A Wish for Ukraine in 2015
Phil, Mark, Daya and I started working with and visiting Ukraine in 2008 — it was so exciting to get to know and discover a pocket of the world with extremely educated, talented and committed professionals to help us build Livestream. Ukraine was opening up quickly to the world — economically and culturally. International business and travel was getting easier for Ukrainians. During my most recent visit with Phil last month we noticed more stores, more activity, and more restaurants with incredible food than on our previous visits.
Over time we have built a team of more than 22 Livestream Ukraine team members — mostly engineers creating some of our most innovative products.
All of this is possible thanks to Sergey Malyuk, our leader there and friend. And also to Edo Segal who introduced us to Ukraine and Sergey in 2008.
Sergey is like our fifth co-founder (although he had the chance to miss the tough first few year).
Earlier this year, the news broke: War had broken and the situation unfolded from there. War is 140 miles away from our office in Zaporizhia. Not the threat of modern nuclear war, nor modern terrorism, but 1944-style warfare — untrained, drafted soldiers, inadequate equipment and thousands of death over months of active combat.
Today, any young person of Ukraine can get drafted and be sent to the front. Some have lost friends or people they know already. There’s no escape — travel out of the country is restricted and visas are only getting harder to obtain. Not to mention the disintegrating currency and local economy as well as the rapid withdrawal of foreign investments due to the war.
Those in the US or in Western Europe have their own problems — but we forget how lucky we are have to have freedom of travel, a relatively great economic outlook and most important, personal and family safety with no threat of being drafted into a war at any time.
So with the 2015 New Year starting, I wanted to send our thoughts of friendship and support to our friends and colleagues in Ukraine and their families. We wish you a stable and improving 2015 for your country and your families.
З Новим Роком, дорогі друзі!
