Mother’s Day picture

Masha with her mother.

Masha is 16 on this photo. Severe cerebral palsy made all her body twisted. She weighs 20 kg (44 lbs), all her organs are underdeveloped. She will never be able to say "thank you" to her mother Anna for all her love and selfless care.

I took this picture on this day 4 years ago in Kyiv, Ukraine

A woman that saved lives

"I stay strong when I tell my wartime story. But afterwards, as I stay on my own, I lay down and cry for hours."

Sofia Yarovaya is Righteous among the nations. She went through all the horrors of war, amplified by hiding Jewish neighbors in the very center of Nazi-occupied Kyiv (Ukraine).

Sofia was in her teens during the war. One day her mother took her own kids and the Jewish kids who were hiding in their house and went directly to the Nazi commandant's office. She told the commandant that she was the mother to all these children, and they all are Ukrainian, just some of them lost their documents. "There was a polizei sitting in the corner. He chuckled as my mom was telling this made-up story but didn't say anything, and the commandant issued the documents," remembers Sofia.

Sofia's secret job during the war was to help Soviet war prisoners escape from the trains upon arrival at Kyiv railway station. Apparently, she was risking her life every minute.

It takes several hours for Sofia to tell her story. She remembers vividly every small detail of those distant days, and she feels horrified again. "I'm not gonna tell the story anymore, it's too hard," promises Sofia to herself.

She used to be a teacher all her life and up to now she is full of dignity and strength. 47 former students, among others, attended her 90th anniversary in 2016.