Strength in the Face of Diversity Comes from Community

In 1998, I was in the bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi when El Queda blew it up. Being in a bombing is the closest thing to hell that I can think of.  Through the care and support of the Nairobi community, our family was able to pull ourselves out of despair and hopelessness and move on to a feeling of trust in and solidarity with humanity.
Today, as I watch the families in Kyiv and other cities in the Ukraine suffer through the bombing and destruction of their communities and their homes, my heart goes out to them.  I know the hell they are living.  They need our support. They need to know that people all over the world are in solidarity with them.  It is through that sense of a shared humanity that they will be able to survive this atrocity. There is strength in numbers.

​There are many ways to show your support. Send funds to the Red Cross, UNICEF, Medicins sans Frontier, and other relief agencies. Post your support on social media. Learn about the Ukraine, and show compassion to any Ukrainian immigrants you may know in America or abroad.  Europeans are demonstrating in the streets en masse. The United Nations has condemned Russia. Businesses are placing strict sanctions on their business with Russia, and the International Criminal Court is condemning Russia’s actions as “crimes against humanity.”  All of us together can make a difference. There is amazing strength in community.