Despite everything, we hope.

“Today, 24 February, is my birthday;

I am 17 years old today.

Here, in the city of Balta, Kozianshna Street, the house is strange to me.

Without my father, without my brother – only my mother.

My room has been reduced to just one corner

But when its window is lit,

The sunlight

Doesn't reach us at all.

The sun refuses to light our way

And isn't prepared to wipe our tears

The tears that have been streaming from our eyes for the past three years.

Despite everything, we hope and believe that the sunlight

Will shine on us and we will be liberated.

Then the despair will be removed from our hearts

And will be transferred to the enemy's soul.

At the moment we sit and wonder:

What can tomorrow bring in its wake?

To realize our dreams

And to reach the day of liberation?

Our aspirations are focused on one pinprick

Of hope –

To leave the constraints

And return to my homeland –

To the city where I was born.

To return to the land, the land that I know –

To the city that I know, to the city that I know.”

David Leiderman did not live to see his 18th birthday. May his memory be blessed.