He looks like a businessman or a successful top manager. And he really is — Constantine Blyuz, 43, a Deputy General Director of the Natural Resources Department for Strategic Planning at the Committee on natural gas. In his cadenza, Israel has turned from a gas buyer to a gas-producing country.
It might seem that a person of this type who wants to take part in charitable projects will, at best, help financially.
But Constantine has chosen a different path for himself. He has become a volunteer of “Magen Mishpacha” NGO. He deals with teenagers, teaches them financial literacy and a lot of other things that these children will need in their adult lives. He has chosen the principle — «It is better to give a fishing rod to the hungry and teach him to fish,» considering this principle of more help than just financial injections.
Kostya, what did your cooperation with “Magen Mishpacha” start with and why?
It began about two and a half years ago, when the NGO began to form. The reason is largely due to Keren Fishzon, the director of the organization. She has an amazing charisma, she «infects» you and you start to think – well, it would be great to do something for them.
Why did you choose this form of volunteerism?
It was natural for me to teach children things that I can do well: to give them the knowledge that will really help them in life, help to avoid common mistakes, make them stronger. I do not know how to «lisp», and I believe that teenagers are already small adults. Also, as I would teach adults such things, I give them to teenagers. I respect them, I just explain to them that I give them an instrument that will help in life.
And still, what is the primary reason for you?
Probably, it is the realization that I, by transferring my knowledge and skills to those who are just entering this world, «am educating» people. Not because I'm the smartest, but because I have just shared the knowledge that will help them become such people in whose society, eventually, I myself will enjoy living.