I have been teaching Polish lessons at the Foundation since June. Several dozen people have already passed through them. From the beginning I was very happy that part of my work would become direct assistance to people who had to leave Ukraine as a result of the war. At the same time, I had concerns about whether I would be able to cope in accompanying people with such a difficult experience.

I knew that for many of them I was one of the first people they met here. I wanted to give them the most warmth, smiles, kindness and genuine interest. Although there were a few men and boys in the lessons, the biggest part is the women. To me they are heroes, brave women who, despite their traumatic experiences, fight for themselves and their families trying to find their way back here.


Among them, women from Kherson, Kyiv, Kyiv, Berdyansk, Kharkiv and others I met architect, painter, students, musicians, teachers, entrepreneurs, beauticians, devoted mothers, grandmothers…. With a settled life there, and building from scratch in Warsaw. And here they want to wait. To live a relatively normal life. To feel safe, find a job, an apartment. To regain relative stability. They often asked me about organizational things. They asked me to write an application to a kindergarten, an ad, corrections in the Polish version of their cv….

What impresses me is their determination to learn Polish. Many of them are already speaking fluently within a few months of arriving in Poland, and they still want to learn . For them, lessons are not only a chance to adapt to a new reality and do a better job. Lessons give them a sense of constancy and help them settle into a new reality. From the beginning, the foundation was a new but permanent place to which they could return regularly.

Today, waiting for the end of the war in my mind I already have specific women – Alona, Irina, Katya, Karina, Yulia, and others…. When peace finally comes I will rejoice together with them .