Poland Is Beautiful

At Last!

First day of real winter since I touched down in Poland. Beautiful!

Into The Sacred Reality

Tomorrow is the day I will go on my personal pilgrimage to St. Wojciech (Adalbert) parish in Mucharz (my Patron Saint). This is the centuries old parish, one of the first in this area, with amazing history. Here it is believed my Patron Saint stayed and preached Good News on two separate occasions in tenth century. It would not be possible to omit this sacred place in my road map of shrines and holy places important to my faith and spirituality which I need to visit and pray there in my time of holidays in Europe this year.

From this parish Wadowice parish was born (the home parish of Saint John Paul II). Mucharz was the very first parish visited pastorally by Karol Wojtyła right after he became the bishop of Kraków. This is the parish and the sacred place which - according to words of Saint John Paul II spoken in 1994 in Vatican during the celebrations of 16th anniversary of his pontificate - had great influence on his faith and his life. 

Time to immerse myself in the sacredness of this holy place and its venerable history full of the presence of the Holy Spirit and of my Patron Saint. The added value of this spiritual journey is the fact that the parish priest of the parish is my classmate from our ordination class, Rev. Fr. Krzysztof Strzelichowski, one of my closest friends in our class. So good to reunite with him again, to celebrate Holy Mass together and have a nice late evening chat over a piece of world renowned cottage bread, a glass of fine wine and our favorite cheese.

Memory Is Our Homeland Project - Important News

This post is a follow up on the project "Memory is our homeland" of which I wrote two years ago in this blog (click here). I am very happy that things are moving forward in the project. Below is the full letter I have received this morning from Jonathan. I will be very happy if you could spare a few minutes of your kind attention to read it carefully and act on it. Jonathan needs our support. The story he so passionately wants to narrate in his movie is very important part of our Polish history and must be preserved for next generations. I would be very grateful if we could support this project in any way we can - either by prayer and well wishes or through donations. Let us come together to help this young, caring and dedicated filmmaker to fulfill his dream and the need of his heart.

Jonathan's letter:

To the friends, family, and supporters of Memory Is Our Homeland,

I hope this email finds you all well. I figured it was a good time to send out a bit of an update on my film project. Almost four years after my first trip to Poland and Belarus in 2010, there have been many ups and downs to get here, but the project has now been picked up by a producer, here in Montreal, who is going to help me try and find the funding to complete it. There's still work to do, but I wanted to let you all know where I'm at, and thank you for helping me get this far.

If you're receiving this email, you should know that it's because I count you among those who’ve made an important contribution towards helping me work on something that feels both like a long-standing dream and a family obligation. Whether it's through a financial contribution that's helped me travel or work on the film, helping with translation, shooting, or photographing, or support in the form of a meal or an encouraging conversation, you've each had a role in helping me work on something that's bigger than me. If I'd known at the beginning how much work it would be to get to this place I would have found it daunting, but it's your support that's helped me stay with it.

People don't make documentaries to get rich quickly, they do it because they have something that needs to be said, even if it takes time. Over the last four years, I've travelled to England, France, Tanzania, Kenya, Amsterdam, Germany, and Poland in search of a story that belongs not only to me and my family, but to countless others. I've interviewed more than 20 people, been in touch with hundreds of others, and share these stories with many, many more. And after being able to travel to Belarus, and stumbling upon the village where my grandmother was born, I was even able to find people who fondly remembered my great-grandparents and their family.

Whatever reception this film may have when it’s done, it already feels like an accomplishment to have gotten this far. It feels significant to have been able to reassure my grandmother, before she passed away, that not everything had been lost when she was deported as a child: the memories had endured. I am grateful to have been able to give those who shared their stories with me a sense that they were being heard and documented. To see the trailer, that shows some of their stories and how the film is coming together, please visit this link: https://vimeo.com/99573982

As for the good news, a few weeks ago I signed a contract with a Montreal-based producer named Frederic Bohbot to find the funds to complete the film. Frederic runs Bunbury Films (http://www.bunburyfilms.com), a production company that won an Oscar a few months ago for a documentary called "The Lady In Number 6". He's the perfect producer for this project: smart, savvy, respectful of the story and my approach, and even a graduate of Eastern European and Soviet Studies. In Poland, we will also be working with producer who has worked with the Andrzej Wajda Film School and The Polish Film Institute. 

Having these people onboard with the project is a huge step, and we hope to have funding sorted out by this autumn. Frederic has applied to the Canadian Media Fund (a TV broadcaster-supported fund), and met with several Canadian and American broadcasters, and we should hear back by September. In the mean time, he is willing to put his equipment and his expertise at my disposal, towards continuing the work, until we secure financing. 

