Diamond Holding gives children fun on Children's Day

What can a child's eyes say? And what can the eloquently silent eyes of a child from an orphanage say?

When we, the staff of Diamond Holding, gathered for a trip to the Dolmatovo orphanage one could imagine, for sure, that a few hours of work with these children will make a lasting impression.

Diamond Holding decided to give a little joy to the children from a Russian orphanage – the Dolmatovo orphanage, located in the village of Dolmatovo of Tula Region on International Children's Day. Each department of the company sent a representative with individual gifts for children, sweet conserves from the SPELO-ZRELO brandand laptops for the computer class.

 We went by bus on a long journey and everyone imagined a gloomy grey house with peeling walls, where little "lost" people live with discipline like in a penal colony, led by tough teachers. Perhaps it is somewhere, although I do not want to believe it.

The Dolmatovo orphanage is turned out to be nothing like what we imagined. This is a very comfortable wooden house with numerous small rooms - separate bedrooms for girls and boys, dining room, living room. And a small courtyard with flower beds and a fountain with an alpine slide - the handiwork of the young children. There were 24 children of different ages and different destinies. Some of them are full orphans, but these are a minority, there were mostly those who have been unlucky with parents deprived of their parental rights.  

Our acquaintance with the children began at an improvisational concert hall, where guys performed the play "How Ivan found love" especially for us with humor and a modern touch. Everything was their own effort and in their own character. Someone was obviously shy and fought every minute with it, and someone wearing a mask, felt his strength in this game and proved himself a no worse actor  than any found at the Moscow Art Theater.

After tumultuous applause and congratulations the staff of Diamond Holding gave each child a gift, waiting for the hubbub and noise when they open gifts immediately. But we were surprised. Everyone was quiet, almost with downcast eyes and a shy smile picked up gift bags and carefully, without disturbing the rest, sat down in his chair and just held it. 

However, children are children, curiosity soon won, and they started opening their presents – and constructors, flashes, games started falling on  the floor - everyone wanted to see what they had got.

And 10 minutes later we were treated with delicious hot tea from a samovar and cheesecake.

All employees of Diamond Holding ensured that no child was left unattended in the couple of hours. And we hope that we have succeeded, at least a little.

Under the sound of children slurping tea the conversations began at first very timid and not -wordy.

Here I stand back and let me tell you how this conversation was personally for me. I was a little bit late and went to the dining room, where most of the tables were already occupied by children and my colleagues. I faced the question of where to sit down, there are two options, 2 tables with children: one – with a little older children, and the other – with younger ones. I do not know, or something parental was involved or that table just was closer, but I sat down to the younger guys. Among them was one white-haired and puny boy - Sasha, I remembered him in the hall. I always wanted to give him delicious cakes in a plate. As I found out later, from a conversation with a teacher, Sasha is one of the strongest guys in the orphanage, and he does chin-ups 16 times in one round!

So, there are four of us at the table. Silence. How to start a conversation? What question should ask first? I did not have a younger brother, and my friends did not have younger brothers, there was no one on whom I had trained. One cautious question about their free time, the second - on summer vacation. And so, one by one I tried to get them to trust me. And the guys opened up. It turned out that Sashok wants very much to be a riot policemen, and his older brother lives here, too, and had already won second place at a survival School in the wild! Sasha is very proud of his brother, though he did not show him to me.

There were Roma and Romka. Romka is the younger one, he always pinched, did not look in the eyes and jumped on a chair. But it was clear as his eyes light up when turned to him, he wanted attention. Romka has not yet determined his future, he chooses between being a footballer or a boxer. And after a pause, he said: "I will combine both". That's how Romka made ​​his choice.

Roma, the older, is 14 years old, appeared at the orphanage with his older brother, 4 months ago. This is a rare case when a parent is not deprived of parental rights, and the brothers are in an orphanage. It so happened that his mother works in Moscow, earning for a living (there is no work in her homotown), and their father was dead. And the mother had to temporarily settle the children in the orphanage for a year. It's the summer vacation, and the brothers wait for a week when they will go spend all summer with their mother. Roma is very nice and thoughtful gentle young boy, with a very charming smile and soulful eyes. When he was silent, it was very sad, and when he smiled at you - the sun comes out from behind a cloud. In the future, I am sure; he will warm many of his friends and relatives.

Discussion grows more and more at each table. Guys, where our men were sitting, were asking about work, about the prospects in life and how to make a choice where to study - real men's issues.

Little girls showed their pictures at another table, they were telling what interests they had - embroidery, theater club, dancing. Older girls shared with their future plans, some of them see themselves as a fashion designer, veterinarian, and stylist. Cooking, cleaning, helping in the garden – the older children do not shy away, but rather learn and do it with great interest, learning more and more knowledge. The local villagers assist in serious work - in the garden and the redecoration of the house. It is not surprising, as the teacher said that some of the girls fall in love with local guys and after leaving the orphanage, marry them. And continue to live and work in the village near their "home".

There was very clear and warm weather, so we all ran out to warm noses under the bright rays.

We played badminton, guys skillfully played against our logistician Irina. And someone of the boys managed in such a short time to strike the right note with the accountant Anna, and in his own way, to carry her bag, as an attentive gentleman.

The other girls pulled our leading HR manager Marina to the flower beds , showing off their plants.

The meeting was wonderful and gentle and tender. But, everything comes to an end, and this trip was over, it's time to leave. Saying goodbye was hard, we did not want to leave, and the guys did not want to let us go. Someone cried, someone was happily waving. We did not say that will try to come back. We promised that certainly meet again! We cannot forget those who so looked forward to you, for all your words and actions.

It is hard to say, but perhaps in this day someone found a good friend, and maybe in the future a warm family.