Postcards … change someone’s life

We were surprised one day to find a package in our mailbox from Spain.

Desirée, who is studying law at Carlos III University of Madrid, has been swapping postcards with several Ukrainian women since April this year. She found Anna and Olga (Kyiv), Veronika and Iryna (Lviv), Marta (Odesa), Anita (Poltava region), and Anna (Zaporizhzhia), on Instagram.

“I like to think now that I have some ties with Ukraine, even if feeble. On their postcards I have always tried to use either the “Spain with Ukraine” [support Ukraine] stamp that the Spanish Postal Service (Correos y Telégrafos) released (mimicking the Ukranian flag) in 2022. Or (when I had run out of that one) “the peace, greatest value of humanity” stamp. [We wrote about support Ukraine stamps in 2023]

Desirée uses the Ukrainian flag stamp even if it is more postage than necessary. That is, to send mail to Ukraine, from Europe, a B stamp would be enough (cheaper) than a C stamp, which is more expensive, as it is meant for the rest of the world.

“I think that using the support Ukraine stamp is a nice touch, showing support to the recipient through the stamp. One way to be considerate with their country’s terrible situation.”

For more than a decade, Desirée has been preparing for the (extremely complicated) official exams (one test and two orals) to become a judge.

“Every day (six days a week, no holidays nor days off when an exam is close) I memorize by heart (word for word) the articles of the Constitution, the Criminal Code, the Civil Code and the Laws of Criminal and Civil Procedure (320 lessons in total). I have classes twice a week with a judge who helps me prepare. I “sing” the lessons to him (recite by heart using a stopwatch to control time, as the oral exams consist of reciting 5 of those lessons in one hour, so each lesson has to be “sung” in no more than 12 minutes. We have to talk very very fast and know the codes/laws very fluently). It is very isolating work, as I am alone for years, every day just with the company of books, without seeing or talking with anybody. Studying 10 hours per day, or even 15 when the exams are nearing.”

Sometimes, Desirée admits, “I have the feeling that life is passing by while I study and look out of my windows. But I have the dream (since I was a young girl) of improving this world by imparting Justice… and, as I wrote to Defenders in my second batch of postcards, there are dreams and causes worthy of sacrificing your youth/life for.”

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Desirée has noticed that “everything became more expensive; especially, electricity, natural gas and oil for my father’s car. I don’t drive but I heard him complaining a lot about the price rises regarding energy.”

In the past, Desirée joined a project to support Palestine by crocheting watermelon halves.

“I believe in helping ‘smaller’ countries which are being bullied by the big boys unfairly. I have always had a weakness for the outcasts… maybe because (while growing up, for many years) I was the poor ugly duckling myself, with so many problems to fit in (I was different, an old soul who didn’t kneel at the rest of the teenagers’ interests). Perhaps that is why I prefer the David of the world to the Goliaths… and have faith they will end up winning against all odds. The butterfly must never forget that it once was a worm.”

Postcards have been Desirée’s entrée into her support for Ukraine. First, via swaps with Ukrainian women. More recently, by writing postcard messages of support to Defenders of Ukraine through Postcards to the Front.

“I have recommended Postcards to the Front through my Instagram profile and in a couple of ‘global group swaps’ groups, trying to plant the seeds of volunteering to support Ukraine via postcards in others.”

In May 2026, Desirée saw a post in a Postcrossing forum where “a woman named Linda (@delda) who was holidaying in France offered to send a postcard from Brittany. I had two Breton penpals from when I was 15 years old for about ten years. I had lost contact with them but had many fond memories of that region, so I felt nostalgia. I thought it would be nice to receive a postcard now from that area that was so meaningful to me in the past. I clicked. Then I read that, in exchange for that postcard, I would have to send an envelope full of postcards to encourage the Defenders of Ukraine and instantly liked the idea of the swap even more!”

Desirée immediately felt that her postcards were important as she realized that “they could make a difference and support people in real need.”

A week after seeing Linda’s original swap offer on Postcrossing, she repeated the offer; this time for postcards from Paris. Desirée asked to join again.

“So, the first two times, I got something out of writing postcards for Defenders (apart from the pride of being part of something bigger than me and my little postcards). It was not purely selfless. But then, I thought it was such a good cause that I would have done it had I known of it before, even without getting anything in return. In fact, right now I am preparing my third batch of postcards, this time in a totally altruistic way.”

Desirée has put a lot of thought into what she writes on her postcards to Defenders.

“I didn’t want to send just any postcard, unrelated to their suffering. I wanted the image to say something… and [I wanted] a powerful text to match. My first choice was easy. I chose the Metropolis Building of Madrid and its fitting history of rebirth.”

“The second time it was harder: I ended up being more introspective, choosing a metaphorical image and writing a personal note that is closer to my own experience – my wish for freedom – drawing parallels to the desires of going back home that Defenders might harbour. Both texts have a common part: the mention of Spain’s (much smaller) victory over the (more powerful and bigger) French Empire of Napoleon (France invaded Spain in the 19^th century, in a very similar way to Russia invading Ukraine nowadays) after 6 years of war (The Spanish War of Independence, 1808–1814) and against all odds. France was the most powerful country at the time, and way before Waterloo… it was beaten by Spain in Bailén.”

