On the way to Paszkówka Pauline shared with us what she, her family, her friends and her community have done to help the Ukrainian refugees. In the early days of the war Paulina and her friends set up a soup kitchen to bring fresh meals to the families living in their neighborhoods. They also organized backpacks for children and food packages. Many of Paulina’s friends and family opened their own homes to refugees. They worked day and night to provide help and assistance for their Ukranian friends.

Today, the final day of our intensive learning, brought us back this year to the Paszkówka Refugee Center run by the JCC of Krakow. Fortunately, our former Polish guide, Jolanta Malgorzata Koziol, is the Director of the center and we were greeted here today with open arms. You will see in the pictures below that through the windows the young children were waving to us when we arrived. We were so touched by their generous spirit upon arrival.

Today, Jolanta shared with us a special opportunity to meet the refugees, hear their stories, understand the inner workings of establishing such a center and spend time interacting and offering our support. Our students also had the opportunity to contribute to a mural that visitors are completing for the center.

Jolanta took us on a tour of the castle facility. A Colorado business owner had started housing refugees there, but ran out of money after three months. The JCC of Krakow and its donors took over the refugee center which houses up to 40 families. This venue was a former school at one point, then in recent years it was renovated into a wedding facility. The castle sits in a small village outside of Krakow and has been there since 1865. 

Across the street from the castle sat a hotel that is also part of the property and was renovated at the same time as the castle. This was first utilized to house the refugees and soon after the castle became inhabitable. Jolanta explained the daily functionality of the center. The center is funded by the JCC of Krakow which its greatest portion of donations come from the Jewish community in the United States. The center is governed by an advisory council to include the residents. They are allowed to stay in the facility for three months and sign a contract that includes this information along with encouragement to find work, schooling, learn Polish, etc. The goal is to allow these refugees to begin building a life in Poland if that is their choice. The center is entirely funded by the JCC not the government of Poland.

One of the highlights of this years visit was the students had the opportunity to interact with the primary age children. Without a common oral language, our students jumped right in and played games and had the kids running around the room. The primary teacher played the piano and had our students play a Ukrainian tag game with the kids. There was a lot of joyful playing and laughter in the room. These young children didn’t want us to leave, cuddled up and held on tight to our students towards the end of the day. Our students walked away feeling the love and compassion from these refugees. As our students were joyfully playing, the adults observed with not only smiles for what they were able to do for one another, but a deep sense of the capacity for human connection. We were all choked up while these young people embraced one another. As adults, we hope for a brighter future for these beautiful children.

After we toured the facility we engaged in a pierogi making session with the residents who so graciously prepared the makings for Ukrainian pierogis. This offered us the opportunity to learn a very special skill while interacting with the residents. The hospitality that these individuals shared with us was absolutely heartwarming. As they cheered us on in making the pierogis we asked questions, shared our support for them and encouraged them to keep going.

After learning more about the facility, the cooking team prepared the pierogis and we immensely enjoyed eating and chatting with our new friends. During lunch two of the adults graciously shared their stories of loss, hope, gratitude and much more. Their warmth in such a time of darkness in their lives was palpable.

We had the chance to give to the students the gifts we had brought which included hand knitted hats, socks, blankets and clothes donated by dear friend Judy Johnston, who had gone on the trip back in the early days. They were grateful for this donation. If only we could give them the gift of this war ending and a return to their homes as they knew them – this would be the greatest gift.

As we left Paszkówka, we all talked about the connection this experience had to the entire trip – having seen historic sites of marginalization throughout the trip and today witnessing people in refugee status – left us with mix feelings both of hope for a better future and an overwhelming feeling that the lives of all these individuals must to be brighter soon.

As we make our way home tomorrow, know that these young people have so much to process and communicate. They are an exceptional group who came on this trip with an open mind and an open heart. Both are now filled with more than information, action will become their next step and they will surely use their voices for a better world.