PROJECT 7 - ECOLOGICAL PROJECT IN PERU

  From 21 June 2010, for one month, I am going to perform an individual ecological project on the territory of the Peruvian Amazon. The purpose of the action is to increase the awareness of the locals about the hazards of polluting water environment during the ferry travels along the Amazon river and its basin. For that purpose I prepared 500 pieces of stickers of A5 size, and with the permission of the ferry owners, I want to fix them on the operating ferries. At the same time I want to convince the authorities of Pucallpy, Yurimaguas and Iquitos to organise facilities to collect garbage from the ferries arriving to the ports.


The design of the sticker was made in cooperation with Rafal Szenrok, the president of the Board of Morski Studio Graficzne - www.morski.pl. The text on the sticker was translated from Polish by Ania Matuszynska - www.linguarium.pl.

Rubbish in the Amazon River

I am going to place the stickers on such ferries.

PROJECT 6 - CAJAS NATIONAL PARK - ECUADOR

 PROJECT IN THE CAJAS NATIONAL PARK IN ECUADOR

 In May 2008, when I travelled with my friends in Ecuador, we visited the Cajas National Park, located 30 km from Cunca. During this visit we got lost twice, although we had a map which we received when we entered the Park territory. Then I decided to go back to Ecuador and to propose to the National Park authorities that I would mark the trails according to the maps, as it is practiced in Polish national parks. In April 2009 I went to Ecuador specially for this purpose and informed the Cajas National Park authorities about my intention to carry out the project. The purpose of the project was to increase safety and assist visitors to move around the Park, which was infamous for tourists getting lost there. After two weeks’ of considerations and after another 6 people got lost there, the Park authorities gave me consent for the execution of my project. In the middle of August, together with Mikel Carabano, who was a volunteer from the USA staying there on a two-year contract of Peace Corps, we started to mark the trail on the distance of 57 kilometres, according to the colour coding of the official National Park map. Mikel, using a GPS and a map, indicated the direction of the trail, and I painted the marks on rocks. After we completed the work, I bought special impregnated wood and several meters of metal pipes, from which I made boards informing about the start of each route, its duration, difficulties and destination. To make the information boards, I received help of the staff of the woodworking workshop of the National Parks. We placed in total 21 such boards on the territory of the National Park. The project was completed during six weeks. Finally, I also paid for the material to construct a bus stop shelter to be constructed in the centre of the Par. The shelter was made by the Park staff and now it protects tourists and National Park employees in case of frequent rains. I paid for the project from my money. Furthermore, following my suggestion, the Park authorities published a new map of the Cajas National Park in January 2010. It will help to increase safety for tourists visiting the area.



VISIT TO P.N. Cajas After 14 months - July 2010r







PROJECT 5 -IN SOLIDARITY WITH TIBET

  The project entitled „IN SOLIDARITY WITH TIBET” was created under the influence of tragic events in March 2008, when the Chinese authorities committed acts of atrocity against monks and inhabitants of Tibet, the country being under Chinese occupation for several decades.

I did not want to be indifferent to such dramatic events and I decided to make orange ribbons (this colour is of particular importance in Buddhism) and distribute them to drivers and passers-by in the streets of Poznañ. I bought 2 kilometres of such a ribbon and after many hours of work I prepared 2000 pieces of ribbon strips. On Tuesday 8 April 2008, with a group of several friends, we stated to distribute them in the streets adjacent to the central square of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznan. The action of ribbon distribution and fixing them on the aerials of cars (which sopped at the traffic lights) went extremely efficient. After three hours, 2000 drivers agreed for placing orange ribbons on their cars and thus they joined the action IN SOLIDARITY WITH TIBET. Additionally I bought 500 stickers with the Tibet flag, which I also distributed to drivers so that they could place the stickers on their cars.

