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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
Warsaw Club
Warsaw, Poland