I always liked to head into the kitchen area each Thursday morning before my class at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre in north Edinburgh. The place was usually quiet and i looked forward to meeting any of the other class members who may have turned up. They had always been kind to me and welcomed me to their class. It is a great honour for me to be considered a newcomer at the age of 90 years old!
On that particular day there was only Jim, the class tutor, who came in. Though there were two women sitting opposite me at the far side, I didn't know them. And there was another lady sitting a few seats down from me but I didn't know her either.
Jim and I started to talk and catch up on various things when we both noticed the lady on her own crying and sighing. Jim and I both instinctively moved down to her. Jim was trying to comfort her and asking her, 'What's wrong?' All she could say was, 'Putin, Putin.'
We quickly worked out she was Ukrainian. She took out her mobile phone and showed us a photo of what must have been her family. Again, she uttered the dreaded word, 'Putin, Putin.' It was easy to work out what had happened to her family. She then started to cry louder and at this point the two other women at the far end came over.
We all came together in an international hug. These other women, I discovered later, were Kurdish women fleeing Turkish bombs. Jim decided he would try and find someone in the centre who also spoke Ukrainian. He found a woman called Ola who would come and see Anna as soon as she could. It was now time for our class and I couldn't help but say to Anna on leaving her - even although she would not understand me - 'I wish I could help you. I would do anything I could to help you.'
I couldn't settle in class that day. Anna's family had been wiped out, remaining only photos on a mobile phone now. I wondered if anything like this had happened to the Kurdish women. All this pain and suffering seemed so pointless to me. But it also showed me that the only antidote we have to such pain and suffering is for others to come to our aid; for people to come together. Humanity is strong when it comes together regardless of national or ethnic differences, regardless of race or gender either. There was a powerful embrace of humanity that day and it all took place in my Community Centre. It was a day of deep international friendship and sincere solidarity.