Volunteering, Translating & Repairs

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Volunteering at Safa Dobro

Our trip to Poland had been so full, but we didn’t slow down. Thursday morning Alen introduced us to Safa Dobro, a distribution center where refugees can get clothing for free. We volunteered for the first available shift, 9:00 AM until 1:30 PM.

During our shift we learned there was a need for someone with language skills to help with the check-in process as well as crowd control to help make the process more efficient. Unfortunately, I did not volunteer quickly enough for either role, instead, I found myself assisting in the underwear distribution because I was the only volunteer remaining with language skills.

Most refugees are women and children, so I learned that my language skills lacked a lot of detail when it came to women’s underwear, and that some women are still very particular about the appearance of something nobody else sees. This was news to me.

People are allotted 5 pairs of underwear, 5 pairs of socks, and 2 bras per person. To ensure that the donations help as many as possible, the allotment of underwear is all they will receive unless purchased separately. They have a computer system where refugees are registered, and donations are assigned and allocated.

While I was assisting with underwear distribution, Mindie got a taste of her own medicine working on the floor re-stock team at a thrift store. Our experiences were very humbling, rewarding, and informative.

At the end of our shift, Alen introduced us to the man running the World Central Kitchen locations. He was native to Poland and shared with us how at the start of the war they were managing up to 60 kitchen locations in Krakow, the demand had been so high. At the time we were visiting they were able to decrease the total number of locations to almost seven.

Repairs & Maintenance

We returned to Snyadetski with grand plans to bring the children toys and games to brighten their day. We also prioritized replacing a missing toilet seat, adding privacy locks to women’s bathroom stalls, replacing broken light bulbs, and believe it or not, I tried hanging the mirrors again, and we even taught another English class; we had overbooked ourselves.

Nothing I did worked well; the new toilet seat was not as tight as I would like, the new lock didn’t get drilled or anchored to the wall and the new light bulbs were not enough to fix the bathroom light, that meant it was likely a bad ballast.

I did, however, make a new friend named Anatoli, who had been a miller his whole life. Anatoli was 65 years old and, on a pension, but was eager to help and was hoping to find work in Poland. He wanted to help me with everything, so even though I did poor work, I think hanging out with him and giving him a constructive way to help was worthwhile. We went back to the store and bought a drill with some masonry bits and multi-tools for the whole center so that he could continue to make improvements and finish some of the projects we had started.

Fred helped us get a bike for a woman named Natalia’s daughter. She was 20 years old and was lucky enough to find a job, but transportation was not always easy. This bike was able to make commuting easier. Natalia’s daughter wasn’t the only one looking for work. Many people were willing and able to work, but finding work was challenging. We decided to buy tram passes that would allow people to search and commute to work.

Amid our various runs to stores, we also purchased several soccer balls, two small soccer nets, pumps for balls and bicycles, kites, badminton birdies and rackets, children’s books, and other supplies for the center. And while I was working with Anatoli, Sasha, and his twin brother Dima and some of their friends assembled the soccer goals in no time, eager to test them out.

Continue reading > What we accomplished serving Polish refugee camp