My story is simple…
The desire to take up volunteering appeared ten years ago. It appeared unexpectedly. One day I woke up and realized that I wanted to learn as much as possible about this organization and that I wanted to be a volunteer at the Belarusian Children’s Hospice. Nowadays the number of volunteers of the Belarusian Children’s Hospice is quite large. Each of us has our own reason to come to the hospice, each has their own story.
Let me start with these words...
When my life is limited to months, weeks, days, hours…
I want to live free of pain, of humiliation, of loneliness.
Give me a shelter, lend me a helping hand,
Understand me and give me your love.
Then let me leave peacefully
And help my family understand…
Wonderful words… I think everyone who one way or another is connected with the work of the Belarusian Children’s Hospice understands these words perfectly. To my mind, these words belong to the heart of each child who is under the guardianship of this really cordial home which is open for each person in need. The words could seem simple at first sight, but they conceal a lot… Including the answer to the question: “Why am I here?”, “Why are many other people here?” “What do these children and the hospice mean to us?”… And the answer is in each line of children’s words. Ask me what I am talking about.
When their life is limited to months, weeks, days, hours… We should make this time better, more colourful and at the same time calmer. They want to live free of pain, of humiliation, of loneliness… And our aim is to help them do it. They ask for shelter, for understanding, for love… It is not difficult at all, is it? It is by no means difficult to favour these children with a smile, with a bit of your patience, with care, with understanding, with love. And their simple dreams will come true.
That’s why I am here, like many others.
Nowadays the number of volunteers of the Belarusian Children’s Hospice is quite large. Each of us has our own reason to come to the hospice, each has their own story.
My story is simple…
Nothing can happen without a reason, a desire cannot come from nowhere. Everything should have its motive. I began to search for my motive. Maybe, I was influenced by those kids that I often met in the street, in parks, in hospitals. They didn’t have friends, they didn’t even have understanding people. At best, they had their parents beside them. Passersby were going past casting frightened, derisive, scornful, often even despicable glances on those children. Those scenes always made me feel cold and sad. Every time I understood more and more clearly that I was interested in helping those children, that I wanted to be near them, to talk to them, to know them better, to give them some warmth, understanding and care. The desire to become a volunteer was becoming stronger and stronger. But unfortunately this desire was left unfulfilled for several years. Why? I lived in another town then, I was only 13 and you can become a volunteer only after you have come of age. But time passed, I entered the university, moved to Minsk and started looking for some information about the hospice and the possibility of becoming a volunteer.
At this moment, a great person appeared in my life. She helped me enormously and supported my decision. It was my psychology professor and a hospice worker Julia Igorevna Chepik. Very often Julia Igorevna told me about the hospice and about the children there. She was talking about it with such inspiration, such warmth and love that she was infecting all the people around her with those emotions. She brought me to the hospice. It is a warm house, a bright place where you will always be understood and supported. There is a team there of real professionals with big hearts. I went there and just couldn’t leave.
That’s how my small dream came true. Now I have been a volunteer at the Belarusian Children’s Hospice for more than four years and it makes me happy. It is a priceless experience and a great pleasure for me. It is a real pleasure to talk to children who in spite of all the difficulties can be sincerely happy, can appreciate small things. They love their life so much in a way that healthy people have forgotten to love… It is a pleasure to feel yourself a small part of a very united team where all the people show kindness, are doing something they really enjoy and are trying to fill the short lives of those special children with bright colours, with warmth and care, to make it respectable, worthwhile and at least a bit resembling a fairy-tale that they need so badly…
Nadezhda Ogurtsova
Congratulations to Daryl Ann Hardman, chairwoman of Friends of the Belarusian Children’s Hospice, who has been awarded the Order of Frantsysk Skaryna in recognition of her personal contribution to humanitarian and charitable activities in Belarus. The Order is the country’s highest government award and was granted by the President of Belarus. Previous recipients include a Nobel Prize winner and leaders in the fields of politics, culture and humanitarian endeavours. His Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to the United Kingdom and Ireland Mr Aleksandr Mikhnevich presented the award at a Belarusian cultural event in London. Daryl Ann thanked the President and people of Belarus and the ambassador and said that she was touched to have been given this honour. After acknowledging the hard work of the trustees of Friends of BCH, she said that the real heroes were working in the hospice in Minsk looking after children that medicine cannot cure and giving them back their childhood for the months or years that they have left to live.
