Recently I received a very impressive contribution from Odesa bass player Valerii Tarasenko. At first, he sent his video contribution to me, dressed in a dark blue cotton shirt. He even wrote his text in German.
So I asked him, if he was in Germany now, as a refugee.
„No, no…“, he replied. „I am in Ukraine. I am a soldier in the army now.“
„Wow“ … many thoughts went through my mind at that moment. I thought what a shame that such a good musician and honest man has to fight in the army against the russian aggressors to defend his very own land. It is war. This could have happened to all of us! And even worse: maybe he risks never coming back. I silently prayed, that Valerii and all his comrades will be protected by God and will not be injured. I wished them to come back safely and soon when Ukraine will win the war.
The next moment I asked him to send again his video, but this time in his military uniform. He did so immediately. Thank you so much, dear Valerii. I was so touched, still am – and still continue praying that he and his fellow soldiers will be healthy and that the russian aggressors will leave the Ukrainian land as fast as possible.