This story is covered in Episode 54 Marcin Zaród lives and works in Tarnow, Poland. He is an English language teacher in Janusz Korczak High School there but his definition of what teaching is about is different from that of many other teachers. His mission is to show his students that true learning is not just about classrooms, textbooks, and exams. This is why his work has won him many honours – he was the winner of the “Polish Teacher of the Year 2013” Award and of the “Teacher with Culture 2016” Award. He believes in spreading his ideas about teaching…
Author: Malgorzata P. Bonikowska
This story is featured in Episode 53 Many great ideas appear and then… disappear without ever being implemented. But here’s a story of one idea that didn’t follow this sad path. In Episode 48 we talked about a movement of young dynamic Polish Canadian professionals who have organized 12 annual youth conferences called “Quo Vadis?”, which means “Where are you going?”, the last of which was held last fall in Burlington. They had been meeting and talking about the future of Canada’s Polish community until they came up with Konekt, a new young Polish Canadian professionals’ own organization. On April…
This story is featured in Episode 53 We exist despite the sober formality of great concert halls, despite the boredom of classical musicians’ life, despite fanatic lovers of classical music, despite fans of rock, rap or pop who are afraid of classical music. We treat our Muse with a humorous irony and we’re sure, she will have nothing against it!” MozART group There are four of them, most accomplished virtuoso string players (two violins, a viola and a cello), graduates of prestigious music Academies in Warsaw and Łódź. They have been playing together since 1995, when they began to create…
This story is featured in Episode 51. Sylvia Beauchain, a Polish Canadian artist, lived in Japan, then for 7 years in France and now she is back in Japan, where she lives in Okinawa with her family. Sylvia has devoted her life to her two great passions – art and helping those in need, which she has successfully connected to change other people’s lives. She believes that helping others doesn’t have to mean creating huge organizations that need lots of money to operate. In 2003 she set up her Chi-Ki Children’s Charity – a small organization which empowers local people…
This story is featured in Episode 51. They met “Vlesie” (W lesie) which in Polish means “in the woods” in 2015 – playing music in a Canadian forest, at the Folk Camp organized by Kosa Kolektiv. They loved each other’s music, and created a unique combination of Eastern and Northern European styles. Their leader is a Polish ethnomusicologist Ewelina Ferenc, an experienced folk musician and a world music singer who has sung in about 20 languages – who came to Canada from Poland in 2015. Ewelina is an active member of the Toronto grassroots community, organizing many different cultural events,…
In this episode you will hear: Interviews: • A legend that needed to exist Dariusz Rosiak, a renowned Polish press and radio journalist and author, has just published his 6th book “Biało-czerwony. Tajemnica Sat Okha” (White and red. The secret of Sat Okh). Sat Okh, Long Feather (c. 1920 – July 3, 2003), was supposedly born to a Polish woman and a native Canadian Shawnee chief, then returned to Poland, where he fought in WW2, worked in the navy and then started his career of informing Poles and other Europeans about the culture and tradition of native Canadians. • Time for…
This story is featured in Episode 47 Many episodes ago we presented to you stories of Canadians who embarked on a task to learn Polish at a night language school which I had visited. One of them was a most enthusiastic fan of Poland Nancy Campbell. She visits Poland regularly and has even purchased an apartment in Krakow. In January she initiated an international collaboration between an elementary school in Poland and an organization out of Edmonton called No Stone Left Alone. On Sept. 1 Nancy attended an event in Krakow, which was the result of this unique partnership between…
This story is featured in Episode 46 INVISIBLE EXHIBITION (NIEWIDZIALNA WYSTAWA) A few years ago, when caring for my elderly mother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, I participated in an amazing workshop organized by the Alzheimer’s Society where all of us – caregivers, were given a chance to feel like our loved ones who we cared for. We were almost literally put in their shoes. It was an unforgettable experience. Maybe this is why when I was in Warsaw two years ago and saw a place called the “Invisible Exhibition” in Aleje Jerozolimskie Street, I didn’t think twice and went through…
This story is featured in Episode 45 Peter Jassem is a renowned Toronto-based architect, born in Poland. After coming to Canada, he got interested in geneaology and became involved in the Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada. This is how he discovered that his father was Jewish. This discovery changed his life. For over a decade Peter Jassem has been the chair of the Toronto chapter of the Polish-Jewish Heritage Foundation of Canada, a dynamic organization educating the public on the Polish-Jewish relations – their past and present. He is also the director of the Canadian Committee for Support of POLIN…
Featured in Episode 43. When I was in Poland in 2015 as a member of the official delegation accompanying the then Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, I met and interviewed the then Canada’s ambassador to Poland Alexandra Bugailiskis. 2017 is a special year for Canada which this year celebrates its 150th birthday. A series of conferences and negotiations led to creation of the Dominion of Canada by establishing on July 1, 1867 the Confederation – the union of the British North American colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada. Canada 150, as this anniversary is…