Let's be friends: 20 years of friendship between RUDN University and children’s homes
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of friendship, students from RUDN Women’s Committee invited friends from children’s homes to say what RUDN means for them. Kids could write an essay or draw a picture. 35 children aged 10-16 sent their works. The students decided that all authors deserve gifts, but it is important to single out the best works — this is how the contest “Happy to be friends” was born. You can see pictures and quotations from the essays in the Interclub, near Room 210, while full texts can be read using QR codes. You can vote for the works — this is how the winners will be determined. The winners will be announced on the birthday of RUDN University — this year the celebration will take place on February 4.
From the essays:
“With these extraordinary, cheerful guys, everything around becomes brighter,” Varvara Sokolova.
“My very first meeting with the guys from RUDN University happened in the fall on the banks of our Oka River. There we filmed a clip about our friendship ‘My friend’. It was the coolest day of my life... I shed tears as the bus with Ira and my other new friends was leaving. The students waved at us through the windows. Come again, I shouted after them,” Nikolai Golovkin
“We were each given a ribbon. But these were not just ribbons, they were tied, and there were a lot of them. First, one end of the ribbon was given to the children, and the other to the students. Now I will see who my friend is. What is it? But suddenly I was very confused and lost my ribbon. I started crying. But when I looked down, I realized that I was standing on a ribbon that no one got. I pulled the ribbon and saw that at the same time as me, a student was pulling the same ribbon from the other side. And I guessed that this was now my friend. His name was Louis. He is from Latin America. It was the most joyful and happiest moment,” Anastasia Simonova.
“I came to the children’s home almost a year ago, on December 21, 2020. A few days later, it was the New Year 2021. And what was unexpected for me, I received gifts, which was such a New Year’s miracle. I could not even imagine who gave them to me,” Pavel Simonov.
“Friends are a great value in life. I am lucky, because I have friends from all over the planet ... Thanks to meeting extraordinary people from the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, I had a goal: to finish 11 grades and get higher education at this university. I have not decided on the major, but I am good at school,” Veronika Kondratieva.
“Since I came to the children’s home, I’ve heard about RUDN University. Everyone is talking about them!!! Children, tutors, drivers and even janitors — everybody... On the big screen, Issa and Yana delivered a congratulatory speech and sang a song, and suddenly they jumped out onto our festively decorated stage. Everyone was so surprised, someone cried with happiness when they saw their friend after a long time, someone waved, smiled, winked, blew kisses, but I didn’t, I just looked at them absorbing their energy and enthusiasm. How cool they were!!!”, Yana Furmanova.
On a Sunday winter day at the exhibition named “Russia” RUDN University gathered students, partners, colleagues, and organized lectures under the title “We are different! We are equal! We are together!” The event took place in Pavilion 57 on the platform of the Russian Society “Znanie”. And on this day the hall was jam-packed.
The event was attended by more than 350 students from Russia, Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The students organized an exhibition of the fraternity, introducing the guests to national dances, treating them to Algerian coffee, Arabic sweets and talked about the culture and history of the people of the country. The week ended with a futsal tournament.
On the eve of the New Year, we are summing up the past 365 days and set new goals for the next year. Whatever we do — study, work or do research — we intend to conquer even higher peaks.