By Mariana Navarrete, Arts & Culture Editor
“We are treating them when they enter our country as guests,” Professor Leesch said. “The ‘r’ word [refugees]is not really popular among polish people because we believe we are hosting Ukrainians; Ukrainians are our guests, and Polish are just privileged to be their hosts.”
Saint Leo University’s polish English Professor Agniezka Leesch helped connect Saint Leo’s English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta, to direct their yard sale contributions to Humanitas University in Sosnowiec, Poland.
Sigma Tau Delta was hosting a yard sale at the SCC bowl on April 22 from 9 am to 1 pm, with 50 percent of the profits will go straight to aid Humanities University’s efforts in hosting Ukrainians and the rest to the Red Cross who’s providing aid overseas.
Since the first hours of Russia’s attacks against Ukraine, the Humanitas University has been involved in various activities aimed at providing real help to the victims of the war.
Leesch’s mother worked for many years as a head librarian of Humanitas.
“I was thinking it could be so fabulous to connect our students with the students on the other side,” Leesch said.
The housing at Humanitas has become a refuge. The dormitories are not dorms anymore; they are refuge places where students and Ukrainian asylum seekers can stay with their families free of cost. The Humanitas Foundation has launched a collection of funds to help students and graduates of the Humanitas University from Ukraine and their families.
The foundation also aids people fleeing the war who have found shelter in academic apartments of the Warsaw School of Economics.
“Specific classrooms being built for Ukrainian students, translators, teachers, counselors, psychologists, therapists, and all these people are volunteering their time to the Ukrainian guests,” Leesch said.
Humanitas has launched a Polish language course to break down language barriers and deepen language skills for Ukrainians. Knowledge about Polish high and popular culture and basic knowledge about selected social and religious issues are also taught.
The Humanitas Academic Center for Psychological Support offers free psychological assistance addressed to people coming to Polish from war-torn Ukraine and to our Students and Graduates from Ukraine. Besides, free legal assistance for students and graduates from Ukraine, their families, and just Ukrainian citizens.
Leesch claimed, “This is the time where I have been the proudest of being Polish. It warms my heart to see Poland helping Ukrainian guests out in the best way possible.”
The number of Ukrainian guests in Poland fluctuates because people arrive and leave. Some are being transported to host families or going farther West, but others are staying, hoping the end of the war is close and they can return to their homes.
“Some are staying very close to the border, which is why we are so overwhelmed,” Leesch said. “Ukrainians just don’t want to go that far; they want to hang on to the border in case everything goes back to normal.”
As there are thousands of Ukrainian guests in need in Poland, there is the host need for financial support. Hosts need financial assistance to continue assisting the refugees on a long-term basis.
“No matter what we do, it won’t be enough, the need is so overwhelming, and it will persist for years,” Leesch said. “These [Ukrainian guests] are mostly children who are running away with their mothers., probably traumatized permanently, and that just is the psychological need, there is also the financial need.”
Besides Humanitas hosting Ukrainians, multiple Polish families are doing so as well. “Our neighbor across the hall has taken 12 people, just women, and children, to their home. During these times, it is not uncommon for Polish people to have guests in your home, and it goes with Polish hospitality,” Leesch reflected.
One of Polish’s Christmas Eve traditions is to set the table with always one extra setting ready just in case a guest arrives.
“I have a feeling that there will be a completely Christmas eve this year, with quite a few extra places for extra guests at Polish Christmas eve tables,” Leesh explained. “I remember always setting this up when I was younger, and this is now something that I am so very proud of that I now visualize coming to reality.”
The yard sale on Friday 22 was the first of many events.
“We do not need to create a ginormous one-time event. We need to trickle instead because the need will be there slowly,” Leesch said.” We do not need to hurry up, we can slowly start building something that we will be able to sustain for a long time, and I want Saint Leo to turn it as its legacy.”
It is vital to start doing something, even on a small scale. As Leesch pointed out, it should not be discouraging since if we continue doing this and encourage others to do something similar, it will not be small-scale anymore.
