Page 111 - Book about Friendship and Future.Stories of Volunteers.

Yulia Paershina

New Products Launch Specialist
Yum! Restaurants Russia LLC, Moscow

New Feeling

When I was a teenager my experience of communicating with
orphans turned out to be extremely negative, the kids from or-
phanages seemed malicious to me and I had no desire to help
them. I kept such a perception for quite a long time. Having
grown up, I was invited to take part in the events to aid the kids,
but refused on the basis of my old recollections and conclusions.
I felt that volunteering was something close to me: I was ready to
help various animals or invest my effort into environmental pro-
tection, but I found it hard to help teenagers.
One day when one of my peers was persistently asking me to
come with a team of volunteers to an orphanage because they
were lacking people, I felt a desire to overcome my negative at-
titude and decided to give the kids and myself a second chance.
I agreed to visit the orphanage with my peers, and then to be-
come a regular volunteer of the career guidance program. This
was a really challenging decision for me, but I felt great resolu-
tion and drive. After visiting the kids and looking at them as an
adult, after talking to them I have understood that I was not right:
not all teenagers are mean and exasperated, the majority of them
are just kids who lack support and understanding. They needed
my aid and I could give it! The academic year of 2018/2019 be-
came very fruitful to me in terms of volunteering: I started visiting
the kids more often, helping them not only to develop their per-
sonal traits and skills but also sharing my ideas regarding future
profession.
In May we held the final meeting according to the program.
The event was summarizing what the children had learnt from the
volunteers in the whole academic year, we remembered useful
personal and leadership skills, our teamwork. In the end, when
the kids learnt that we would visit them again only in September,
they got frustrated… At that moment I understood how close we
became to each other. And I was feeling something new inside.
This was the feeling of victory. a victory over myself and my prej-
udice.