Daily updates from Poland

Day 1

Wow what a day. We arrived and after finally getting our hire car, we were off.
The World Central Kitchen didn't have any shifts today so we went to a hotel that we heard were organising volunteers. The lovely lady there didn't have anything for us so suggested we go to Tesco. There is a shopping centre that has been emptied of the business and turned into a centre. We found out how to register and off we went into the centre.
My words will not do this place justice. It can facilitate 1300 people at one time and it is mostly full ALL the time. Refugees are brought here from the boarder and registered. If they know where they want to go next, they are given a worker who helps them find a way and sort out any visas. They are then given a bed (camping cot) and clean bedding. Everything in the centre, except for the pharmacy, is FREE. There is a kids club also that gives the mums a bit of a break. There are multiple food outlets and facilities to shower.
Is this what I expected? No. The people here are just like you and me. They are only here because it is unsafe at home. There are all ages here and from all sorts of backgrounds. Also I didn’t expect the amount of people and this is only one location between 1,000 - 5,000 people a day pass through here. Some stay for a few hours others for a few days.

How am I communicating? I only speak English but I can SMILE and that is a universal language. Today I met a little boy called Colin, about 7, we chatted for a bit and then on my next loop around the centre he was gone, I wish him well.

Mostly we emptied bins today and sanitised them and thats okay because ANYTHING we can do WILL help. After about 6 hours we headed to our lodgings on the other side of town.

Day 2

Day two at the Tesco centre.
We have just finished an 11 hour shift! When we arrived we stripped out and cleaned the large bedroom, 350 beds. Moping, sanitising and rearranging ready for the room to open again at 2pm.

Some people have taken busses to their next destination others are still waiting.

The language barrier was a bit trickier today but with lots of hand gestures we were able to communicate. By 8pm all the beds had gone. We then made another area to take more people after this it will be the corridors.

I spent some time in the mother and baby room today. May of held a baby or two so their mums could go to the loo. Amongst all the commotion and activity inside this room is very calm.
We ran out of pillows today and were very close to running out of blankets.
There is a Dutch company that are providing chips, sausages and chicken nuggets and an Italian place that do delicious pizza that kept us going today.

My body is aching but my heart is full. We helped many people today and that is humbling. Time for a rest and back to it again tomorrow.

Day 3

Today has been the hardest. We went in this morning and cleaned and organised the big room as we expected. Throughout the day we told people to come back at 2pm.

At 2pm we had the biggest queue that we had ever had with weary, tired people just wanting somewhere to rest their heads. We gave out a few beds, when a woman appeared and told us that the government has said this room cannot open today till 8pm. These people need to get on busses and leave. It absolutely broke our hearts to turn these people away. A smile did not cut it!

We did lots of apologising and had to send people away. We did our best to find people beds in other places but this wasn't enough.

We took five and then got back to it.

I helped to reorganise the mother and baby room and we have 120 beds in there for mums with under 3s. When I left there were only 3 empty beds.

After a 14 hour shift we are done for the day. To our bed to rest and then back to it again tomorrow.

Day 4

We went shopping in the morning for face paint and makeup which is used at a station in the centre to entertain the children and teenagers. However these were very hard to find so we bought sanitary products and bubbles instead.

Upon returning to the centre I ended up in the mother and baby room again where I might have gotten into a bit of trouble due to a decision that I made. I refused to separate a 15 year old boy from his mum and baby brother and gave them a bed in the room. I was told if anyone complained I'd have to deal with it. Noone did :) There was no way that due to the boys height, he was quite tall, that I would separate him from his mother. She was clearly exhausted and just needed to rest.

While in the room a young mother asked me to find a way to get her to a hostel that she had a room for one week in. I found a driver, Dan a teacher from London, for two young mums and their babies to go to a hostel 2 hours away and part of our donated funds paid for the fuel to get them there. They have gone to a lovely place with other mums and babies, they were very grateful.

Dan is a volunteer like me who wanted to make a difference so booked a flight and here he was taking two small separated families to safety and at least a week of peace.

Yet again there was drama in the big room. We were told that the last train had left for Warsaw so they would have to get the buss at 3am for 4am train. So we started giving out beds. Guess what? Government lady not happy again. Need to find out how many are for Poland or undecided locations. I took a translator, Alex a Ukrainian refugee that is volunteering all day long while waiting to come to the UK, and we asked each family where are they going. Out of the whole room there were only 36 people that were for Poland or undecided. So a special bus was put on to take them to the train station as there are trains till 8pm. Apparently we just call the fire brigade and they bring a bus, we didn't know this. Anyway we sorted them out and on their way. Up until 8pm if they are undecided or staying in Poland they must get on a bus. The bus will take them to the train station where they are put on a train to some where further into Poland.

Dan arrived back and had found three Germans that had driven over with a minibus full of aid, can we unload it? Of course. I go and organise the trolleys. While doing this they tell me they would like to take 7 people back to Germany in the morning, Excellent! So we arrange this too, by the way all drivers and dwellings are properly vetted before people can leave.

Dan leaves or so I thought. About half an hour later I hear my name. Dan has found a man working at the kitchen outside that has LOTS of money to donate to help disabled adults and children, especially with trauma counselling. Well I just happen to know of a project in Romania and Moldova that is doing that! So took his details and will be passing them on.

To end the day I handed out what resources we had left to the children in the big room. The smiles on their faces was priceless. All in all it was a jam packed day.

Day 5 Time to leave and return home

We got back very late last night and I had to get up and out to the airport. As you can see only ONE passport and boarding pass. Mum is staying a bit longer! All I can say is that yesterday was a complete roller coaster with every up and down you can think of. I am leaving Poland with a very full heart but also a broken one for the Ukrainians who are wonderful people. I cannot wait to come back.

Read on tomorrow to hear what has happened since I have returned home.