children and thirty-two grandchildren, so far! They are Executive Producers of the award winning documentary, Remembering Heaven, which will open in selected theaters in Utah in May, 2022. Check out more of Sarah’s work at www.sarahhinze.com and www.rememberingheavenmovie.com