Local initiatives can be a great example of promoting and supporting social entrepreneurship and more socialized economy in Europe – which the opening ceremony of Wielkopolska Solidarity Economy Centre (WSEC) named after Cyryl Ratajski (president of the city of Poznan in the 20ties and 30ties) in Poznan proved.
At the beginning of August 2013 the North Frederick Street emergency hostel (where we used to meet with the homeless migrants on daily basis) became a part of regular Homeless Agency Freephone services, offering accommodation on nightly basis to all homeless persons in Dublin. Following that, we decided to broaden our outreach service to keep in touch the migrants. Outside the hours we work in the Mendicity Institution, we now also visit Capuchin Day Centre and Merchants Quay Ireland.
Once we establish a relationship, we work with individual migrants supporting their journey from exclusion to inclusion through organised programs of reconnection. We aim to help individuals address their problems and become able to move out of dependency on homeless services.
Since the beginning of July we are hosting a new leader. Krzysztof Janeczek, formely a roughsleeper and street drinker of six years in London. He availed of Barka residential treatment in Poland nearly four years ago. He then decided to return to London, and with the support of local Barka Social Economy Centre secured job as a labourer. He remained sober, and after a few months was offered a job as Barka leader. For the past two and a half years he has been working in London and Utrecht. In Dublin, he daily talks to Eastern European migrants that avail of services of Mendicity Institution, Merchants Quay Ireland and Capuchin Day Centre.
On Friday, the 17th of May, we hosted a visit of Tomasz Sadowski, founder and chairperson of Barka Foundation For Mutual Help (Poland). He met with Cathriona and Sean Byrne who run a family business Blooming Baskets, as well as with Tony Lowth, Dublin entrepreneur interested in organic farming. Tomasz Sadowski explained Barka’s ethos and described Barka’s model of running social enterprises.
He also had a meeting with the Board of Mendicity Institution, representatives of Dublin City Council, Homeless Agency and Barka Ireland staff. The aim of this meeting was to discuss chances and possibilities of creating social enterprises in Dublin. Such enterprise could promote social integration, and facilitate entering labour market for homeless and unemployed persons currently socially and economically excluded. They will create sober community to support each other’s growth and personal development while gaining new skills and creating employment. It will be a chance for migrants from Central and Eastern Europe to rebuild their lives.
On the 10th of April Barka IE staff had a meeting with representatives of COPE Galway Fairgeen Hostel and COPE Galway Day Center. As a result of the commitment and instant response of the Polish Consulate in Dublin the passport was processed for one of the migrants, who found himself in extreme circumstances. This will allow him to receive the necessary medical care and other services. This was our second visit to Galway. First time Barka staff members visited Fairgreen Hostel and some Polish migrants who had lived there in May 2012. The COPE Galway representatives informed us about the extremely poor living conditions of homeless Polish people who have been living in Galway for several years. As part of this visit Barka employees had the opportunity to have long conversations with the Poles living on the streets. Also during this meeting Barka staff made a presentation on the ethos, programs and operation of the Barka organization both in Poland and abroad.
‘Polish Woman of the Year’ competition is being organised by the Congress of Polish Women in the UK. The aim of the contest is to honour the outstanding women which would inspire others with their passion and actions, making a positive difference in the world around them.
Ewa Sadowska, the Chief Executive of Barka UK, has been nominated for her commitment to charity work, which was met with approval of the Chapter. She was chosen as one of the ten final nominees to the next stage of the competition, which is determined by online voting. The results will be announced on April 20 at the Polish Embassy in London.
The aim of the Congress is to highlight the great participation of Polish women in social and economic life in the United Kingdom through the presentation of their personal success and professional achievements. The meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss the issues effecting every women, such as: career path, gender equality, stereotyping, women’s rights and many other issues impacting their daily lives. The ultimate goal is to create an environment where Polish women working and living in the UK could fully realise their potential. Patrons of the Congress are Polish Ambassador in London Mr. Witold Sobków and the Association of Women’s Congress based in Warsaw. For further information please follow this link: http://krolestwopolek.eu/kongres-2013
To vote for Ewa Sadowska please click here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LL5WTZV. When the link open answer tak (yes) to the question : “Should Ewa win?”
