Author: Magda Pilat

Tomek (24) and Weronika (18) have always been keen volunteers. Despite their young age, they have been helping in hospices, working with the disabled and running various charity events. Tomek has also been writing a blog, which gives comprehensive information on how, where and who to help if you feel like volunteering.

Last year these two young people got together and started Dream Mail, a charity campaign, which promotes writing letters and postcards to seriously ill children. The idea is very simple – the children’s pictures and history of illness are posted on the website along with their contact details. All you have to do is to grab a pen and write a few words to them. It may seem like a small, insignificant thing to do, but for children, who are often stuck at home 24/7, a postcard can be a highlight of the day. Knowing that there are kind-hearted people out there puts a smile on a child’s face and lets them forget about the pain and suffering, even if just for a few minutes.

The website allows for the comments to be left on the children’s profiles and many of the comments come from the children themselves or their parents and other family members, thanking for cards, letters and even parcels arriving from as far as Asia or Australia.

Natalia, who is 11 years old and suffers from cystic fibrosis, says on her profile:

I am tired so it’s time to go to bed but if I can I will visit the website tomorrow as well. I will send out my smiles and as always will pray in the evening to thank God for all of you… Goodnight my Dream friends

In a newspaper article, Natalia’s mum says:

Dream Mail has changed our daughter. She’s received many nice letters, gifts, pictures and she’s made many new friends. All this made her happier and she’s more patient when it comes to her treatment.

The campaign has been a great success so far and has involved not only individuals but also educational institutions, with over two hundreds schools and kindergartens currently taking part. Some children received as many as 400 letters and postcards. That accounts for thousands of smiles and proves that it’s the little things that matter in life.

You can visit Dream Mail on www.marzycielskapoczta.pl or join the campaign on Facebook.

Two A-level students decided to sue the ex-Minister of Education Ryszard Legutko for calling them ‘spoiled brats’. Last year Zuzanna and Tomasz, students from Wroclaw, signed a petition asking the headmaster to remove any religious emblems and symbols from their school building. The headmaster refused.

The case was widely discussed in the Polish media in December 2009 and that’s when Mr Legutko, currently a Member of the European Parliament, made a comment calling the students 'spoiled brats who are only interested in messing around.' ‘Don’t they really have better things to do so close to their exams?' the politician asked, suggesting that some sort of punishment for the students in question would not be inappropriate.

The students are now asking for a public apology and 5,000PLN of compensation, which would go to charity.

The Polish internet users comment:

pssz on forum.gazeta.pl:

Crosses are staying so the Church has won. Democracy means the rules of majority but with respecting the rights of minorities. What we have here is the majority dictatorship. Did anyone ask for permission before the crosses went up on the walls? Having a cross on the wall is not even justified in the Bible.

Homo sapiens on forum.gazeta.pl:

The cross can be removed of course and the values that the cross represents can be forgotten. The question is, what comes instead? What have these young people to offer? Nothing.

MrBigB on www.wykop.pl

An aged man has made a comment, whether appropriate or not we can all judge ourselves, but in my opinion it’s pathetic to sue for something like that.

Dorota on forum.gazeta.pl:

I am a Catholic but I agree with these students. They are fighting for tolerance and religious liberty.

Usualgirl writes on her blog:

The thing is, the atheist don’t mind the cross. One of them said that it’s a waste of time to even discuss it because if we go this way we will end up banning the meat adverts as they may offend vegetarians…

Poland is a predominantly Catholic country and the cross in schools and other establishments has always been a slippery subject.

The case is worth following as we can expect a lively discussion in the Polish media and blogosphere.

Lenka is a joyful 5-year-old and Paula is an interior design student in her early twenties. You wouldn’t think that they have anything in common but they do. They both have cancer and they both have blogs describing their fight with the disease.

These blogs are good examples of how today’s blogosphere is evolving. They prove that a blog doesn't necessarily have to be just an online diary: it may become a very powerful social media tool.

Paula

In one of her first posts Paula describes the moment when she was diagnosed with a potentially deadly disease:

It felt like someone just smacked me in the face with a frying pan

And how she later realised that a diagnosis doesn’t necessarily mean the end:

It was like a spark; a spark of hope and willingness to fight. Something that made me believe that despite what was happening I could live a long life and my body could fight any disease, no matter how deadly.

