Pola grupo

Halina Komar	La pola delegacio en Hago, Nederlando, antaŭ la Pacpalaco

The Centre for Intercultural Education in Nowy Sącz was established in March 2012. It was formed by activists of the Polish Esperanto Association after the Board was moved from Nowy Sącz to Warsaw. It is a social organization working in the field of non-formal education and culture, and is a non-profit association of national scope, although most of the citizen' initiatives relate to the area of Nowy Sącz. Its members are usually elderly people, about 25% of them live in the villages close to Nowy Sącz, several are long-term unemployed, and some with adjudicated disabilities (mainly motor) - pensioners and invalids. Members of the association are offered a wide range of activities, a variety of courses and workshops, jointly prepared performances, educational-integrative events, and contact with the international community, forming their main interest in this period of life and the reason for their social activity. They work as volunteers for other local organizations- and are the most active group among of volunteers working for SUTW. However, in our group there are also young people who are becoming involved in volunteering and are being introduced to the cultural activities. Currently, we run three courses for seniors, 3 language courses (with a cultural program) for children living in rural areas of the region, and additionally, we organize literary-musical performances at the Municipal Cultural Center, also working with a Village Culture House close to Nowy Sącz.
In this project, we act as coordinator and we believe that our vast experience, gained through education for Culture in urban and rural environments, the ability to deal with traditional folk culture and the practice of joining generations - seniors, young people and children – in common activities, will give good results. In addition to the organization of a seminar for all partners on Polish ethnic groups and ethnography, their origins and preserved identity, we will prepare an artistic performance- showing the characteristics of the four most strongly represented ethnographic groups of the region, and organize a Festival of Cultural Diversity and Multilingualism in Europe, aiming at partner organizations, local inhabitants and guests from Poland and other European countries. Our task will be promotion of the project and its implementation through traditional media: newspapers, radio and television, as well as cooperation with partners and reporting.