It’s now been almost two weeks since the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine started, and the sadness and worry that we feel has only increased. Every day since, we’ve replied to dozens of your messages, filled with just as much concern as our own for the people living through this nightmare.
We’ve written about this on the monthly stats emails last week and also on the forum, but we realize our message might not have reached everyone, or been clear enough. So let us be 100% clear: we strongly condemn this war, and are against any wars. Every human life is precious, so every single life lost to a war is a tragedy, not to speak of all the destruction and suffering. What is happening in Ukraine is heartbreaking, and we hope the thousands of postcrossers there and their loved ones are all safe.
Some of you have been asking Postcrossing to block postcrossers in Russia and Belarus, as a way to protest the war. We understand the feeling of helplessness and the will to do something. But the same way we believe people of all ages, genders, religions or other beliefs have a place in Postcrossing, we don’t think people’s nationality or what their governments are doing should be used as a reason for excluding them from the project. Postcrossing is about regular people, and not their governments, politicians or generals. If you feel strongly that you do not want to send postcards to postcrossers in a certain country, we respect that — but in that case, please don’t request any addresses on the website for now.
It is precisely during the hard times that connection and communication are needed the most, that they are the most precious. Platforms for intercultural dialogue are valuable tools to help bring more understanding, empathy and peace to the world, and we believe this to be an important part of Postcrossing’s mission.
In the past 16.5 years, Postcrossing has been about connecting the world without any discrimination. Postcrossers everywhere are people just like us. Parents and children. Supermarket cashiers and medical staff. Scientists, train drivers, students, birdwatchers, cooks, mail carriers… all human. With every postcard we send, we help create more awareness about our world and make tiny steps towards a more humane and sustainable future, even when all we do is ramble about our breakfast, or complain about the gloomy weather.
Many of you have been reaching out also to ask whether it is still possible to send mail to these countries. This information is in the Postal Monitor and we’re doing our best to keep it up to date, so that we don’t select addresses in countries where you cannot send postcards to at the moment. If the information on the Postal Monitor is not current, you can help by reporting news from your postal operator here.
As we are writing this, two million people have already fled Ukraine in search of safety, and millions more are suffering and fearing for their lives, including postcrossers. We’re thinking of them, and have donated all of our February AdSense revenue (from the Google Ads you see on the website) to the UN Refugee Agency and to UNICEF who are both on the ground helping those affected. We hope you will consider joining us in supporting these or other organizations that are offering humanitarian help, in whichever way or amount you can.
We stand with all those calling for peace, and hope peace can return to Ukraine very soon.
