– It can be said that two families is not very much on a global scale of the assistance needed in this area – said Marcin Zawiła, President of Jelenia Góra. – Nevertheless, if all local governments wanted to support this undertaking to a similar degree, we would be closer to solving the problems of repatriation. But it is true that this is not an easy task, because it is not enough to find housing for such families. If we want to be responsible (and in Jelenia Góra, we do), so that adaptation to the new conditions proceeds relatively smoothly, we must ensure that within a reasonably short time such families achieve economic independence—that is, adults have jobs, children attend school, and so on.
He added: – We must realize that the people who come to us are starting their lives over, without their families, without support, and without even more distant acquaintances. Their physical existence and psychological well-being depend solely on us, and in the first years of life “in a new place,” every problem that may seem trivial from our everyday point of view is, for them, essentially impossible to solve. After all, they know neither the regulations nor the rules, nor even the addresses of institutions that can and want to support them. I hope that “our” families went through this initial period of adaptation relatively well.
Jelenia Góra City Hall/ii