A lesson of kindness and wisdom: schoolchildren in the Polotsk district helped the former teacher during the action “Good to the elders”

Volunteers of the “Good Heart” detachment of the Goryansk secondary school of the Polotsk district during the “Good to the Seniors” campaign of the republican youth marathon “Dobro.Bel” helped prepare the yard for the winter to former physics teacher Galina Kleofasovna Makarska on the eve of her 90th birthday. A meeting with schoolchildren became an occasion for the anniversary to share memories, and for children – a real school of vitality and wisdom, the correspondent of sb.by reports.

She always refuses, and we come anyway. October in Goriany was unusually beautiful and... troublesome. Four girls in bright jackets, with rakes and shovels, go to the yard of the house on the street Naberezhnaya, 10. These are members of the volunteer team “Good Heart” – ninth-graders Victoria Ryadchina, Maria Ivashkevich, Daria Samuilo and Evelina Dubovitskaya. Their goal is the home of former physics teacher Galina Kleofasovna Makarska. She turns 90 on October 31.

Along the way, Victoria says that Galina Kleofasovna taught at the Goryansk school, and schoolchildren regularly come to visit her: then lay down firewood, then clean up, then just congratulate and communicate with the holiday.

- She is very modest, always refuses help, says that her social worker helps. But we still ask for some work to brighten up her everyday life. And today they decided to remove the yard and dig up the front garden.

Golden foliage covers the courtyard, front garden and roof of the painted bath. Galina Kleofasovna happily welcomes guests on the porch. The girls did not come empty-handed - they brought the hotels for tea and immediately handed them to the jubilee.

Distributing duties, the elderly woman immediately begins to worry that the girls did not overwork:

- Girls, don't load too much, throw over the fence, or you'll get tired!

After an hour, the yard was cleared of foliage, and the front garden was weeded and dug up. Galina Kleofasovna offers assistants to collect apples:

- Eat, my sunshine, and take with you as much as you want - apples are red, do not hesitate!

- The first time I didn’t work, I’d go outside and look at the windows. And then I want to cry – I want to go to class, she admits.

The teacher is happy to talk about his graduates. One of them, Nikolai, after graduating from a rural school, entered a military school in Sevastopol, rose to the rank of general and still writes letters to her via the Internet.

- I was so afraid he wouldn't pass the exam, because the competition is huge! And when a letter of thanks from the school came - I jumped to heaven with happiness! - laughs Galina Kleofasovna.

While the girls methodically remove the leaves and dig up the front garden, a real “live excursion” into the past begins. Galina Kleofasovna remembers how in her childhood she and her sister went to school for 7 kilometers on foot. No one had a watch, guided by the horn of the flax plant. They came to the closed school, woke up the guard, knocking on the glass, and slept right behind the desks until the technicians melted the oven.

- I also remember the day Stalin died. We cried in tears, some girls lost consciousness. No one made us love him or give special lectures. But we loved him very much, she says quietly.

She still remembers one childhood incident. In the postwar years, a young teacher Stepan Yakovlevich came to school. There was not enough food, and one day a hungry teacher asked her mother Galina Kleofasovna to eat a little. Mother fed the guest, and little Galya quietly laughed.

“My mother gave me such a slap that I remembered for the rest of my life,” recalls Galina Kleofasovna. We loved our teachers like God. They thought he knew everything. Maybe that’s why I went to school and wanted to be like him.

Listening to these stories, the girls shut up for a minute. It seems that in these seconds rake and fallen foliage fade into the background. There is an invisible connection between generations: once her mother taught her to respect her teacher, and today her students have come to pay respect to their teacher. "Don't get married early!" The courtyard is shining clean. The girls surround Galina Kleofasovna, who gives instructions:

- Most importantly, girls, don't get married early! I was 29 when I came out and it was the right thing to do. Take care, appreciate your health. And eat well! In the past, when you hire employees, the first thing you do is watch them eat.

The girls smile embarrassedly, bite apples and promise to take the advice into service.

Volunteering is not just about cleaning foliage or helping with the household. This is an opportunity to touch a living story. This is when you come to help a person, and leave with the feeling that he helped you understand how important it is to respect others and never lose heart, even if you had to eat linden leaf cakes as a child.

Happy anniversary to you, dear Galina Kleofasovna! Thank you for your work, for your wisdom and for this invaluable lesson of goodness that you have taught us all today.