18th of March 2022
It is a Friday morning, she walked into the living room, wearing a tranquil and sweet smile, carrying a bouquet of white tulips on her arm. She said to me, “This is to show my gratitude.”
“Life is never a plan, it is a journey of discovery.”
AG, a girl from Ukraine, whom I got to know via a DAO. We happened to join the same workstream almost the same time. I’ve never thought I would have such an acquaintance and story.
She is such a resilient and strong young girl with maturity beyond her age.
Thanks to the DAO
Because of the pandemic, I started to notice crypto, and always wanted to explore it further. Since September of 2021, I dived into crypto. This documentary directed by Tim Delmastro on Youtube Gold & Dollar: How Money Became Worthless | Currencies Explained | Documentary | Fiat Currency just changed my life. Then, not sure if this is the law of attraction. I started to help an entrepreneur friend on his BP of a P2E company. Also, I got a chance to work on a consultancy project about blockchain for sustainability. The more information I received, the more my paradigm has been challenged, and the further I went in this way. I started to research DAO, and landed on ShapeShift is Decentralizing by Erik Voorhees. This is the moment I embarked on a DAO journey. With faith in learning by doing, I wrote a short email with my intention to ShapeShift in December. And I almost forgot it after that. In Jan 2022, I received a reply and interview invitation. One day, I had an interview with ShapeShift, and also officially started to be a contributor in the marketing workstream.
Where I started to get to know a new girl called A, who takes care of social media operations such as Hive and Odysee. And every week we had chances to do zoom/google meetings. On the day of ShapeShift V2 launch, both of us went to the wrong meeting link, and it was our first time seeing each other virtually. I thought she is just a young and passionate social media savvy, maybe at an age of 25 or 26. Sometimes, we would collaborate on some projects and exchange thoughts. She also showed her artistic skills and creativity multiple times.
If it is not a decentralised ShapeShift, I’d never have had a chance to meet a Ukrainian friend like her. Thanks to the DAO.
The War
On the 24th of Feb, I woke up at 6 am in London, and was shocked by the news on my phone screen, it was about the war. All of a sudden, I was not sure if I was still in a nightmare or I was in reality.
I saw a posted AG sent in our Discord channel:
We were all deeply concerned about her situation. We also didn’t know how we could help. In a moment, I felt so helpless and hopeless.
In the following weeks, she kept working and attended weekly meetings. I wasn’t sure how she managed to do so. We would sometimes see messages from her like this:
On Mar 8th International Women’s Day, we two initiated a call to collaborate on the IWD poster for ShapeShift. She wrote the copy and I did a quick design. On the call we spontaneously called, she told me she finally got a bus ticket to evacuate from Western Ukraine to Warsaw, then take a bus from Warsaw to Berlin, then go to Luxemburge where her family’s friends live and can offer her a room to stay for a while. When I heard about Berlin, I intuitively asked her for a meet-up and offered to host her for a week, as there is an empty room in the apartment I am living. She agreed to stay in Berlin for a week.
The beautiful acquaintance
The day before she left Ukraine, she sent me a photo of her dog on WhatsApp and shared with me that she couldn’t take her beloved dog with her, as her mom wants to keep it as an emotional company at such a difficult time. Also, she couldn’t convince her parents to leave the country with her, so they might still be in potential danger. Her dad was legally not allowed to leave, and her mom would’t want to leave her dad alone. But her parents wanted to send her away. I cannot imagine how heartbreaking as well as comforting when they had to see their daughter off on the evacuation trip.
After nearly 2 days on the evacuation bus, she arrived at the central bus station of Berlin. I got in a car to pick her up, I remember the sunset glow on the way, which led me in the direction to meet her. She walked towards me with a volunteer who was speaking in Russian with her. There are lots of volunteers in Berlin to receive people from Ukraine.
We got home by car. After I learned she is only 18 years old, I thought I’d better give her some personal space. Before she came, I have concerns on how I should talk to her, I was afraid what I say or do would hurt her. I started to cook dinner and she went to take a shower.
During dinner, she started to talk, and even tried to make fun of the experiences she had. No one can believe her age. The way how she talks and the way how she reacts to things is just so mature. I believe it is exactly the experience that shaped her.
We went out to Hillsong Berlin church together on Sunday, I was very moved when I saw her praying and singing praise and worship songs. I wanted to pray for her badly. The burden she carried is so heavy, it is something she cannot control, nor can she understand. War is really far beyond our understanding. I cannot imagine the damages she had internally. She got to meet other Ukrainian friends in the church community, and she often slightly bowed down to thank people. She has the rare politeness and gentleness in her European genes.
Then we had the best pizza in a 60 seconds to Napoli restaurant. The meal brought us closer, then we had a long walk to Berliner Dom. She navigated the direction and I just followed her.
The first few days, I also sensed her fears and carefulness in daily life when we were at home. She has a very kind and grateful heart. I cooked a few meals for her, and one day I was working on something, she came to my room with a cup of candies and a cup of hot tea which I needed the most.
The young power and the unknown
On Wed evening, I was cooking dinner in the kitchen, and she came to me with tears in her eyes. She just lost her childhood friend, and all her friend’s family died from an attack. I really didn’t know what to say and what to do but hugged her tightly. I decided not to ask for more details, just asked if she wants to have dinner with me. I was preparing some soup and noodles. Only food can comfort her maybe. She is super skinny, I often remind her to eat food and keep a healthy diet.
In the past week, she explored different ways to apply for a media art major in a German university, but it’s not so easy. She is still waiting for a response from a university. She wants to continue studying, that’s the only way could probably change her life to be a better place. I saw her determination and struggles.
On Wed evening, I took her to a dinner with my friends in Berlin. Almost everyone on the table was impressed by her maturity and smartness. Same as I thought, we all tried to think back to our 18-year old, none of us could imagine having experiences and wisdom like she had. Undoubtedly, the internet really changed this generation by giving unlimited access to information from all around the world. And we are often shaped by the information/knowledge we receive.
On the evening before she leaves, I had an idea to do a video interview for her. I want to make this video as a memory of her 18-year old at such a special time and also a gift to her when she turns 30. She sat in the blue velvet chair wearing cosy grey hoodies, the scene is like a movie. The questions I asked her included (I improvised quite some of them):
- what is your motivation to study media art?
- what are the two schools you want to apply for?
- Travel to a day in future at your age of 25, imagine what the day is like?
- What are the top 3 things you want to do or achieve in university?
- Describe a moment in the past when you were the happiest
- Share two things you enjoy the most
- What are your feelings about the past few weeks?
- What do you think about the connection between money and life?
- Imagine the future of crypto in 12 years
- What kind of partner could be the perfect partner for you? above love:)
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When I watch her and listen to her, I felt like sometimes I am looking in a mirror, we share some of our thoughts. Even though we have a huge age difference. I wonder how I would think about the above questions when I was 18, did I change? I think I’ve changed a lot.
On Friday, I sent her to the train station. On the way, she told me she was very nervous. I asked her why, she said she didn’t know. It reminded me of the time at my 18-year old when my cousin sent me to my university in the suburb of the city where the campus was still under construction, and the feelings of uncertainty and fear I had. The girl standing behind me with two big bags is about to step on a journey unknown. It’s intimidating.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” I constantly encourage her to be strong and tried to get the most out of this journey. Only when we are stronger, we can help others.
I decided to leave her alone while she waited for her train. Like a tough sister, I thought she would have to face this journey by herself. It is the step of growth.
There is nothing else I could probably do, so I wrote her a letter and gave her a pair of astronaut earrings as a farewell gift.
I believe that “God has a good plan for her, not to harm her, but to prosper her.”