My name is Mihaela Zemyarska, I am 23 years old, and I come from Rakovski, a town near Plovdiv. I took part in the Cultural Mentorship Programme of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bulgaria while I was a fourth-year student studying Bulgarian Philology at Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski”. Today, I am a qualified teacher and work in education as a coordinator, teacher and trainer. For several years, I have also been actively involved in volunteering through different youth and civic organizations, which have played an important role in shaping my personal and professional development.
I saw the programme as an opportunity to discover what it means to be a mentor – whether I had the qualities to be a positive role model, support someone and build a genuine connection with a child.
I have always been interested in culture and the arts, and I thought I might be able to introduce a 12-year-old boy to new and diverse experiences – to places, ideas and activities he might not have had the oppor-tunity to discover otherwise. At the same time, I wanted to see whether I could create meaningful experi-ences for someone and what I could learn from him in return. For me, mentoring was not a one-way expe-rience, but a series of meetings, places and moments that gradually changed both of us – the way we looked at the world, at each other and at ourselves.
The most important lesson for me was that you do not always have to do something big to be important to someone. Sometimes, the most valuable moments are the simplest ones – a conversation, a walk, a game or a shared laugh. Through his eyes, I began to see these small things differently. It was as if he re-minded me to slow down and pay attention to the things that adults so often pass by too quickly.
I realised that a child does not always need a new experience, a solution or an answer. Sometimes, they simply want someone to choose to spend time with them. And it was in this simplicity that I discovered something very important: that your presence alone can be a gift.
This experience made me more patient, more attentive and less demanding of the people around me. It taught me to embrace simplicity and spontaneity, and showed me that not every encounter has to lead to a particular outcome. Sometimes, it is enough to simply be there and let the moment unfold.
If I could give advice to someone who is considering becoming a mentor, I would tell them not to enter the programme with the expectation that they have to change someone’s life. You do not need big ambi-tions or a perfect plan. What matters much more is being open to the person in front of you – learning to listen, to observe and to understand what the other person needs.
I believe this is a skill we need far beyond mentoring. Being able to truly hear another person and notice what is left unsaid is at the heart of every meaningful relationship – with friends, colleagues, family and the people we meet every day. Perhaps that is the most valuable lesson I took from the programme: sometimes, you do not need to do more; you simply need to be truly there.