Wielkie Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy (Great Christmas Aid Orchestra) is one of the largest non-govermental charity organizations in Poland. Nineteen years ago the organization was created with the mission of, "Health Protection and Saving of Children's Lives through Providing Medical Equipment to Public Hospitals." On one day each year millions of Polish złoty are donated by Polish citizens. The money is then spent on equipment for a specific condition, this year money was raised for children suffering from urological and nephrologic problems.
The event is similar to the March of Dimes or programs such as that, however, this fundraiser is perhaps one of the most sucessful fundraisers I have ever heard about. I knew from the moment I stepped outside on Sunday morning, Jan. 9th, that this fundraising day was going to be special. As my host family and I walked to church I noticed everyone wearing red hearts, the signature of the fundraiser. There were 120,000 volunteers who donated their time to collect money on the day of the fundraiser and I gave my money to some firemen standing on the corner of my street and thus received my own red heart.
As part of the effort more than 800 music concerts and artistic events are organized, involving 1,300 artists around the country. In the center of Kielce there were three stages and a carnival feel, with vendors selling food, firefighters and police officers showing off their equipment to children (and yes, those curious teenagers, like myself), and thousands of people. It was quite a fun experience!
The amount raised this year is unknown, but last year the day long fundraiser raised over 43 million złoty (approximetly $14.3 million). When you consider that there are only about 38 million residents in Poland, that means the every person gave more than 1 złoty.
The second current event fascinating Poland right deals with a Polish hero, Pope John Paul II. Pope John Paul II was born Karol Józef Wojtyła in the Polish town of Wadowice. I won't go into all the details of his life, but I will say that he is extremely revered here in Poland. Most households have some small momento with his face on it, churches all have shrines to him. In fact, in the house of my friend's grandparents a whole wall is filled with huge paintings of the Pope. Upon his death in April 2005, his successor Pope Benedict XI announced that the normal five-year waiting period for beatification and canonization would be waived. This week the Vatican announced the beatification ceremony will be held on May 1st. It is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people, many, even most, of whom will be Poles.
The third event is much more somber. As you may remember on April 10th, 2010 an airplane carrying the President of Poland, his wife and 95 other top Polish officials crashed in the forrest outside of Smolensk, Russia, killing everyone on board. It's hard, but imagine if President Obama, Michelle Obama and almost every other top Democrat or Republican leader, as well as military officials died. That is what happened here. Understandably this event rocked Poland and continues to be a large issue in the country.
The crash took place in Smolensk, Russia as the President of Poland was heading to Katyń to comemorate the Soviet killings of Polish army officers in WWII. It was seen as a warming of relations between the two countries because Russia had invited the Polish President to attend a special commemoration ceremony. The day of the crash was extremely foggy and the plane crashed into the woods after missing the runway.
The recently released Russian report on the crash raised much critism here in Poland. The Russian report put full blame on the plane's pilots and stated that Russian air traffic controlers cannot be held responsible. The Polish government has called the report incomplete and baised. A few days after the Russian report was released a Polish comission released key material it said was left out of the report, pointing towards air traffic controler negligence. Both reports have lead to passionate debates in the Polish government, newspapers, T.V. and within homes of regular citizens. As the situation continues it is unclear what the outcome will be - on January 20th will present the EU aviation experts with what Poland believes is proof that Russia violated international procedures in its report into the Smolensk disaster. It is a situation worth watching.
These are some interesting links about the Smolensk Reports, if you're interested!
http://www.tvn24.pl/2405247,28377,0,0,1,wideo.html
http://www.thenews.pl/national/artykul148053_smolensk-fatigue-gives-rise-to-social-network-protest.html
http://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/15334/news/27272/50627
http://www.thenews.pl/international/?id=147580
No comments:
Post a Comment