The whole story During an event at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto (Kinugasa Campus) related to Ukraine, I was happy to meet junior high and high school students from Ritsumeikan High School in Nagaokakyo, Kyoto. Their teacher invited me to play volleyball together. During that game which happened a month later, I was glad to meet Runa – a president of the student council at Ritsumeikan High who collected money for Ukraine in the Spring of this year. In the picture, I am holding the big flag of Ukraine, and Runa is the girl standing next to me. Being a Ukrainian and knowing how terrible the situation in my country is, meeting such a person who had never met Ukrainians before but was so dedicated to helping even at her young age – it was, to simply put it, fantastic. Her and her friend’s willingness to help by collecting that money truly touched my heart. This September, during a cultural festival at Ritsumeikan High School, Runa and her friends collected money for Ukraine once again, and that’s when this picture was taken. One week after that, we went to Tokyo together, and Runa personally handed collected money to the Embassy workers we met during the festival. Later, the Ambassador of Ukraine sent a “Thank you” letter to Runa and everyone involved. As I mentioned above, this whole story truly touched my heart. For me, it is a clear demonstration that being kind and trying to help is always gonna be rewarded, and even the smallest efforts to help contribute to the big cause. It is also a good example that saying “Yes” to opportunities can lead you to surprising and amazing events and, most importantly, great people. Thank you, Kyoto, for such a wonderful journey!