THE BOY FROM THE BUS

RADE, A YOUNG BOY FROM BELGRADE OFTEN MET THE SINGING BEGGAR. SHE WAS BAREFOOT, AND HE THOUGHT HE SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

In the times when most of people are turned to themselves and their needs it is always refreshing to see a spontaneous gesture of unselfishness. In 28th of November 2016, something unusual happened in one of Belgrade city buses. One young man approached homeless lady and gave her sneakers instead of hers torn shoes. Since her arm was hurt, he even kneeled and helped her to put the shoes on.

The singing woman, well known for the regular commuters on lines 77 and 65 in Belgrade is singing sad songs, while she collects change from the passengers. She was often barefoot, on some days she wore torn shoes, or slippers.

The unusual act of kindness was observed by other passengers, but one of them made a video of this  and placed it on the YouTube. The video became viral and all the media reported about the event and ‘the boy from the bus’ or ‘the hero from the bus’ as they referred to him – Rade instantly became well recognized in our society. He was flattered by media interest, but never took too much credit for his gesture, he believes that is should not be unusual. Rade said that he have seen this lady many times and was thinking how to help her; then he found used sneakers,  in a good shape at his work that no one needed. He carried those sneakers in his bag for days until he met this lady again. The rest is history.

But this story of solidarity does not end here. First of all, Rade’s family had to leave Obrenovac, a place which terribly suffered from the floods in 2014 (see our story). They live in very modest conditions, but still have attention for problems of other people. Rade’s gesture made us all ask ourselves – would we do the same he did?

Nevertheless, good deeds inspire other good deeds. After becoming an instant media hero, someone found out what would be the best gift for Rade. So, touched by his gesture, the owner of the most popular hairdresser academy in the country invited him to join the academy free of charge. That made Rade so happy, since he always dreamed to be a professional hairdresser. Now, Rade is turned to his new career and leaves us with the feeling that doing good without expecting anything in return can start the wheel of benevolence, changing lives for the better.