We have written many times about the exceptional “Save the Grave of Your Great-Grandfather from Oblivion” campaign. In July, a group of volunteers from ZSOiZ once again travelled to Ukraine to clean up the cemetery in Sieniawa near Zbaraż. The school’s students once again rescued Polish necropolises in the eastern borderlands.
This year, 10 people connected with Bolesławiec took part in the campaign: two teachers (Barbara Smoleńska from the Zespół Szkół Ogólnokształcących i Zawodowych, Barbara Sykulska from II LO), four female students (three from ZSOiZ: Ewelina Bochenek, Ewelina Woźniak and Wioleta Nizioł, as well as Aleksandra Siembida from II LO), ZSOiZ graduate Edwin Żygadło, two drivers (Wiesław Lasota, Volodymyr Zamoroka) and Azart-Sat television editor Bogdan Mazurkiewicz. The volunteers stayed with Ukrainian families, who treated them like royalty. “I felt at home there,” Wioleta Nizioł told us at the end of July.
At the beginning of December, the Ukrainian girls travelled to Poland on a return visit. “I am very happy that we managed to organize the visit of guests from Sieniawa, the town whose cemetery we care for,” says Barbara Smoleńska. “It is a way of thanking them for welcoming us so warmly in the summer. Both the students and I felt fantastic.”
The Zespół Szkół Ogólnokształcących i Zawodowych hosted six students from the Primary School in Sieniawa (Hanna Lipka, Viktoria Smolnicka, Irina Pohrebecka, Mariia Bodnar, Uliana Hrohola, Mariia Patronyk), as well as the school’s principal Luba Kaczałowska and Ukrainian-language teacher Marjanna Terebecka.
The delegation from Ukraine had the opportunity to tour Bolesławiec and its surroundings, visit the “Manufaktura” Stoneware Factory, meet with local government officials and go swimming at the “Orka” Bolesławiec Aquatic Park. “Wherever the group went, they were warmly welcomed. There was not a day when someone did not offer some kind of assistance, which shows the great sympathy of Polish people toward the Ukrainian nation,” says Barbara Smoleńska, the project coordinator.
The girls from Sieniawa, dressed in folk costumes, presented an artistic programme to the students of ZSOiZ. Ukrainian songs and poems were also performed. “We are very pleased that we had the opportunity to come to Poland, to Bolesławiec,” emphasizes Luba Kaczałowska. “We thank principal Laura Słocka-Przydróżna and Barbara Smoleńska for the invitation. We are happy that we can work together as part of the ‘Save the Grave of Your Great-Grandfather from Oblivion’ project,” she adds. “We are staying with Polish families and learning Polish from them, while they are learning Ukrainian from us,” adds Hanna Lipka.
“Many friendships were formed and many stereotypes fell away during these meetings,” concludes Barbara Smoleńska. “This campaign unites both people and nations.”
We will return to this subject.
(information: ii)