September 29, 2009

By Ellen

We started our Tuesday morning having a lovely breakfast of what is called an omelette in Poland, but it is really more like a pancake that was filled with jam. Dorota drove Ellen, Eddie, Mary Ann & Dennis to Caritas where the four of us will be teaching English to and interacting with adults with physical and mental disabilities.

Caritas is a Catholic organization and we were introduced to and had a meeting with a priest from one of the local churches who came to Caritas to meet the four Global Volunteers from the U.S.

We had an assembly with all 30 clients and the staff. Some of the staff members are called therapists. We introduced ourselves and talked about our life experiences and we were followed by almost all 30 clients, who also came to the microphone, and told us about their families, hobbies and what they were participating in at Caritas. There were all different levels of verbal abilities. Of course most clients spoke in Polish, with the exception of a few who spoke some English.

The Managers at Caritas are Marinus and his wife Alicja. Alicja was doing all of the translating of English to Polish and Polish to English.

Daniel, who speaks good English and also works in the computer room, was shooting lots of photos of the Global Volunteers meeting with Alicja and Marinus.

Some of the clients are able to learn about how to use computers, while others are working in the crafts room making little Christmas trees out of pine cones. which they will be selling for the holidays. The clients also spend time in the kitchen learning how to prepare meals for themselves.

Dorota picked us p at Caritas and we returned to Reymontowka for lunch.
Following our dinner of pierogi, a group of us – Perry, Dennis, Mary Ann, Eddie, Pat and Ellen met at the cafe where we shared family photos together!

Thought for the Day (from Cheryl): The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but seeing with new eyes. Marcel Proust