At 12:30 PM, on February 23, 2024, Haverford students gathered outside of Founders Hall to show their support for Ukraine. The vigil took place the day before the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since 2022, over 10,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, around 550 of them children. Russia has also been accused of over 120,000 instances of war crimes within Ukraine, most notably in the regions of Bucha and Mariupol.
The main organizer of the event was Danylo Shudrenko ’26, a Ukrainian-born student at Haverford College. As he stood on the steps of Founders Hall, a group of around twenty people, both staff and students, gathered to hear him speak. Shudrenko began by saying that the vigil was a way to “honor the resilience of the Ukrainian people.”
As part of the vigil, Shudrenko read out a poem from the famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, first in Ukrainian, then in English,
ЗАПОВІТ
Як умру, то поховайте
Мене на могилі,
Серед степу широкого
На Вкраїні милій:
Щоб лани широкополі
І Дніпро, і кручі
Було видно, − було чути
Як реве ревучий!
Як понесе з України
У синєє море
Кров ворожу… отойді я
І лани і гори —
Все покину, і полину
До самого Бога
Молитися… а до того
Я не знаю Бога.
Поховайте та вставайте,
Кайдани порвіте
І вражою злою кров’ю
Волю окропіте.
І мене в сім’ї великій,
В сім’ї вольній, новій,
Не забудьте пом’янути
Незлим тихим словом!
Тарас Шевченко
MY TESTAMENT
Translated by John Weir
When I am dead, bury me
In my beloved Ukraine,
My tomb upon a grave mound high
Amid the spreading plain,
So that the fields, the boundless steppes,
The Dnieper’s plunging shore
My eyes could see, my ears could hear
The mighty river roar.
When from Ukraine the Dnieper bears
Into the deep blue sea
The blood of foes … then will I leave
These hills and fertile fields —
I’ll leave them all and fly away
To the abode of God,
And then I’ll pray …. But till that day
I nothing know of God.
Oh bury me, then rise ye up
And break your heavy chains
And water with the tyrants’ blood
The freedom you have gained.
And in the great new family,
The family of the free,
With softly spoken, kindly word
Remember also me.
Taras Shevchenko
Two separate one-minute-long moments of silence were held to honor those whom Shudrenko, wearing a traditional Ukrainian blouse or vyshyvanka, described as fighting against Russian colonization. Shudrenko took time to describe the long history of Ukrainian resistance against Russian oppression. He spoke of the importance of remembering the 4 million Ukrainians who perished during the Holodomor, or the forced starvation of the Ukrainian people by Stalin’s dictatorial regime.
Participants of the vigil were also encouraged to donate to Mriya, a non-profit organization that aids Ukrainian independence.
One Haverford student, who requested to remain anonymous, spoke of the importance of the vigil for himself and his family.
“I’m half Ukrainian. And everyone on my mother’s side has decided to remain in Ukraine, a large number of them live in Kyiv… I’m very appreciative of what the U.S has done… but it’s definitely still very dangerous there…. I talked to my grandparents three months ago when they were having a lot of strikes… we were able to get my grandparents out of Ukraine, but they are very patriotic and they decided if they were going to die it would be in their homeland.”
Victor, Haverford ’26, a Russian immigrant, also spoke to the BiCo.
“This is a really important cause to me because I know that the country that I come from is doing this awful invasion of Ukraine, and I think that it is really important that even in the United States we show that we are in support [of Ukraine]. I think it’s good to make sure that the people in the United States don’t forget about this because it’s not over.”
