Mykola Serbin, Kyiv resident
01.25.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

2 pm. Novus [supermarket] located at Druzhby Narodiv [boulevard in Kyiv]. Last cash register. At the checkout in front of me is a girl about seven years of age, buying a pack of inexpensive cookies, paying with coins and 1- or 2-Hryvnia bills. When she’s done [at the register], she approaches a tray set up immediately nearby, where everyone willing [to help Ukrainian soldiers] can contribute what they can, and leaves the cookies and a sheet of paper with a drawing on it. On the picture, there is a child with balloons and a man holding the child by the hand, [there are] flowers, a house, sun – just like all the other children’s pictures have [on them]. She put all of this [on the tray] and went to the exit. Something drew me [out]. I grabbed the bags and caught up with the child out on the street. I ask her, why is she alone, and where are her parents? It turned out, she lives next door, and that she went out for a walk. She went to the store to buy some cookies, because her dad loves them a lot. Her mom gives her an allowance, and she collects it, and several times a week [she] buys the cookies. Without a second thought, I tell her that her dad is probably with the military, and they will surely give him the cookies, and that he will be happy.

“My dad was called to war and he was killed there, and the cookies and my drawing are for other dads who are still alive.”…

Everything has sunk [inside me] … I saw the girl to her home …

Her name is Lilia, her mother is Yana, and her dad’s name was Misha. He was 27 years old…

Source: Mykola Serbin FB
[Ed. Note: Mykola’s page is no longer available. Below is the snapshot of his post.]