It is just a year ago that Barka for Mutual Help Ireland was invited by the The Mendicity Institution and Dublin City Council. Now we can proudly say, that we have found our place in the your ‘fair city’. Barka joined a network of Irish organisations in order to support the migrants from Central and Eastern Europe. We are very happy to cooperate with them and to continuously improve our relations. Our reconnection program is based on close cooperation with the Barka Foundation and the Barka Network in Poland as well as supporting organisations in other countries. Over the past year 54 migrants were reconnected to their home countries. The labour market reconnections are very important too. Our service providing help in creating CVs, finding work opportunities and developing skills has been available since May. More than 60 persons sought advice at Barka’s employment service. More than 17 job seekers were able to find and maintain legal employment subsequently moving out of homelessness and/or economic vulnerability.
From the beginning to the end of November 2012, 7 citizens from Central and Eastern Europe went back with Barka IE’s support to their homeland and to the communities of Barka in Poland.
The Dutch daily , ‘Trouw’ published an article about Barka’s work for the homeless migrants from Poland and other Middle and Eastern European countries in Holland, Great Britain and Ireland. The Trouw journalist visited Barka Network programmes around Poznan in Poland, among them: a community home in Posadówek, where he spoke to persons, who returned to Poland after being homeless in Holland and in the UK.
Polish people find shelter in the homeland
Ekke Overbeek,
Posadowek/Poznan
Polish organization Barka helps in the big Dutch cities the homeless immigrants to return home. Polish people, who have nowhere to go, can join community homes in Poland. Like the one in Posadowek, about 40 km from Poznan.
The men sit silently around the table. Stasiek says: ‘The best spot for the night is at the IJ-riverside in Amsterdam North. Take the ferry behind the station and there will always be an empty boat.Usually the owners do not make trouble’. Yet, sometimes they do. ‘Once two guys came to chase me away. Just as I wanted to go on the pier, they said: No, along there. They pointed to the water.’ I walked round in wet clothes for three days. ‘It was cold, very cold’.
Bad luck put a stop to Stasiek’s career as a handy-man in the Netherlands. ‘What happened, I do not know. It drizzled and the last thing I saw was a white truck. After three days I recovered in the hospital.’ His knee was ruined. Money run out and he ended up on the street.
After two and a half years of being homeless he got the offer to return to Poland. ‘I had thought I was on my own in this world. I could not imagine, that there was something like a shelter,’ says Stasiek, who has never heard about Barka.
This shelter is in Posadowek, it is a former farm standing in bare meadows. Stasiek is helping on a daily basis in the kitchen of the community and he works in a second-hand shop. ‘Sometimes I long for going back to Amsterdam. But here, I got the peace and the time to think how it will be.’ Recently he has got his welder certificate. ‘I think I will try to obtain the LGV driving licence. You never know what can be useful in your life.’
The group of people like Stasiek, who returned to Poland, is fairly new. In 2007 Barka UK was established, shortly after that Barka IE. Since then, more than 2000 Polish citizens who were stranded on the Isles, returned. Among the 150 East-Europeans, whom Barka assisted in the Netherlands, 110 were Poles. Two third of them was able to go back to their homes. Others got sheltered in the communities, like Posadowek.
In the early 90s there wasn’t any large scale labour migration to Western Europe. In Poland, there was enough misery. Big governmental enterprises went bankrupt. Thousands had nothing. Barka was established for them. Barka means literally ‘barge’ figuratively ‘lifeboat’.
‘Everybody said that my parents went mad’, says Maria Sadowska. She was too little to remember how her parents, in the middle of the winter, with a group of outcasts founded the first living community; two high-born university graduates with toddlers, in a house full of hardened criminals, ex-prostitutes and homeless. ‘All sins under one roof.’
But the Sadowski’s were tough fellows. Twenty years later, their life work has developed into a network of social work places, living communities and reintegration projects. ‘From the point, that Poland joined the EU, the financing became much easier’ says Maria in the center for social integration in Poznan. The cabinet is full of tributes: photo of Sadowski and the Polish president, the Ford Foundation Award, a charter from Pope John Paul II.
Most of the Polish have heard about Barka. ‘I remember seeing a story about Barka on TV’, says Jozek. ‘But I have never thought I would end up here.’ His daughter evicted him, just after his girlfriend died. ‘Like disused furniture’ he concludes bitter. Now he is the leader of the community in Posadowek. He carefully peels organic apples from own breed and places the pieces in the bowl. ‘It is not exactly like in a family. But still, it is our home.’
Throughout October 4 citizens from Central and Eastern Europe came back to their countries or Barka communities with help of Barka IE.
