Poland Service Learning 2011

I can’t resist adding one more post, this one an unsolicited comment from Jonathan, our host intern in Poland:

A Final Taste of Poland

Interacting with UKSW students

 We made it home, safe and sound last night.  Our baggage, however, was not quite as fortunate.  Six of our bags ended up staying in Atlanta or traveling to Nashville, and we are hoping to be united with our “stuff” today.  “Virtual Mike” also made it home, looking just as refreshed as when he left.  Unfortunately, most of his views of Poland were from the inside of the baggage (sorry Mike!).

Damaris & Virtual Mike

We will have much to share with friends and family in the coming days.  We have made some wonderful connections that will shape us and others for years to come.  We were priviliged to see the vision that Don, Betty, and Jonathan have for their ministry, and to help make connections between the church, the community, and a university – all of which only work by fostering relationships.  It is probably the relationships that we made with Polish people in Dabrowa, at UKSW, and in the schools that we will cherish most.  We all have a lot to think about; we experienced the wonders of another culture, we saw remnants of evil and suffering, and we grew to care about each other and new friends.  As I am writing this final entry, it makes me smile to think that people in Dabrawa are sharing dinner with their families right now, having just worshiped the very same God in their church that we will worship in our churches a few hours from now.  z Bogiem – God be with you.

Finally, if you want to watch a few of Pastor Jarek’s videos of our visit, you can check out these linkis:

Women\’s Day Service

Pastor Jarek\’s Candid Camera

Many thanks to all of you who prayed for us, who helped us gather things to take for our Polish friends, and who supported us materiall. 

Best,

Dr. Entwistle, Dr. Welling,

Connie, Karen, Carrie, Katie, Brooke, Kim, Dusty,

Amber, Sam, Damaris, Adrienne, Kristin,

and – of course – virtual Mike

If all goes as planned, this will be our last update from Poland.  Today we traveled to UKSW where Dr. E. gave a presentation, and then we participated in a psychology class with Polish students who had created a presentation for us that involved lots of interaction between Polish and Malone students.  One of our team said this was her favorite part of the trip.  Two of our troupe missed out because they weren’t feeling 100%, and opted to stay at the hotel with Betty Orr.  They were able to meet up with us later in the afternoon in Old Town, though one of them is still dragging a bit, but is okay.  Emilia, a native of Warsawa, gave us an incredibly informative tour through Old Town, which was completely rebuilt to look like the centuries old city after being totally destroyed in WW-II.  We gave everyone a few hours to explore on their own, and then met for our last meal.  We ate at a traditional Polish restaurant and had a wonderful gastronomic experience called “The Pig Trough.”  Basically, they put everything on the menu into one, long wooden trough which we all shared.  We were joined by Jennifer (from Ohio) and Michael (from India) who work at the International Christian Church in Warsaw.  Most of us headed back to the hotel, but a few of us went to Jennifer’s home (accompanied by Michael and Jonathan, who will bring them back to the hotel a little later).

Taxis at 4:45 am to take us to the airport.  Time for bed!!!  Grace and peace to you all,

Dr. E.

Greetings from Warsawa (or “Warsaw” for the rest of you)!  We had a (mostly) pleasant trip by train from Sosnowiec to Warsaw in the morning.  The “mostly pleasant” is because one of our team members got sick on the trip.  When we got in, Betty Orr took her to our hotel, and they rejoined us later in the day. 

Most of the group went to the Warsaw Uprising museum in the early afternoon.  The museum recounts the experience of the people of Warsaw under Nazi occupation.  Towards the end of the war, the people were expecting to be liberated by the Russian army, and they rose up against the occupying German forces.  The uprising was brutally supressed, and by the end, 85% of the city was destroyed.  After the Uprising, the Russian army (which had sat across the Vistula River for three days) entered the city and declaired victory.

While everyone else was at the Uprising Museum, Dr. E. (who has been to the Uprising Museum before) went to the brand new Chopin museum.  Then we all met at a very cosmopolitan shopping mall, and split up to explore things for a bit before eating pizza in our hotel for dinner. 

Today, we are traveling to the University where Dr. E. has taught on several occassions.  The plan is for Dr. E. to give a lecture, and for our students and UKSW students to interact with each other.  After lunch, we will tour Old Town and have some free time before turning in for the night – so we can get to the airport in time for our early morning flight.

Looking forward to seeing you soon,

Dr. E. & the rest of the Poland team

The Castle in Będzin

Hello to all who are following this blog. This submission is by Dusty. Today, I got the privilege of spending my 22^nd birthday in Poland, which started with being woken up by Pastor Jarek waking me up with the Polish birthday song and a video camera. Apparently, he woke up all the other students in the same fashion, and we all agree that it takes a special person, someone we are all fond of, to get away with that. Were it anyone else, I may have thrown a pillow at him, but instead, I smiled and said, “Thanks.”