In the immediate future, my goal is to spend the next couple of months working on it, and getting to Europe this summer to work on the film, since there are important interviews to shoot in the winter. To that end, I am looking to find the means to travel to Europe, and to cover the expenses of a small shoot in Poland and Belarus. With equipment in place, and translators and a cameraman in Poland willing to work for free, I just need to find a way to make my way over there. I’m asking for help to figure out how to do that, so if you know people who can help (or have travel agents in the family, or air miles you won’t use!), please let me know. If you know of people who might be able to figure out how to get me there, please let them (or me) know. There are only two months to cover until we hear back about funding, but they are important ones. Any ideas are appreciated!

In the end though, what I am contacting you for is to say thank you again. Please take the time to check out the short trailer. It's just over 2 minutes out of 50 hours that I've shot in North America, Europe, and Africa in the last several years, but it's a good representation of what it is I've been trying to do, and of the people whose stories I've been trying to tell: https://vimeo.com/99573982 

And it's partly thanks to all of you that I've been able to do it. 

Warm wishes,

Jonathan 

The movie trailer:

Memory Is Our Homeland (Short teaser trailer) from Memory Is Our Homeland on Vimeo.

Polish Power

Yesterday a brand-new Kraków Arena - a multifunctional indoor center in Kraków, just a mile or so from where I live in the town, was officially opened. The first major event serving as an opener was a volleyball game between arch rivals Poland and Brazil. The venue as you would expect was fully packed with fifteen thousand or so spectators who got an excellent and first hand opportunity to admire the new impressive facility. Poland won the game 3-1 by the way!

The way my fellow Poles sung our national anthem holding cards with national colors gave me goose bumps. In times like these we endure in our country at this particular time of our history, it feels so good to express in such a powerful manner that we are proud to be Polish. Polish Power!

Priority 2014

Arrived to home town of Kraków last Thursday night for the long awaited vacation intertwined with the quest of securing some help for the completion of our primary school in Kiabakari, medical checkups, visitations of people and places dear to my heart and so forth.

I am very grateful to my colleagues who invited me for mission awareness Sunday, with preaching and fundraisings for the cause. I am grateful also to Miss Agata Krupa, volunteer of Foundation Kiabakari for the design of the info leaflet I will be distributing in the parishes and places wherever I will happen to be. Gratitude to Fr. Roman Zapała who volunteered to cover the expenses of the printing of the publication and to Wydawnictwo Platan in Kryspinów, near Kraków, for offering to print it immediately and for the costs of the materials used only. Thank you so much, you people of immense heart for the mission's cause in Kiabakari. God bless you much! I do hope this little publication will help people I will meet in my quest to know better Kiabakari, Foundation Kiabakari, what we do, what is needed there and so forth.

Here it is - the little leaflet, my little companion on the road from May to August. May God grant special convincing powers to all readers of this publication to move their hearts to join our cause and help to push it forward. It is in Polish language, understandably, and here it is shown front and back on one page for better viewing.

Thank You, Poland!

Poland, Wake Up!

It is so annoying to see the inability of my Polish readers to get the upper hand on Canadian peers who still lead as we speak by two mere IP addresses in the United Nations of Kiabakari list. I know we cannot overtake NSA-Snowden-USA leading pack, but, please, come on, Poles! Get your thumbs out of… and do the job!

Inguinal Hernias In Tanzania

I woke up early this morning in my favorite room at SMA Regional House in Bwiru district of the city of Mwanza. In a couple of minutes two young Polish surgeons will land in Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and then after a couple of hours they will board the Precision Air flight to Mwanza. They are expected to land here in Mwanza at 9.20 A.M. I will pick them up and we will drive straight to Kiabakari, hopefully, God willing, reaching their final destination around lunch time. Then after a short rest and settling down in their rooms, we will have a first meeting with the staff of our health center, to get to know each other, prepare the theater, newly purchased autoclave machine (I brought it from Dar es Salaam especially for this project; it is brand new and never used so far), other operating tools (brought by the surgeons themselves) and select employees who will work directly with the surgeons. We will set up procedures for the upcoming hernia surgeries and will hope that people affected by this ailment will shop up starting tomorrow, Monday, September 2.

The government of Tanzania via District Medical Officer of Butiama District will finance the procurement of all needed medicine and dressings. We, as the health center and Foundation Kiabakari, will sponsor internal health center costs, so instead of paying a lot, the patients will contribute as little as 15 Euros (of course the will pay in Tanzanian shillings) for the surgery.

Sławek and Przemek will have only two weeks to perform as many surgeries as possible. On my part I did everything that was possible under circumstances and with the financial resources I had in my disposal, posting announcements everywhere in the Region, spreading word through friends channels, via Radio Victoria and government and church healthcare institutions. We will see if this effort brings some effect.