Desirée tells us that her third batch of cards will go deeper into the history of the Spanish War of Independence against the French, because “I have found postcards of Malasaña neighbourhood which are very fitting. Manuela Malasaña was a seamstress, one of the main characters at the start of said war, rebelling against the French invaders, defending Madrid on May 2, 1808 (that day is a regional holiday nowadays, marking the beginning of the war). Malasaña perished because of her rebellion.”

Here’s the Text from Desirée’s first batch of postcards:

Madrid (Spain), 27^th May 2026

Dear Defender of Ukraine,

The name of this building was not always “Metrópolis”. I remember my grandfather Paco referring to it as “La Unión y el Fénix”, as the crowning statue used to be a phoenix. The symbol of rebirth: that’s what I wish for your country, to become stronger and even more beautiful than before this unfair and cruel invasion. When this building was bought by a new owner in 1977, the name changed, along with the statue. Current one has a fitting name too: “THE WINGED VICTORY”. It represents Niké, Greek goddess of success. I hope Ukraine gets a well-deserved triumph soon. I pray for peace. I hope you win and you can go to your family. Back home, safe. Remember: DAVID BEAT GOLIATH!!! Same as little Spain defeated the French Empire of Napoleon after six years of war in early XIX century. YOU CAN BEAT RUSSIA!! You can win! You are a hero. The world is very proud of you! SPAIN SUPPORTS UKRAINE!!! All the best from Madrid, Desirée.

Now, the text used on Desirée’s second batch of postcards:

Madrid (Spain), 29^th May 2026

Dear Defender of Ukraine,

This is my favourite painting in Reina Sofia Museum. I identify with this girl. I studied Law and now I am preparing the official exams to be a judge. It is not easy: I have been trying way more than a decade, day after day of never-ending study. In limbo: without getting paid, marrying, buying a flat or having children. I am exhausted. Sometimes I feel like life is passing while I study and look outside from my window. But I have a dream: to improve the world, to make it fairer, by imparting Justice. THERE ARE CAUSES WORTHY OF SACRIFICING FOR. LIKE YOURS. So, in a more extreme way, maybe you can identify with this painting too… War like a dark isolated room, lonely and cold: you look outside, to what life used to be, through the window of your memory. But one day, the locked door that keeps you inside will finally open and you will step outside for real. Go back home, safe, to your family and friends. One day war will end and your suffering will have a well-deserved reward: your country free of invaders. YOU CAN WIN! DAVID BEAT GOLIATH!!! Same as little Spain defeated the French Empire of Napoleon after six years of war in early XIX century. SPAIN SUPPORTS UKRAINE!!! All the best from Madrid, Desirée.

Desirée claims no artistic talent. Rather, she believes “my strength is words … so I keep decoration simple applying a sticker with a flower and a little word/phrase of encouragement – like “thanks!”, “dreams don’t sleep”, “find beauty in chaos”, “hope is everything” or “just for you!”) plus the Spanish stamp “Spain with Ukraine” that reproduces the Ukrainian flag. I know stamps are not necessary, as the postcards would be traveling together inside an envelope, but I think it was a powerful visual and official form of support.”

New to Postcrossing in February, it didn’t take long for Desirée to fall in love with the idea of exchanging postcards. Between official postcards and direct swaps, she has written dozens of postcards every week over the past few months.

She explained that, with every postcard, “I try to capture a personal experience and preserve it like a small treasure, frozen in time. Perhaps, many years from now, the grandchildren of someone in Malaysia who received one of my postcards in 2026 will come across it among their grandparent’s belongings. If that happens, they will be holding not only a window into the past of another country and another culture, but also a time capsule into my own past: who I was, what worried me, what I dreamed of, what I valued, what amused me, and what filled me with wonder.”

Further, she added, “writing postcards is a way to bring a smile to a stranger’s face. But it is also a way of sharing ourselves, of reaching beyond our own lives, of leaving something behind. The written word makes us immortal.”

This is true in a beautiful sense, but also in a very ordinary one. That is, Desirée does not mean “that the words we write in a ‘normal’ postcard are unimportant or forgotten after a few days or weeks. Quite the opposite—I am sure recipients treasure them just as much as I treasure the postcards I receive. But, generally speaking, their significance goes no further than being part of a wonderful hobby.”

“That,” she continued, “is the rule… and, as with every general rule, there are extraordinary exceptions.”

Over the course of the past few months, Desirée has experienced two such exceptions; two occasions when she believes her words could help someone in a truly meaningful and tangible way. Not in a trivial sense, but in one that genuinely mattered.

“The first was when I answered a Postcrosser’s request to send postcards to the elderly residents of the nursing home where she works in Hamburg, Germany. Many of them can no longer travel, so postcards became a beautiful way to bring the world to them and ease their loneliness.”

