The road to Independence written with the biographies of our families
As part of the Foundation, the funds from the Multiannual Program NIEPODLEGŁA for 2017-2022, the project "Road to Independence written with the biographies of our families" was implemented.
On October 19/20, 2019 and October 26/27, 2019, biographical-historical and biographical-journalistic workshops were held in Morawa. The biographical workshop concerned the importance of family memory, family memories as the foundations of intergenerational bonding and transmission. We talked about the importance of independence, freedom, what the road is for us and what are family biographies. The workshops were a space for giving meaning to people and events in which family members were involved. The participants discussed the influence of family biographies on their roles, motivations, values, the way families function and also on themselves. It was also an opportunity to work with family souvenirs. The host, Alicja Przepiórska, also presented research on the cultural transmission of displaced persons, sociological studies and works on the social framework of the collective memory of the family. During the historical workshops, we wanted to familiarize the participants with the historical background of the events that had a significant impact on the emerging Independent Poland. The lecturer, historian Grzegorz Mikołajczyk, created a framework in which the participants could enter individual family stories. Legions, the forming of the Second Polish Republic with armed insurgents and the shaping of borders, plebiscites, and the re-creation of the culture of a democratic state. The outbreak of World War II, the rape of our independence, the fight against the German and Soviet occupiers, crimes against civilians and sacrifices made by fighting soldiers. This is the background in which everyone wrote their own family biographies. The participants presented the fate of their relatives and the memory of them. Thanks to this workshop, they could feel the importance of the events in which their families were involved. 12 participants - Seniors recalled their families, their involvement in military acts, in the fight for independence. They talked about their family heroes, often discovering the significance of their patriotic activity and sacrifice on the altar of free Poland.
The aim of our project was to preserve the memories of Seniors about them, their families and family heroes who fought in various fields: engaging in armed and intellectual struggle, implementing projects that preserve works of art, culture for posterity, preserving tradition and regional activities, involving into social activities.
Another element of the project was a journalistic workshop, during which Dariusz Kulpiński made the participants familiar with the camera and prepared them to tell the stories they carried with the heart. During the workshop, the participants chose the most convenient form of expression - dialogue, story, diary reading. The 4-day workshop resulted in the creation of the film "Road to Independence, Written with Biographies of Our Families". It is the story of the inhabitants of Lower Silesia and their families, which is intertwined with the history of Poland regaining independence and building Polishness in the lands of Lower Silesia, as well as becoming Lower Silesians by them. Our goal was, above all, to make the inhabitants of Lower Silesia aware that each of us Lower Silesia, through his diverse family history, could have an impact on the awakening of Polishness, and thus the preservation or regaining of independence by Poland.
In the Town Hall in Strzegom on November 12 at at. At noon there was a screening of the film "The Road to Independence Written with Biographies of Our Families", a meeting with the witnesses of time and a lecture entitled "The importance of family biographies" delivered by Dr. Bogna Bartosz, psychologist, researcher at the University of Wrocław.
Academy of Active People
The main goal of the Academy of Active People was to select and train an intergenerational group of 20 local leaders, then support it in leadership activities for the local community, to increase it by November 2020. the number of citizens involved in local initiatives and the organization of two such initiatives. We achieved these goals by equipping leaders with knowledge and practical leadership skills, immersing them in the background of tradition, history and biography, and giving space to test themselves in action (through training, development activities and initiatives for the local community. The project was innovative - intergenerational. the goals were in line with the goals of the CIF - increasing the number of citizens involved in NGO activities and grassroots initiatives.
The Academy of Active People is a place and an offer for those who wanted to develop the competences of leaders, they work for the integration and activation of the local community, learn about people's stories, the traditions of their region and build a sense of unity on them. A.L.A. are our biographical and identity stories, we got to know biographies, stories and traditions in them and we learned how important they are for building an identity, value system, and how they translate into the activity of individuals and the entire community.
A.L.A. it is the future, cooperation, development; intensive leadership, theater and development workshops involving the local community: photographic, handicraft and culinary. Each of them is an opportunity to develop passions, meet, talk, preserve memories, exchange traditions, learn to build and act in intergenerational teams. In the project, we used the model of cooperation of the local community based on the cultivation and preservation of local and national traditions, based on the example of Lithuanian partners (Polonia in Niemenczynie).
The project was financed by the Civic Initiatives Fund Program for 2014-2020 and by the National Institute of Freedom, Center for Civil Society Development.