Paula’s cancer turned out to be a very rare one and soon after the operation she was told that there is not much conventional medicine could do to help her. ‘Your tumour is malignant and we don't know how to treat it,' said the Polish doctors throwing up their hands. Luckily, Paula’s sister found out about a clinic in Boston, which had successfully treated patients with the same problem. Paula contacted the American hospital and soon received an invitation to a consultation. The doctors were happy to start the treatment, the only problem was its cost, a staggering $250,000. But Paula didn’t give up here either. She started using her blog to ask for financial help. Thanks to the generosity of her readers and other bloggers linking to Paula’s website, the money was soon raised and in August last year Paula flew to the United States to undergo an operation.

Today she still has numerous tumours in her lungs and needs more treatment, but she remains positive and optimistically looks into the future. In an interview for the Polish edition of Newsweek she was asked whether she was still scared. She said:

Yes, but when I am scared I think about my arrival from Boston. My friends are waiting at the airport. They are all happy, jumping and waving at me. It is a sign that everything went okay. I’ve decided that I will live and so I will.

Lenka

Paula might have never started a blog if it wasn’t for little Lenka and a blog written by her parents, which inspired Paula to write about cancer.

Lenka was diagnosed with leukemia last April, soon after her fourth birthday. Ania and Andy, her parents, decided to start a blog when they couldn’t keep up with informing friends and family about Lenka’s condition. They soon realised that writing is a form of catharsis. Lenka’s blog has many followers, who comment on the posts in order to comfort and support both the little girl and her parents:

Let’s keep our fingers crossed. Lena must get better. She must!!!! There’s no other option, and you, her parents, keep being strong. You are a great family!!

I hope that the sun will soon shine for this little girl and for you guys… Remember to always have hope and to believe… She looks like a little angel. I hope she will be healthy. I will have her in my prayers. Fingers crossed.

It’s the comments, the parents say, that keep them going and motivate them to carry on writing. Lenka’s condition has recently improved slightly and she is now waiting for the weather to get better so her parents can take her out for a long-promised ice cream.

Both Lenka’s and Paula’s blogs were entered into the 2009 Blog of The Year competition and thanks to the votes of their readers they both reached the finals.

Last week Joanna Szczepkowska, a well-known Polish actress, made a rather unconventional protest against the style of work used by Krystian Lupa, a director she worked with. During a stage performance at the Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw, Szczepkowska showed the audience her naked buttocks. The gesture was widely commented on in the Polish media and blogosphere.

Ms Szczepkowska said that government funds supporting the theatre are constantly wasted, and so is the actors’ time, as many plays never make it to the stage, despite months of rehearsals. ‘The protest was not just against the director himself – she says – it was against the theatre methods of work as a whole.’

The actress, now in her late fifties, is often perceived as controversial and a provocateur of the Polish art world. She was in the centre of media attention in 1989, when she publicly announced that ‘the communism era was now over’ during a live TV appearance and again in 2004 when her dispute with another well-known actress, Krystyna Janda, made Ms Janda leave the Dramatic Theatre and open her own playhouse.

The news, posted on all major Polish portals, generated hundreds of comments and forum threads, some of them very negative. The protest was seen by many as a marketing tool meant to bring media attention to the play. Many bloggers said the protest was inappropriate, bearing in mind the actress’s age and reputation.

Omnia says [PL]:

If she hadn’t showed her buttocks, no one would even know about the play. She knows how to advertise and get attention. You’d need to ask the audience, whether they liked what they saw […]. I think that she went too far.

Marek sums up a forum discussion [PL]:

If you have nothing else to show, you show your buttocks […].

Some bloggers, however, agree with Ms Szczepkowska and compliment on her fearlessness and the all-or-nothing attitude. A musician Jarek Szubrycht says on his blog [PL]:

I haven’t been there and haven’t seen her buttocks but I wanted to praise her lioness-like courage. Not every woman of her age – as, let’s face it, she’s not a teen anymore – would be brave enough to show her bum cheeks.

Jerzy Ogrodnicki, a theatre actor, shares his view on one of the forums discussing the protest [PL]:

I really appreciate your courage and desperation. You’ve managed to show that even respected directors can be narrow-minded. You have possibly just opened a new chapter in the Polish theatre. With best wishes.

An anonymous comment was also left on the film news website [PL]:

Ms Szczepkowska did the right thing protesting against the way the theatre works these days. It exists mainly for the artists, not for the audience (…)

Last Thursday the actress received a letter from Krystian Lupa saying that she will no longer be part of his team as she doesn’t put her heart into the character she plays. The actress announced that she was disappointed with the letter as it didn’t mention the protest. She believes that it was her buttocks that got her fired, not the lack of spirit or enthusiasm for the play.