The second has been writing to the Defenders of Ukraine “to offer them encouragement in one of the most extreme situations a human being can face. War.”

These two exceptions make Desirée immensely proud.

“They are, without question, the most important postcards I have ever written, because they have the potential to change someone’s life, even if only for a brief moment.”

Desirée believes that, “whenever we have the opportunity to help another person, we should take it. Not only because offering comfort to someone who is suffering is the morally right thing to do, but because we should treat others as we ourselves would hope to be treated.”

And “if I one day grow old and spend my final years in a nursing home, I hope someone will write to me. If I were fighting to defend my country against an unjust invasion, sacrificing my youth and perhaps even my life, I would want to know that those sacrifices were not in vain. That they were seen, appreciated, and remembered by the international community. That they mattered enough for complete strangers, in a world that can so often seem indifferent, to sit down on the other side of the globe and write me a few heartfelt lines.”

When we asked Desirée “why do you think this work is important?” the first thing that came to her mind was a poem by Spanish poet Blas de Otero, “ME QUEDA LA PALABRA”.

“I thought this “because the word is the only thing they have left” (to get solace). When facing a terrible and huge vital situation that escapes your control and that endangers your life (like war), only the word remains:

Desirée has not written any of her text in Ukrainian, “not because I think it is unimportant but because I would have had to trust an online translator for it. That would have been risky. English is not my mother tongue either, but I am fluent enough to be quite sure the meaning of my words in English show my Spanish thoughts loyally. In my opinion it was better to be exact in a third common language than to have a nice gesture in one I know nothing about and where I couldn’t be sure if the spirit was being respected.”

Going deeper into her choice of written language, Desirée explained that if she wrote in Ukrainian, she would have had to print her message as she is unable to write cursive using the Cyrillic alphabet.

“Under no circumstances was I going to sacrifice the two most personal parts of my contribution: the (precision of the) content – the core of what I want to say – and (part of) the ‘container/vessel’ (my handwriting).”

She worried about “doing it wrong” and she didn’t want to risk losing the essence of her message.

The use of a digital translator mean that she “would have to trust AI and hope blindly that both core (heart/meaning) and form (my transcription) were precise/decent. It was too important a message to be uncertain on both.”

Additionally, Desirée thinks “it’s beautiful for a language to be able to unite us all (without losing our own languages, the richness of our national selves, of course). During the Roman Empire it was Latin for us Europeans. Now it is English. A Spaniard and a Ukrainian can understand each other… neither in Spanish nor Ukrainian but in English! Not you, not me; neither black nor white but grey, sort of. It reminds me a Little of Aristotle’s quote: “virtue lies in the golden mean”.”

Ultimately, Desirée hopes that Defenders feel less alone when they receive postcards from far away. “Not abandoned. [That they know that] we care for them. They awake our compassion, of course, and our admiration too.”

When she learned of Russia’s full-scale invasion in early 2022, Desirée “couldn’t but think that it reminded me of Nazi Germany invading Poland in 1939. It was not just a question of no consideration or disrespect; it was an act of aggression that violated one of the most basic rules of Public International Law: the principle of the sovereignty of the State. A country can’t decide unilaterally that another country (or part of it) belongs to it. That is not the way things are done when abiding International Law (no referendum, no nothing).”

In times of desperation, such as when she was close to giving up her dream, Desirée has found consolation and inspiration from the following quote and text. “I want to pass them to the Defenders (in fact, now that I think of it, I will probably include them in my fourth batch of postcards):

If you can dream it, you can do it! – Walt Disney

And,

“The Royal Academy defines the word ‘impossible’ as something that lacks the ability or means to become reality or happen, and defines ‘improbable’ as something unlikely, not based on sound reasoning. Given the choice, I prefer improbability to impossibility. Like everyone else, I guess. Improbability hurts less and leaves room for hope, for heroism.

That David would defeat Goliath was improbable, yet it happened. That an African-American would live in the White House was improbable, yet it happened. That Barón Rojo would perform together again was improbable, yet it happened too. Nadal overtaking Federer as tennis world number 1. A journalist becoming princess first and queen later. Spain’s 12-1 victory over Malta.

Love, relationships, feelings, dreams – they are not based on prudent reasoning. That’s why I don’t like to speak of improbable loves but rather of improbable ones. Because THE IMPROBABLE IS, BY DEFINITION, PROBABLE. What is almost certain not to happen can still happen. And as long as there is a chance – half a chance in a billion – that it might happen, IT IS WORTH TRYING FOR.”

– Off voice at the start of episode 97 on Spanish TV series “Paco’s Men”

Please tell others about this project.

Ask family and friends to write cards. Involve your children and grandchildren. Defenders especially value postcards with drawings from children.

Not sure how to get started? Check our “How to” page, and our Ukrainian phrases page. Want to organize a group of family, friends or others to write postcards? We have a page with suggestions about How to Run a Postcard-Writing Workshop.

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