The initiative Euromaidan SOS and its partners within the campaign LetMyPeopleGo have launched the New Year’s Marathon of Letters to the Ukrainian prisoners, who are persecuted on political grounds in Russia and occupied Crimea.
Some of them first and others for the second or even third time will spend New Year’s holidays behind the cold walls of Russian prisons. Thus we have initiated the New Year’s Marathon of Letters to give these people a little cordiality on the eve of Christmas and the New Year. Letters from the outside mean for them a gulp of freedom, a link to the external world and a great moral support. The letters will show them once more that they are not forgotten and that people are struggling for their release and waiting for them at liberty.
The Marathon has started in the Kyiv Cadet Corps on December 21 when the students were able to write and send their New Year’s and Christmas greetings to the Ukrainian political prisoners.
WHO ARE THE PRISONERS?
Pick your prisoner in the interactive graphic below.
Read more: Who are the 36 Ukrainian hostages of the Kremlin? Interactive graphic
HOW CAN I SUPPORT THE MARATHON?
First, you can organize your own event for a group of people, tell them about the Ukrainian Kremlin’s hostages and sign postcards to them together.
Second, we invite you to write and send by yourself a letter to a political prisoner. We would be particularly grateful if you send us the photos of your letters either via Facebook or at [email protected]. In this way, given that the Russian prison authorities block certain letters, the relatives of the inmates will have a clear proof that people are thinking of their dearest ones and dreaming of their release.
▪️ Letters are to be written in Russian; People all over the world are sending them post cards and letters as part of the holiday marathon of the #LetMyPeopleGo campaign. But there is a problem: the prison guards in Russia only deliver letters and cards written in Russian. We’re sure that they will be glad for a postcard without words. But considering that some of our readers would like to write something, we invite you to seize the opportunity and “kill two rabbits with one shot,” as we say in Ukraine – write a postcard AND study Russian! Here are some examples of greetings you can send and an explanation of their translation – from our last year’s marathon. If you wish, you can print out the greetings and paste them to the postcard: Don’t forget to insert the name instead of the (…) after the Дорогой/дорогая: WE ARE STRONGER THAN KREMLIN’S PRISON BARS! Follow the updates on the Facebook pages of the campaign LetMyPeopleGo and the New Year’s Marathon of Letters. Contact: Palina Brodik, project coordinator, Center for Civil Liberties, tel. +380 91-985-5353, [email protected] INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING TO THE POLITICAL PRISONERS:
▪️ The text must be politically neutral;
▪️ It is important to indicate the addressee’s year of birth and full name (first + middle + last) on the envelope;
▪️ If you want a prisoner to reply, add a blank sheet of paper and a new envelope to your letter. Even if you do not expect a response, it is still worth doing as the paper and envelopes are in short supply behind bars and are highly appreciated by the prisoners.EXAMPLES OF WRITING IN RUSSIAN
Russian
Pronounciation
Meaning
Дорогой (…)!
Daragoi (…)!
Dear (man’s name here)!
С Новым Годом и Рождеством!
S novym godam ee rojdestvom!
[I greet you] with New Year and Christmas! (И means and; The Russian word for Christmas, Rojdestvo means, literally, “the nativity”).
С Новым Годом! С Рождеством!
S novym godam! S rojdestvom!
[I greet you] with New Year! [I greet you] with Christmas!
Желаю тебе сил и стойкости в Новом Году!
Jelaiu tebe sil i stoikosti w Novam Gadu!
I wish you strength and perseverance in the New Year!
Желаем сил и радости.
Jelaiem sil i radosti.
We wish you strength and happiness.
Пусть благословит тебя Господь!
Pust blagaslavit tebia Gaspod!
Let God bless you!
Мы тебя любим и ждем!
My tebya liubim i jdiom!
We love you and are waiting for you (Мы, pronounced My, means we)
надеемся, что ты скоро вернешься домой!
Nadeiemsia, chto ty skora vernioshsia damoi!
We hope that soon you will return home! (Ты, pronounced ty, means you)
Мы надеемся, что в 2016 ты вернешься домой!
My nadeiemsia, chto v 2016 ty vernioshsia damoi!
We hope that in 2016 you will return home!
ждем твоего возвращения на родину!
Jdiom tvoievo vozvrascheniia na rodinu!
We await your return home! (the word na rodinu literally means to the motherland, rodit means to give birth).
Помним про тебя.
Pomnim pro tebia.
We remember you.
Думаем про тебя.
Dumaiem pro tebia.
We are thinking about you.
Дорогой
Желаю тебе сил и стойкости в Новом Году!
Мы надеемся, что в 2016 ты вернешься домой!
С Новым Годом! С Рождеством!
Помним про тебя,
ждем твоего возвращения на родину!
Дорогой
С Новым Годом и Рождеством!
Желаем сил и радости.
Думаем про тебя,
надеемся, что ты скоро вернешься домой!
Дорогой
Пусть благословит тебя Господь!
Мы тебя любим и ждем!
С новым Годом! С Рождеством!
The marathon has been supported by the Ukrainian National News Agency Ukrinform, the information platform Euromaidan Press and the initiative Slova Svobody (Words of Freedom).
