Empower Ukraine’s Freedom Fighters
Let’s buy their knitting patterns and turn them into a juggernaut.
Writing in Vanity Fair, Sebastian Junger posits three reasons why Ukrainian freedom fighters have a chance against the Russian invaders.
Most interesting to me is Junger’s example number three, the presence of women in the face of the Russian military might.
According to Junger, history suggests armies have a harder time fighting women than men. To back up that claim, we’ve seen the heroic photos coming out of Ukraine of ordinary, non-military women carrying automatic weapons in preparation for facing the Russians. Housewives. Students. Businesswomen. Grandmothers. Knitting designers.
This story led me to consider another potential benefit of going on digital sites in these fraught days to support makers and designers by buying their patterns and other digital content as a way to get money into the country.
Yesterday, I posted an article pleading with readers to do just that, and I am gratified by the response.
However, I’m not the only concerned observer of this atrocity to recognize digital sites as a way of supporting Ukrainians.
I mentioned in my article a benefit of this method of giving is the direct connection to the maker receiving the money.
This morning, I logged onto to Ravelry to purchase another Ukrainian pattern. I found one for $2 for a dog leash. No matter that I don’t have a dog, the pattern is a foil for sending money to the designer.
After making the purchase, the third for this designer, I decided to search for the designer’s bio. My heart sank when I saw she lived in Kiyv, knowing her city is a target. Then I saw she’d recently added a note to her bio, which you can read in the photo below.
Svitlana’s note of thanks confirmed that, yes, we can make a personal connection with the designers.
They are receiving our payments/donations and aware of our support.
Also, each time you buy a pattern, you have the opportunity to make a further personal connection by sending an email to the designer.
But this method of giving, especially to the women of Ukraine, does more than provide an individual citizen the price of a meal or some such.
By having money flow into the country to individuals, in addition to money we send to international aid agencies, we can help empower these freedom fighters, specifically these women, to keep going, perhaps even assist in funding their efforts against the Russians. Our purchase of their knitting patterns might even help the women put a stick in the eye of the enemy.
We know from messages such as Svitlana’s that our donations of support, small though they may be, matter. They have an effect even greater than dollars and cents. This effect can grow exponentially when donations come from around the globe. This is a powerful form of support for these women in their fight against this cruel aggressor.
On Ravelry at least, there are only a small number of designers. Some designers, and they are mostly women, may offer several patterns for sale. So we are talking about supporting a few hundred people at most. I don’t know how many Ukrainians have Etsy stores, but that is another source of individuals to help.
Not the whole Urkrainian army, but hey, look what David did with a slingshot.
Many other digital sites exist that allow downloading digital content, meaning you can just bypass the content and send money to the owners of the content. If you know of a site, whether it’s a music download or another creative site, let us know. Write your own article or post it on social media.
This movement to get money to Ukrainians through digital downloads won’t win the war.
But after reading Sebastian Junger’s article on what it takes for David to beat Goliath, I am even more convinced that many, many small efforts like this one will help the Davids in Ukraine, those brave men and women who are giants at heart, sustain their fight and overcome.
No doubt it’s not lost on many of you that this International Women’s Month. What better way to honor the women of the world than by supporting the women of Ukraine by funding their war effort and sending them money through their digital accounts.
Slava Ukraine.