Legacy
Legacy
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Love Your Neighbour volunteer Mateja recently wrote a beautiful account of her budding friendship with older neighbour Stephanie. This weekend that friendship deepened even further, when Mateja and her sister Margareta took Stephanie for an amazing day out in central London. We caught up with them to hear all about it.
At the age of 103, Stephanie’s seen it all. Or so she thought. This weekend, Stephanie tried something new.
Love Your Neighbour volunteer Mateja and her sister Margareta took fellow Croatian Stephanie for her first ever afternoon tea. For Stephanie, who moved to the UK from Croatia two decades ago, it was also the first time she’d been out of the house all winter. Despite the rain, she was ecstatic.
Mateja, matched with Stephanie since the start of the year, was equally thrilled to hang out with her older neighbour.
"We had the best time and Stephanie looked so wonderful. She even put curlers in her hair the night before! We all had a big smile on our faces throughout the afternoon. Margareta and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all of Stephanie’s stories.
We were chuffed to have treated Stephanie to afternoon tea as it was her first. There aren’t many things she hasn't tried over her long life, so introducing her to something new was extra special.”
As Mateja and Margareta were leaving, Stephanie wanted to call their parents at home in Croatia to tell them what a lovely time she’d had. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d left the house, let alone for such a special day.
It was no less special for Margareta and Mateja.
“Stephanie told us how she used to live in our own home town some 80 years ago, which was amazing to hear. She tried to teach us some of the dialect of the region she comes from in Croatia – we had no idea this dialect even existed as it's only spoken in a very small area! Stephanie’s also promised to teach us her special method for making coffee (Croatians love their coffee), which sounds like quite a lengthy process. We love learning from her.”
For Stephanie, even the cab ride home was a treat: “so much has changed over the years!”
When Stephanie first moved here, she used to love exploring the city by bus. She’d get off whenever she saw surroundings she liked, and make her way through the streets around her. That’s how she got to know south London.
As she got older, however, it became harder for Stephanie to make new connections: "I felt I didn't have any friends, only books". But thanks to Mateja and Margareta, Stephanie's starting to discover new things about the city she loves again. And she's finding London’s even more exciting when shared.
We can’t wait to see what our Croatian-south-Londoners get up to next!
If you’d like to support friendships like Mateja and Stephanie’s (and share some laughs in the process) why not snap up the few remaining tickets for our comedy fundraiser next month? The inimitable Stewart Lee is leading our latest Hilarity for Charity gig and the line up looks great. Tickets here.