Page 48 - Book about Friendship and Future.Stories of Volunteers.

Diana Panova

Human Resources Manager “City Restaurants” LLC
Moscow

Senior Brother

I have a senior brother, 14 years older than me. All my child-
hood he was often set as the role-model and there were reasons
for that: “the best student of the university course”, “graduated
with honors”, “Blue Chip job” and finally, his own business. Per-
haps because of that the relationships between us had always
been tense, and my brother treated me with some condescen-
sion.
The time went by, I grew up and relocated to Moscow. When
I worked for KFC, at some point I was offered to participate in
the volunteer project concerning the adaptation of the kids from
orphanages. This was my first project. It was an outstanding ex-
perience for me: it helped in my self-determination and improv-
ing my communication skills. I became so keen and could not see
myself without volunteering.
My brother was the first one with whom I wanted to share.
I told him about the project, people, peers, successes – ev-
erything that was so important to me at that moment. And my
brother replied, ”Surely, you must have too much free time.” I felt
hurt at first. But later on, I thought that he, as well as myself,
needed time to accept that. I just continued making casual re-
marks about the projects and the benefit that we were bringing
and what it gave to me as a person.
The time passed. And once my brother called me and said,
“You know, I am proud of you! You have been doing so much
and I decided to catch up. Together with my friends we have got
constructed a play area for the kids in our district. And you know,
it was great to see how the kids having fun”.
This was the most valuable confession in my life. My brother
continued his activities on the path of doing the kind deeds. And
I realized that he had never treated me with condescension. We
just had different views on success and value. And it was volun-
teering that united us and helped us to become really close! It
does not matter how different we are, and what the age differ-
ence is, volunteering and the kind deeds became our common
ground. Now it is his turn to share emotions with me!