This past June, Marsha Dixon of Francestown and her daughter Kirstie spent 10 days volunteering at a summer day camp for Ukrainian refugee children in Poland. Marsha’s trip to Poland started, in a way, in Tanzania. Back in January 2020, Marsha volunteered with Global Volunteers, a worldwide nonprofit organization which sends volunteers to serve local people in one- to three-week service programs.

“Going to Tanzania changed my life,” Marsha said during a presentation at Bixby Library. “Being immersed in African culture, the kindness of the people … it was absolutely transformative.”

Marsha had hoped to bring a group of American students to Tanzania, but COVID had other plans. Last year, she that learned Global Volunteers had a trip to Poland where volunteers worked with Ukrainian children, and she knew she wanted to help. 

In her presentation, Marsha outlined the long, brutal history of Poland, the “breadbasket of Europe,” forever caught between Germany and Russia. Poland’s history of oppression and invasion laid the groundwork for the nation’s generosity to the people of Ukraine.

“Poland knows what it feels like to be invaded, to be obliterated,” Marsha said. “Ninety percent of Poland’s Jewish population was killed in World War II. Half of the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust were Polish.”

When Russian invaded Ukraine in February 2022, 3 1/2 million Ukrainian people fled their homeland. Poland, which shares a 392-mile border with Ukraine, took in 53% of all refugees leaving the war-torn nation. 

“They are now saturated; no one else can come,” Marsha said. “Poland has been extremely generous to the Ukrainian people, providing health care, education, housing and job training.” 

Most Ukrainian refugees are housed at Polish mushroom farms, where children are expected to help their parents with the farm work. The Global Volunteers program provided a desperately needed break for these children, running a day camp for children age 5 through teenagers. 

“It was 95 degrees the whole time, and the Polish volunteers made us hot soup for lunch every day,” Marsha said with a laugh. “But that is their tradition.”  

Marsha volunteered to work with the youngest children, ages 5 to 7. She came prepared with art supplies and temporary tattoos, which were wildly popular. 

“Some of the little ones, you could just see in their faces; they were very frightened. We had to come up with icebreakers; we had to build their trust. By the end of the week, their expressions were different. They were smiling again,” Marsha said. 

Currently, Poland’s Special Purpose Law allows refugees to stay through spring 2025.

“Imagine how hard it is for these children. They are coming from a completely different alphabet – the  Cyrillic alphabet, totally different from Polish. The two languages sound similar when spoken, but they have nothing in common,” Marsha said. 

By the end of the week, most children in the camp could say a sentence in English. The middle-grade children, who are facing Polish high school entrance exams, made the most progress. Marsha got to know some of the teenagers and young adult volunteers, and people from her group still stay in touch on WhatsApp.

Marsha told the story of one young woman who traveled back to Ukraine over the summer to see family she had left behind.

“She went through the western border, and she safely made it in and out. She had to leave her entire family, and they are still there in the war zone,” she said. 

Marsha recalled asking one young woman how she was doing after coming to Poland. 

“She said, ‘I’m fine, don’t worry about me. I’m alive, and we are welcome here,’’ Marsha recalled in amazement. “That was all that mattered.” 

To learn more about Global Volunteers, go to globalvolunteers.org.