I am new on Global Voices Online. It's been only a couple of months since I became an editor of a new GV project dedicated to interpreting different aspects of Russian Internet. But GV was a big part of my life since it launched five years ago.

I got used to welcoming mornings with GV on my laptop screen and I spent countless hours pondering fascinating stories from the most remote corners of the world. Last five years brought a lot of changes in my life. I lived in different countries, worked on different jobs, met and, unfortunately, lost different people, but I still begin every morning with reading GV on my laptop. Such a self-assuring habit, if you think about it... 

The site of Global Voices has always been about people. That is what always intrigued and inspired me. Every story would be like a photograph expressed with thousands of familiar and foreign letters. The photograph-story would tell us about thousands of netizens in Uganda, China, Iraq, France and Tajikistan who are willing to go an extra mile to make this world a slightly better place. One cannot usually see those people on TV, read about them in newspapers or hear their stories on radio where reporting mainly centers around politicians and celebrities.

Every GV story would tell me that people care. I would read about bloggers who are willing to go to prison defending the freedom of speech. I would learn about minorities who struggle to be treated equally. I would see young people in a country torn by decades of war who dream about the day when they can freely walk outside without getting shot. I would hear protesters who are tired of corrupt politicians and who demand a better government. End every single time those stories are much more than just blog entries or quotes. Those stories are images that get stuck with you and make you think. 

The world is truly talking and it has a lot of very important things to say. It's comforting to know that we have a global space where people who do not even speak the same language can become closer through their narratives. It is refreshing to see that geographical, social and economic borders shatter when people are willing to come together to make the world a better place.

Five years and counting...