In the morning, we rode the tram to Będzin, where we separated into groups of two or three and went to classrooms to talk with high school students. Most of the students were shy, too embarrassed to try to speak in English to Americans. I tried to put them at ease by sharing how much worse my Polish was than their English. That seemed to help some. It was fun conversing with some of the students who were willing to share with us. My group had the privilege of witnessing one student perform a dance routine, another play guitar, and another show off his rapping abilities. One class even stood and sang for me when they found out it was my birthday. We tried to find out different perspectives Polish students have about Americans. It appears there is a strong correlation between Americans and hamburgers; I suppose that doesn’t bother me.

One class asked us about the difference between America in the movies and the America we actually live in. Our main points were that there is a lot more poverty in America than what the movies show, that many Americans actually do work hard, and that the image of the beautiful movie stars can have negative effects on the self-esteem of many Americans and others around the world. If we were unable to share much else, we were able to at least teach them that much and enjoy our time with the students. I think I may have earned some Facebook friends – hopefully not too many.  One of the boys bravely stayed after class and asked one of the “American girls” if she wanted to hang out with him after school.  Unfortunately, for the young Polish student, we had other events scheduled.

For the first time, we had Polish pizza for lunch. It was pretty good, but I’ll take pizza from the US in this match-up. I’ve enjoyed all we have eaten here, but this time I’m siding with America. I was actually probably just upset we weren’t given ketchup to put on our pizza because all I’ve heard about is that the Polish love ketchup on pizza.

After lunch (which is usually eaten at two or three o’clock), we walked around the town. Będzin is a city that is over 600 years old. It used to be a town with a large Jewish population. We saw a Jewish cemetery that was badly neglected (since few Jews remain to care for it) with trees growing among the gravestones; sadly, it has been further damaged by vandalism. The city is pretty run down and poor, but there is something about decaying buildings that I actually find enchanting. So I would say that the town is beautiful in its own way. We made a couple stops at a castle and a museum set up in an small palace of ancient nobility.

We made our way back to the church and attended the evening service, where Don Orr spoke on strengthening our faith. It was a wonderful sermon about forgiving others, loving our enemies, and being grateful in all situations. Don spoke with great enthusiasm, and made the subject matter very tangible for us all. There was also a special moment when Pastor Jarek called me up on stage to recognize my birthday, and then called the rest of the group up to pray for us all.

Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Pastor Jarek tonight since we will be heading to Warsaw on a train early in the morning. It has been a real joy spending the last few days with him; he seems to be someone who can spread joy wherever he goes. We all hope that someday in the future our paths may cross again, but for now, it is on to the next part of our trip.

Dusty, for all the group

Service comes in many different forms.  We often think of service as doing some kind of manual labor for the benefit of others, and such things are – often enough – acts of service.  Many service learning trips involve that kind of service because it is needed in the particular culture or locale where a team is serving – disaster relief in New Orleans, medical care in Hondurus, picking tea in China, providing food in Jamaica, and so forth.  We only have one project that focuses on phycial service here – cleaning up in and around the church and in the neighborhood around the church.  But service is much broader than manual labor.  Yesterday at Auschwitz was a different kind of service – hearing the voices of those who were murdered and oppressed so that the world will not forget.  Listening to the voices of those whose suffering was hidden and even celebrated is a difficult and even incarnational experience yesterday.  We also had some other non-physical – but very incarnational – ways of serving yesterday.  The women spent the evening at a women’s group, Poles and Malone students together celebrating International Women’s Day and honoring women who have shaped their lives.  The men went to an English school where we helped middle school students and adult students practice conversational English.  Again, there is an incarnational element to this serving – encountering the lives and stories of others.  It is interesting to think about how often Jesus did this – he shared a ministry of presence, as well as one of teaching and healing.  He served others in sharing his life with them, and sharing in their lives.  He became one of us.

This is the only day of the trip that the team gets to sleep in.  I am headed off to breakfast with some Polish friends, and then I will join up with the rest of the team later in the day.  They will all go to the English language school late this morning, and then the teacher will take us to a castle here in Dabrowa Gornicza that was built in the 12th Century as a defense against bandits and thieves.  We will visit a neglected Jewish cemetary that lies in the shaddow of the castle, where once again, we will engage in a service of remembrance.  The history of prejudice, discrimination, hatred, and persecution of Jews, gypsies, Poles, and so many others is painful, but it is also a reminder that these things still exist in every corner of the world today.  We, too, need to look at our lives, our culture, and our nation, because we have seen the immense evils that can spring from the smallest of seeds.

Blessings to you all,

Dr. E. and the rest of the Poland Service Learning Team

Good food, much laughter, and good conversation

Jonathan with axe, Dr. E. down for the count

We didn’t have any problems with the axe… it was the knife that did the damage.  Seriously.  Dusty cut two fingers with a knife in the kitchen, but Dr. E. put his first aid training to work.  He’s fine (no worries Mr. & Mrs. Jenkins!).  We have only needed to use the first aid kit three times so far.  But we really are all okay.