The Threads of Kindness: My Heartwarming Volunteering Day at HSE
The first time I entered the well-lit hall of the main campus of HSE on Pokrovka in order to take part in a volunteering event, I was looking forward to spending an average afternoon volunteering, assisting people, setting up tables, perhaps handing out some materials. I did not think that yarn, a crochet hook, and a stack of paper in different colors would guide me to learn something significant about kindness and community.
This event was part of HSE volunteer center and the students were welcomed to make their own crochet hearts and greeting cards and distribute the same to the elderly residents and orphaned children around Moscow. I had not ever crocheted anything in my life. However, when I sat down, among smiling students, cups of tea, and piles of yarn of every conceivable color, there was something about the atmosphere which was comforting, as though I were in a room full of acquaintances, yet I hardly knew anybody.
My First Needle Into the Experience
I was approached by a volunteer mentor with a friendly smile on her face, and he hooked me and said, "No worries, you will learn, I told you so, no worries, you will learn, I told you so, no worries, you will learn, I told you so, no worries, you will learn, I told you so, no worries, you will learn, I told you so, no worries, you will learn, I told you so, no worries, you will learn, I told you so, no worries, you will learn, I told you so, no worries, you will learn, She demonstrated to me how to loop the yarn, how to pull the yarn, how to make the stitches look like little hearts. My initial efforts resembled more to scrumbled planets than hearts but every other student in the room was laughing and urging me on.
Something quiet was in the working of it: the beat of the yarn, the silence of the attention, the low murmuring of the conversation in the room. Gradually my fingers had taught the mind what it could hardly realize. then, as suddenly, virtually, as a magic, the shape presented itself. My first crochet heart. Dry and bumpy and broken and yet my own.
It was spotted by one of the organizers and she remarked, It is beautiful. Somebody will be smiling due to it. I kept that sentence all day long.
Cards Filled With Color and Care
Having made a couple of crochet hearts, I went to the table, where students were making greeting cards. Markers, stickers, ribbons and glitter were spread over the table. It is what I knew I could do unlike crochet. I took a plain card and wrote a simple message:
You are loved. You are remembered."
I could see students surrounding me writing in their respective languages of origin, Russian, English and others. Others were drawing flowers, others were drawing cartoon characters and some added inspirational quotes. Each card was rather a small bridge, a contact between a Moscow student and a person, who just needed to be reminded of warmth and care.
Being an international student, I usually feel kind of the HSE community. The production of these cards was like returning some of that goodness.
More Than Crafting: This Lesson on Humanity
I was constantly reminded of the people who would be the recipients of these gifts throughout the event: the older members of the population that will feel ignored, and the children who will have no part of their families to share the holidays with. The fact that what we did with our own hands, a heart, a message, a smile, could make their day brighter was in itself a meaningful thing to experience.
Volunteering in Pakistan usually refers to doing food distribution, arranging donation or tutoring the children. This was a novel creative, intimate, handmade style of approach. It demonstrated to me that good deeds do not necessarily need lots of resources; and in some instances, they only need time, focus and sincerity.
What surprised me the most is the diversity and oneness of the room. Russian, international, first-year, master students, all stitched, all drew and all wrote. The language barrier was overcome when we shared materials, laughed at errors and complimented one another. The campus was as though a small and beautiful world.
A Memory Made of Warmth, A Heart Made of Yarn
At sunset, stacks of colored crochet hearts and a pile of hand written cards would be on our tables. I was proud of them because of what we had created but also of the spirit with which we created it. Everyone of these hearts was holding hours of patience, every of the cards was a message of compassion.
I then put my last crochet heart onto the stack before I went. This was a improvement of the first, less irregular, more finished, though the first heart, the unsatisfactory one remained in my mind. It also helped me keep in mind that there is no perfection in volunteering, only effort, sincerity, and attending.
On that day, HSE did not only provide me with a volunteering opportunity. It has provided me with an opportunity of bonding, both with other people, with the community, and with the ideals that make this university more than a learning institution.
Kindness, Spread One Stitch at a Time
I had a feeling of satisfaction with me as I stepped out of the main building into the cold Moscow evening. I came expecting an event. I walked away with one of those memories, sewed innocently into my head just like the tiny heart that I created.
In case you observe an announcement of such events at HSE, do not hesitate to join. You do not have to know how to crochet and draw. All it takes is a desire to be caring. And who knows you might find, as I did, that a little thing you do with your hands might make a big difference in the heart of another person.
Shared by
Tuba Masood