As always, I count very much on your kind prayers and well wishes for the success of the project. And it is my hope that this Inguinal Hernia Project in Kiabakari will be the beginning of the new chapter of healthcare in Kiabakari - opening the avenue of visiting doctors and specialists of various kinds according to the priorities of health problems of our communities in Kiabakari, Butiama District, Mara Region and beyond. Already people ask for cardiologists, dentists, eye specialists, gynecologists, physiotherapists, diabetic specialists etc to come. The needs are huge. Let's spread the word about this. It is a noble cause!

For Polish readers (but you can also use Google translator) an article on our surgeons adventure in Kiabakari (click here).

Switzerland? Nope. Poland!

What's Next?

With Divine Mercy Sunday over, grateful to Merciful Lord, relieved and happy to the last bone that everything went amazingly well, time has come to set my sights on what lies ahead. 

Next week I will go to Ministry of Education in Dar es Salaam to submit documents for the registration of our pre-school and primary school in Kiabakari, which were processed and positively opinionated by the relevant authorities in the District and the Region. Hopefully, in a not so distant future, our schools will be officially registered in the Ministry.

At the same my task force and myself will sit down to plan for the implementation of the funded projects - expansion of the health center, construction of the modern pre-school and the complex system of harvesting and storing of rain and ground water.

In two weeks time, I will turn fifty. What it means, I do not know. Probably nothing, really. I do not feel inside of me as someone of this age. Still, a good opportunity to thank the Lord for the gift of life, half a century of it.

In some three weeks time I will fly to Poland to celebrate my sliver jubilee of priesthood with my classmates and in my home parish. First, on May 12, it will be parochial celebration. I will be extremely happy and honored to celebrate the day with you, my esteemed readers! I invite all of you most heartedly!

Then on May 22, with my classmates at Wawel Cathedral where we were ordained priests 25 years ago. Then, starting from May 26, I will have a privilege to go with my home parish community to the spiritual desert for the Faith Awakening retreat.  Requesting your kind prayers for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the preparations and in the retreat itself.

Busy times ahead, quite interesting. I look forward to this new experience of celebrating the jubilee of this kind.

Euro 2012 Official Anthem

This is so cool! These grannies have just won a competition for an official anthem of Euro 2012. Check it out :)

Two Years

Two years have passed since the Smolensk tragedy, yet the questions unanswered are still there. Here is the list of those who perished on that fatal day (click here). May they rest in peace! I would like to refer you to my older post on this theme (click here). Please, pray for the victims, their families and our Nation.

About Us

Just an alert to bring your attention to a short 30 minutes or so photo presentation and music (below) depicting the latest (November 2011)  pastoral visit of the mission team of Archdiocese of Krakow, Poland, in our missions in Tanzania. You may see my mission in Kiabakari (from 6th minute of the program up to almost 11th minute). Plus Musoma cathedral later on in the program where I spent more than four years (2002-2006).

Missionaries from Kraków

Just to let you know, that you may find interesting short videos published here. There are a couple of videos from Kiabakari, from times I described in my earlier post (click here). Enjoy! And while you enjoy, please, say a prayer for us, missionaries, and our work. Thank you!

Dividing The Time By The Spoon

Since my comeback to Kiabakari at the beginning of October, I have this prevailing feeling that the time has become densely congested, packed with numerous activities and challenges, all thrown at us at once. It feels like if the time has become a jelly which is so thick that one can divide it by the spoon...

Intense

The last few days have been a bit on a hectic and intense side. A couple of busy days in Dar es Salaam, then flight to Musoma on Sunday afternoon, first encounter with German volunteers who arrived to Kiabakari on September 19 and have been undergoing a crash course in swahili since then...

Get Together

It was a rewarding evening. Meeting friends involved closely in the daily operations of our Foundation Kiabakari, sharing, talking about the present issues, plans for future and imminent concern in regards (in particular) to the project 'Perfect Health' which we are about to commence in a couple of weeks time in Kiabakari. I was very happy that people responded so well to the invitation. I was very grateful to Bożena in a special way for her selfless service and great help she extended to me in preparations of the meeting and the food. Thank you so much, Bożena!

Back Home

It took a full week to come back to blogging. Surely, the past week was not an opportune time to do this. In short, the trip to Poznań was a very positive and fruitful, both on medical ground and social-wise. Reconnecting with my friends who took care of me in a style, going through thorough medical checks and knowing what is going on with me, great meetings with valuable persons and social moments - all this made for a rich six days spent there... I'm grateful to God and my friends for making all this possible. Now, back in Kraków, continuing  with the densely packed holiday planner. The weather reminds me of Kiabakari, hot and humid. But, being with Dad at home, and meeting friends who are closest to my heart is truly priceless...

Our Daily Bread

Continuing with the slow recovery from malaria, but not idle. Baking bread for tonight's supper, Polish style. One thing that we, Poles, miss most here in Tanzania, is our daily bread, Polish bread, the best in the world, I don't mind saying... So tonight at least we will part from white toast bread available around here, and indulge in home baked loaf of bread with a preserve and a nice cup of aromatic tea. Simple but stylish...