Someone else's misfortune does not happen: why the youth of Uzbekistan go to volunteers

How students from Uzbekistan become volunteers, what attracts them to this activity and how they learn to empathize and help those who need it especially. They help sick children, participate in charity fairs and deliver food to the homes of WWII veterans. They told about what motivates the volunteer guys to help others on the Student's Day.Amina Makhmudova and Farrukh Mukhammedov
Amina and Farrukh help veterans of the Great Patriotic War. Amina is studying political science at the Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, and Farrukh is a future international lawyer, studying at the Uzbek branch of MGIMO. And they are united by their participation in the actions of the All-Russian public movement "Volunteers of Victory", which is represented in Uzbekistan.
Amina and Farrukh learned about the work of the "Victory Volunteers" at the local representative office of Rossotrudnichestvo.
"My grandfather was also a veteran of the Second World War, we lived in different cities, so we could not visit him as often as we would like," says Amina. — But I know that volunteers often came to him. It is so important and so pleasant when veterans are given attention and support regularly, and not just in May." First of all, volunteers help veterans with food. And they also congratulate them on all possible holidays, the list of which is made up in advance - this is the New Year, Navruz, and the Day of lifting the siege of Leningrad.
As MGIMO students, we were invited to a New Year's event at Rossotrudnichestvo. There I was dressed in a Santa Claus costume. And we were offered to congratulate one of the veterans in this form these days," says Farrukh.
The campaign, when "Victory Volunteers" visit veterans in the images of Santa Claus, has been held in Tashkent for the third year. Now Farrukh teaches his brothers to these events. In his opinion, volunteering does not interfere with studying at all – it even happens the other way around.
For example, last year Farrukh and other volunteers met a veteran who told them about his brother– who was the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the USSR to China.
"As MGIMO students, it was very interesting for us. He even showed us his brother's books. This meeting made a special impression. Although each of the veterans we visit gives us a desire to do good," says Farrukh.
Kamola Safarova
Kamola Safarova is studying to become a dentist at the Tashkent State Dental Institute. The girl dreams of becoming a maxillofacial surgeon and is preparing for admission to the magistracy, and in her spare time develops the movement "Volunteer Doctors".Kamola organized this community in 2018 together with her classmate Eldor Shermatov. This step was prompted by her participation in the charity fair "Time of Miracles", where teenagers with health problems sell their crafts.
Helping the children, Kamola remembered that in childhood she always tried to help special children - she taught them English for free. And Kamola was also fond of hairdressing and cut the hair of the guys who could not go to the barber shop themselves.
Now devshuka wanted to connect volunteering with her future profession, so she decided to conduct free master classes on first aid. "We work in several areas: infectious diseases, first aid, sex education. In this case, we are assisted by a colleague who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology. She gives lectures, conducts open conversations with students, teenagers and their parents. This topic is still considered taboo, but we, as indigenous Uzbeks, try to do it delicately," says Kamola.
Kamola and Eldor were joined by other university students, and teachers and the rector's office supported their activities. Perhaps because the volunteers try as much as possible so that their master classes do not interfere with their studies. And "Volunteer doctors" achieve concrete results - in December last year, at the Third Volunteer Forum "We are Together" in Zaamin, they were recognized as the best initiative of the country and allocated 10 million soums.
With this money, the volunteers ordered a simulator-a mannequin of a small child to demonstrate on it how to properly provide first aid before the ambulance arrives, Kamola says.
"During an emergency, a medic may not always be around—" the volunteer explains and adds that some students of the master classes have already found the knowledge useful. Recently, Kamola received a call from a friend who came to the lectures of "Medical volunteers". She told me how to help a person with an epilepsy attack. "Of course, there was no limit to our joy. After all, if we were not directly, then indirectly we were able to help save someone's life," smiles Kamola.
Ismigul Usmanova
Ismigul Usmanova is also a future physician, only she chose the specialty of a therapist. She became a volunteer at the age of 15 on the advice of her mother, who said that her daughter should not only study.The first volunteer organization for Ismigul was also the fair "Time of Miracles". In total, more than a hundred people helped in it, and the girl was amazed that they were all ready to do something good for others just like that. After that, Ismigul began to participate in collections for poor families and sick children - she helped with medicines.
Ismigul is still collecting funds for children suffering from serious illnesses, and in an unusual format. In 2019, she met Kazakh Altynai Mulikova, the author of the charity project "Book for Life". As part of this campaign, volunteers collect books and sell them at a specially organized fair to help cancer patients. The second goal of the campaign is to teach people to read more, so the volunteers pack books beautifully and do not specifically write on the wrapper either the title or the author of the work, only a brief description of it."I realized that this project allows you to talk about books, discover them for yourself in a new way, and that you can make something social and kind out of it. My first sentence after "Hello!" was "I want this project in Tashkent, can I?", - recalls Isimgul.
Now Ismigul and her friends have organized a special point for collecting books in Tashkent. "We sell books, do good, people get knowledge and at the same time help someone too," she says.
Mansur Kholboev
Mansur Kholboev is a law student and volunteer search engine from Angren. As he tells himself, he likes to help people since childhood, so he joined the CIS search movement "Unity". It consists of 69 volunteers, 12 of them are Uzbekistanis.All of them help people find friends and loved ones according to the principle of the "Wait for me" program. For example, one day Mansur was given a request from a girl who was looking for her grandfather's brother. The fact is that the traces of this man were lost in Angren — before the Great Patriotic War he lived in Germany, then he was captured and ended up here.
Mansour coped with the task, but it was a very difficult process, he says. "And in the end, none of them even said thank you. It also happens," states Holboev.
However, Mansur volunteers not for the sake of gratitude. "I'm looking for relatives, classmates, colleagues—" he says. - Having received all the necessary information from those who are looking for someone, I start going through the old addresses and places where they lived and worked. In a word, I collect information." As a volunteer, Mansur is used to the fact that people who could help him in finding a person sometimes treat him with distrust, do not understand why he comes to them and asks questions.
"In that case, everything depends on me. I explain what I do, who I'm looking for and why. As a rule, everyone tries to help," he says.