Sisterly Love
Robyn and Sana
Robyn and Sana were matched when Sana was 9 years old. Sana was living with her grandmother at the time. Her mother lived nearby, but was busy with a new baby. While Sana was born in the U.S., her family had emigrated from the former Soviet Union, and she was raised with a Russian lifestyle.
Sana said, "I was excited to be matched with Robyn, but I didn't know her very well, and I was extremely, extremely shy. She would make plans, and I would cancel on her. I was too nervous and shy to go with her."
For her part, Robyn was happy to be matched with Sana. "She seemed so sweet and quiet. You could tell she needed somebody in her life," said Robyn. She sometimes became discouraged by Sana's cancellations but "I learned not to take things personally. I might have pulled back and given up," Robyn said.
"But she persevered," Sana interjected.
Eventually they started doing more and more things together. And Robyn included Sana in her family and friends' celebrations. And Sana invited Robyn to her school activities.
As Sana became a teenager, her relationship with her grandmother, with whom she continued to live, deteriorated to the point where Sana left home and came to Robyn's house. The initial plan was for Sana to stay with Robyn for a few days. But this setup would become a permanent one.
As Sana said, "I used to call her 'my Big Sister,' then 'my guardian.' But now I say 'my parent.'"
At the JBS 85th Reunion in 2001, Robyn and Sana received a Special Recognition Award to honor their match. In her acceptance speech, Robyn said of Sana, "she's the most special person I know." She told Sana that "there has never been a day when I haven't been proud of you."
In accepting the award, Sana said "My life has not been easy. I never had the childhood most kids have. But luckily there was a miracle, and that miracle was JBS."
Excerpted from "Sisterly Love," The Chicago Jewish News, January 25-31, 2001.