We are happy to share that from the 1st of January till the 31st of December 2019,

77 persons were reconnected via Barka IE to their home countries. 5 people was reconnected to Barka Communities in Poznan and Chudobczyce where they are in process of rehabilitation and job training.

The nationality breakdown of reconnected individuals:

Country of origin	Number of reconnections
Poland	36 (46.8%)
Lithuania	12 (15.5%)
Latvia	10 (13,0%)
Slovakia	8 (10.4%)
Hungary	6 (7.8%)
UK	2 (2.6%)
Romania	2 (2.6%)
Bulgaria	1 (1,3%)
Total	77

On the 6th of November Aneta Kubas and Mirek Zaczynski from Barka Ireland took part in the Integration and Inclusion Conference hosted by the Immigrant Council of Ireland. Effective migrant inclusion needs political leadership and dedicated resources, conference heard.

Te aim of the conference was to identify positive actions which promote effective migrant integration and inclusion. The discussions focused on six thematic areas: Employment, Housing, Direct Provision, Sport, Migrant Leadership and tackling Racism.

The keynote addresses were provided by Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Distinguished Transatlantic Fellow, Migration Policy Institute; Pedro Calado, High Commissioner for Migration (Portugal) and Margie McHugh, Director of the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, Migration Policy Institute.

The conference has been opened by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

„In recent years, migrants have come from Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, India, the Arab world, China, the Philippines and Brazil, and all around the world. I believe each wave of migration has enriched Ireland and infused our country with new knowledge, new ideas, new cuisine, words, art and music. Migration brings with it challenges but I am convinced its benefits outweigh these many times over” – said Taiseach.

Varadkar also said he would like to see more public representatives from migrant backgrounds. He says extra funding has been given to political parties to encourage women into politics and perhaps the same should be done for those from migrant backgrounds.

We are proud to share that from the 1st of January till the 30st of June 2019,

37 people were reconnected via Barka IE to their home countries.

The nationality breakdown of reconnected individuals:

Country of origin	Number of reconnections
Poland	16 (43,3%)
Lithuania	10 (27%)
Latvia	6 (16,2%)
Hungary	4 (10.8%)
Romania	1 (2,7%)
Total	37

On the 21th of May Barka team took part in Intercultural Day on World Day for Cultural Diversity, hosted by Merchants Quay Ireland.

Seven countries in all were represented and it was a wonderful opportunity for participants to learn more about some of the cultures where the beneficiaries come from. There was delicious food sampled as well as display of booklets and goodies. 

Barka hosted a promotional stand with materials and publications about Barka activity in Dublin as well as local Polish food, sweets etc. Barka team managed to prepare 100 portions of traditional Polish lunch. Our team was dressed in traditional costumes. 

The focus of the day was to remind participants that we are all global citizens and that we all have a role to play in creating the kind of world we would like to live in.

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In March Barka Ireland representative, Ewa Sadowska and Magdalena Chwarscianek from Barka Netherlands, visited Moscow as part of the Peer-Ex program.

Ewa’s account of the trip: The study visit was an inspiring experience. We visited a number of organisations, cooperatives and local communities supported  by the Orthodox Church. We were surprised how much there is in common in terms of culture, mentality, organisation of social life and social care when it comes to Slavic and Russian context.

What was very apparent was huge disproportion between the small group of wealthy people and the vast majority of persons with very low income  –earning below $200 per month.

We visited, among others, communities run by Noe Organisation at Moscow suburbs, which operates on similar basis as Barka in Poland. The housing units are run by leaders in recovery and are self-sufficient (homeless and addicted people: women, man and families living from their work – they breed rabbits, pigs and goats, work in the woods and farms). The only difference is that Barka’s communities are run by residents’ associations whereas in Moscow it is more centralised: all the housing units are coordinated by the Noe organisation.

The passion and determination of the staff of organisations, creating the sense of community and space for inclusion and strengthening the human dignity is remarkable. Also the extent to which the church is active in the field of human aid is extraordinary.

Homelessness is a huge problem in Russia. We’ve learned that in Moscow lives 80,000 homeless and in St Petersburg – 60,000 (data estimated by one of the human aid organisations).

In Moscow, our team visited, among others, Milosiedze organisation’s shelters where homeless people can warm up – serving on average 200 people per day; training apartments for people with mental problems, and a number of social enterprises providing vocational training for people with mental issues, job-seekers, asylum seekers keeping busy working in woodwork, ceramic and construction workshops.

The costs of the study visit was covered by the Peer Ex program of the Euclid Network.