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Country Profile: Poland
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland welcomed about two million Ukrainian refugees, primarily women and children. After almost two years into the full-scale war, about a million of the UA refugees decided to make a living in our country. Integration remains a challenge. While trying to solve the problems of the million people needing assistance, immigrants, including people of color arriving via the Polish-Belarus green border, are challenging Poland's sense of homogeneity, with a predominantly white Catholic population since World War II. It all contributes to apprehension about diversity. Urgent efforts are needed to promote coexistence and empathy in our irreversibly to become a diverse society.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, our partner organization, KIK in Warsaw, has been helping those affected by the crisis. One of the KIK’s most essential tasks is to support children and young people from Ukraine and help them integrate with their Polish peers. KIK organizes summer camps, trips, and various activities for Ukrainian and Polish children throughout the school year, supporting over 1500 refugee children since the crisis began.
In the spring of 2023, KIK organized a camp for Polish and Ukrainian leaders to integrate them and train them in leadership. Joanna Cutts, who has been volunteering in KIK since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, was the founder and inspiration for this initiative. Play for Peace trainers Richard Rutschman and Peg Dublin traveled to Poland to provide staff and youth training in Motivational Interviewing and Experiential Learning. After a successful camp, Richard proposed cooperation with Play For Peace to KIK, which is how the first PFP club opened in Poland!
It is a comfortable and educational place after a tiring school day. I learned how to speak Polish better, how to talk more openly with different people, how to not be afraid to ask or re-ask something, how to play different cool games, how to help someone better (instead of telling someone how to do something or putting someone in a box and stuff like that), how to work in a team and in pairs, how to listen better and how to take someone's opinion.
Anastasiia-Mariia
Youth Facilitator
Play for Peace Clubs, Stories, and Projects
Warsaw Club
Warsaw, Poland
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.png "A day in Boston")
Mar 30, 2024All day I tried to keep up with Alice. It is not easy, Alice walks very fast and is present in many places at once and with every person. She is very attentive. She asks everyone "How are you?" but these are not empty words. She looks deep into their eyes and they answer with the truth, a truth that is not always easy. She is a Lead Teacher for Social Emotional Learning in Cambridge. Primarily, she works with children with trauma and mental health problems. When she started, she was alone with 7,000 children.
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.png "Play For Peace Warsaw: Building Bonds and Making a Difference")
Nov 8, 2023Last Tuesday, on the 10th of October, a group of 11 young people from Poland and Ukraine, aged 15-16, came together to embark on an exciting journey as a part of the club, Play For Peace Warsaw. The day marked their first meeting, and it was filled with fun icebreaker games, introductions, and a deep dive into the world of Play For Peace.
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.png "Play for Peace Club supporting Ukrainian and Polish Teens to open in Warsaw soon!")
Sep 7, 2023Klub Inteligencji Katolickiej is a key Play for Peace partner organization. According to KIK - " KIK was founded in 1956 and is one of the oldest associations in Poland. From the beginning of its existence, KIK was an organization gathering Christians who wanted to change the world around them for the better.
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