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Tuesday, September 6, 2021
Dear friends.
We discover the Poznań Community during the wedding of Ania and Maciej, an assistant of the community, on Sunday 15 August, the day of our arrival. For the sake of discretion, we sit on a bench at the back of the Bazylika św. Józefa. On the same bench, a woman with a smile in her eyes says "Hello, I'm Ala". Is this just a coincidence? I am not so sure. Ala (Alexandra) is the person who founded the Poznań community in 1994. It is with her that we have connected from France for this trip.
Every day we are welcomed very warmly at the "Polanská" home where Nina, Ala (Alicja), Ela, Adam, Rafał and Artur live. When they return from the workshops, we share the 3 pm meal with them. The life in the home seems simple, calm and warm, seen from our eyes. Like in a family, everyone goes about their business and goes back to their rooms after sharing the meal. But the first moments are a bit stuttering. We don't understand anything the core-members want to share with us, despite our few words of Polish. The frustration is great. And questions overwhelm us. How can we establish links without speaking the same language? How can we understand each other, trust each other? We experience vulnerability.
We are complete strangers and yet, every day, Artur welcomes us with wide open arms and a broad smile. Adam likes to say to guests "Dobrze, że jesteś" (it's good that you are). Nina with her sparkling eyes and bright smile, also shows us the way. Nina does not bother with the superfluous. Nina looks me straight in the eye, straight in the heart and gives me a long hug. Everything is said. With my heart turned upside down, I ask myself who is really "disabled"?
We set off on this trip with several gifts from our dear friends in France. Some prepared words for us to reinvent, one for each community we met. For Poznań, their choice was the word "presence". Beautiful. They could not have chosen a better word. We feel this presence deeply in all the people we met on our way from La Ruisselée to Poznań, via Brussels, Namur and Tecklenburg. A benevolent and luminous presence.
Żytnia, Polanská are the two homes of L'Arche in Poznań. The third is rented to students, and the workshop was closed before the covid. Each core member joins a workshop for the day in the city. Artur works with a soap maker. The positive impact is that the core-members return to the homes enriched by their life "outside". On the other hand, the community has less time together for creative projects. Ala tells us that recruiting the assistants who live in the homes is a real challenge. At the same time, we are surprised by the number of former assistants, friends and family who come to help in the homes every day. The strength and vitality of this community.
Taking time to just be together has been a real gift for us. Beyond the 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that Daphne and Josephine completed, we had the chance and the time to connect with so many people in the community, and to experience "normal" Polish life. Not the tourists'. Invited to dinner, invited to a church party, invited to a wedding, invited to discover the region and the roots of Poland, invited to visit the city. We met generous hearts, smiling, beaming and welcoming. The list is long, Ala and Michał of course, Tola, Ola and Alina, Lucyna, Agnieszka, Sylvia, Przemko and Magda, Maciej and Magda and their children, Arek and Dominique. People who look after the community, because the community is their home.
As in Brussels and Tecklenburg, we meet people who give their lives to the community. Myresse, Colette, Véronique, Ala, Lucyna. They have been in their community for as long as the oldest members of the homes. They must have seen volunteers, assistants and visiting families. But they are always present, part of the soul of their community. This kind of commitment contrasts with the difficulty of recruiting "Living In Assistants". Each era has its own challenges. The Community of Namur has chosen a direction through strong architectural choices. We have heard of communities in France that are trying others. We have the impression that we are living in a pivotal time.
Epilogue
We left the Poznań Community 10 days ago. We received so much that it took us almost a week to start writing this post. Becoming tourists again, even in this beautiful city of Kraków, was more difficult than expected. Between lag and lack, we had to recharge our batteries before we could reread the 15 days in Poznań and put down these words. To write, to thank, to give thanks and to start preparing ourselves for the next step. Inevitably different.
Postscript
We arrived in Poland with the vision of those who know it only from afar. But in four weeks, the Polish people, Poland, have transformed our hearts. Poznań has all the makings of a city where you can put your bags down and wonder if you need to return to France. Some important discussions with the children helped us to keep in mind the reasons for our project, and that returning to Le Mans is part of the project. And even if they are still a bit vague, perspectives are starting to emerge. Probably the first fruits of these meetings.
🇬🇧 "Dobrze, że jesteś" (it's good that you are)