GREETINGS FROM SIEDLCE, POLAND!
I offer my most sincere thanks to the volunteers who have come and taken part in the program in the summer and fall of 2006. Thanks to all these wonderful former and first-time volunteers, we were able to conduct classes for approximately 350 students. I look forward to working with the "former" volunteers as well as the first-timers in 2007. You have a big treat waiting in these classrooms for youll! Each person makes such a big difference. I hope that our teams in the upcoming months will grow bigger and we won't have to turn any schools and their students down. Their knowledge of the English language in my country is really essential. And, a special surprise for volunteers on our May team! On May 20, 2007, the manor house will be celebrating its 200th anniversary. On this occasion, a folk group that is well known all over the world: "Mazowsze" (http://www.mazowsze.waw.pl//en/) will perform at Reymontowka. This is the group that most of the people who visit Poland want to see in Warsaw!
We are also very excited to announce the expansion of Global Volunteers Classroom sponsorship program to Poland. The sponsorship program will help to support the children of Cisie Elementary School. Visit Global Volunteers website at www.globalvolunteers.org/sponsorship/poland.asp for more details.
Sincerely, Dorota Wierzbicka, Poland Country Manager
Siedlce and Zakopane Update
Last year as in previous years, Global Volunteers fully participated in the summer camps at Reymontowka, outside Siedlce and Zakopane, in the Tatra Mountains. 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 August 2006, for the first time our host organized the camp for students from Belarus and Poland. Each volunteer taught 2-4 Polish and Belarusian students for two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon. It was amazing to see American, Belarusian and Polish newly made friends having conversations in English. Then, in December 2006, the new governor of Siedlce County, Zygmunt Wielogorski, was appointed. He previously worked with Global Volunteers as the Deputy County Governor and the Provincial Governor, and made a point of stating that he's looking forward to being the formal Global Volunteers host for the next four years!
Meanwhile, Marek Blaszczyk, the Director of Reymontowka Manor House and the host contact for Global Volunteers for the past 14 years, was very busy creating an even more comfortable stay for his "dear volunteers." Improvements include new radiators and windows, full bathrooms in each guest room, a spacious volunteer prep/meeting room, and a charming "garden level" café!
Skip to Poland Program pages
