The key facts

  • Jamol Zhurayev, 53, has worked on route 7 in Vladivostok for 11 years
  • For about ten years he has been helping a blind couple with boarding, exiting and getting seated on the bus
  • After a Russian woman contacted the administration, the driver received thanks and a commemorative gift

The story of a driver from Vladivostok

Jamol Zhurayev, a 53-year-old citizen of Uzbekistan, works as a bus driver on route 7 in Vladivostok. According to him, for almost ten years he has been helping a blind couple who usually board the bus at the Nekrasovskaya stop and ride toward Selkhoz or Pokrovsky Park. The driver exits the bus, meets the couple, helps them get into the vehicle and settle into their seats, and helps them exit upon arrival.

“We have known each other for many years”

“I have been working here for 11 years, and we have known each other just as long. If I say my name is Jamol, they know it too. I exit the bus, come up to them, lead them, seat them in their places. I have been helping for so many years, and it was precisely this case that ended up on the internet,” Zhurayev told a Kun.uz correspondent. He does not consider his actions anything outstanding: helping a person in need has become an ordinary rule of life for him.

Recognition from the city administration

The story gained wide attention thanks to a local resident who, watching the driver help the blind passengers, contacted the city administration with a request to recognize his humanity. According to Zhurayev, the woman wrote to the administration roughly in these words: “You treat Uzbeks badly, but look at the kindness they show.” After her appeal, the driver received thanks on behalf of the city head and was given a commemorative gift.

The driver's own words

“Let person help person. Even if you have an enemy, do him good. In this world you will need a reward for that good. That is why in this life one must do good,” Jamol Zhurayev said in an interview with Kun.uz.