GREETINGS FROM SIEDLCE, POLAND!
Again in this newsletter, I would like to start with expressing my most sincere thanks to the volunteers who have come and taken part in the program in the spring and summer of 2007. Thanks to all these wonderful former and first time volunteers the classes for approximately 450 students could be held.
In the spring we conducted classes for the students from Elementary schools in Cisie (the location of our sponsorship program), Olczyc and Spoleczna as well as the Junior High School in Domanice. We also taught the unemployed adults at Kofoed in Siedlce. The unemployment rate in Siedlce went down from 20 percent (two years ago) to about 11 percent. Thanks to the classes conducted by our volunteers, some of our former students found jobs in Siedlce and Warsaw and some left the country for England and Ireland to work there.
With the beginning of the summer, Global Volunteers started their work at the summer camps at Reymontowka and Zakopane. The volunteers who work during these sessions play a very crucial role in educating the future leaders of Poland. Even though most of these students are exposed to English at school, when they return from a two-week session with Global Volunteers, their teachers and parents say that the progress they have made at the camp would have taken at least a full year at their school.
In July 2007, for the first time our host organized the camp for the students from Germany, France and Poland, who studied English together. Each volunteer taught 4-8 German, French and Polish students for two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon.
The evening activities included Polish/German/French/American evenings, which gave the volunteers and the students an additional opportunity to learn about each other's countries.
It was amazing to see American, German, French and Polish newly made friends having conversations in English. The Global Volunteers' mission of building bridges between many nations became so true!
In December 2006, the new governor of Siedlce County was appointed. His name is Zygmunt Wielogorski and he has previously worked with Global Volunteers as the Deputy County Governor and the Provincial Governor. He has thoroughly enjoyed being the official host for Global Volunteers for the first six months of his service!
Marek Blaszczyk, the Director of Reymontowka Manor House and the host for Global Volunteers for the past 17 years is very happy that in the summer of 2007 he could establish the wireless Internet connection at Reymontowka.
Marek also replaced the furniture in most of the rooms. One of the former volunteers donated money for a computer to be purchased for the lesson planning room and now the volunteers have access to e-mail at Reymontowka!
I look forward to working with the former as well as the first time volunteers who will be coming to Poland in the fall of 2007. It will be wonderful to work with you all! Each person makes such a big difference.
Dorota Wierzbicka
Poland Country Manager
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