An Association “Lepszy ¦wiat” (The Better World) learned about this action and proposed cooperation: a repetition of this action in Poznan and its organisation in Warsaw in front of the Chinese Embassy on the day of opening the Olympic Games on 8 August 2008. This time I bought 3 kilometres of the orange ribbon, and together with volunteers from the Association we made 4000 ribbon strips. Additionally I bought a big stretch of fabric, on which my friend Rafa³ Wykrota made an inscription IN SOLIDARITY WITH TIBET.

For the duration of the Olympic Games in Beijing, the banner was placed (with a permission of the city authorities) in the central place of Poznañ, on the Adam Mickiewicz square, next to the monument of Poznañ June 1965 workers’ uprising, symbolising the fight of the Polish people for the human rights, freedom and truth. The Tibetan flag was placed on the Adam Mickiewicz monument standing next to it.

Additionally, on several bridges passing over the main roads leading to Poznañ, I placed a slogan FREE TIBET (I rented a special crane specially for that purpose).

Mass media got very much interested in the project, since it was the greatest action in the country, which was organised under the title “Polish People IN SOLIDARITY WITH TIBET”!







PROJECT 3 - KAZIMIERZ NOWAK


 The idea of the project occurred when I was reading a book entitled „Across the Dark Continent by Bicycle and on Foot” [“Rowerem i pieszo przez Czarny L±d”] written by Kazimierz Nowak. The book was edited by £ukasz Wierzbicki and published by Sorus Publishing House, initially in the edition of 500 copies (the first edition). I was deeply impressed with the story of Kazimierz Nowak, a great traveller, who in 1931-1936 as the first man in the world who crossed on his own the African continent on the distance of 40.000 km. I decided that this achievement of this extraordinary traveller should be honoured with a memorable symbol. I thought of a commemorative plaque to be placed at the Poznañ railway station, from where Kazimierz Nowak started his 5-year journey. I received permission for my project from the railway station management. Thanks to the spiritual support of my friends Anna Golebniek, Anna Plygawko, Rafal Wykrota, as well as thanks to active cooperation with £ukasz Wierzbicki, the metal plaque (size 2 m x 1.5 m) in the shape of the African continent and with the route of Kazimierz Nowak marked on it finally was hung on the wall of the Municipal Railway Station in Poznañ. The honourable guest of the opening ceremony was Ryszard Kapu¶ciñki, a world known writer and expert in African matters. From this moment, the achievements of Kazimierz Nowak have been finally appreciated after many decades. Following the story of Kazimierz Nowak, £ukasz Wierzbicki wrote a book for children entitled “Kazik’s Africa”. Many radio stations (e.g. Radio Merkury, Polish Radio 1, Polish Radio 3) broadcasted programmes about this great traveller, and articles about Kazimierz Nowak and his fascinating trip were published in various journals and periodicals, including G³os Wielkopolski, Gazeta Wyborcza, Newsweek, Przekrój, Polityka. The new edition of „Across the Dark Continent by Bicycle and on Foot” was sold in the number of several thousand copies. In 2009, a Sports Post-Secondary School in Poznañ adopted Kazimierz Nowak as their patron. In November 2009, a relay expedition across Africa started, with the intention to cover 40.000 km of Kazimierz Nowak’s route. Among the participants there are famous travellers, photographers, scientists and enthusiasts. This project is planned to finish in 20100. More information about the project is available at www.kazimierznowak.pl (also in foreign languages) and at www.afrykanowaka.pl. The silhouette of the plaque devoted to Kazimierz Nowak is placed in Puszczykowo, in the museum of Arkady Fiedler another famous Polish traveller.







PROJECT 2  

  From the rich collection of photographs taken in Africa, I selected 80 images showing the inhabitants of the continent. I arranged them into an exhibition entitled “Faces of Africa”. My main target to prepare the exhibition was to show the beauty, difference, as well as the difficulties of daily life experienced by the people of the Dark Continent. The exhibition was shown in various schools, culture centres and clubs. During the annual meeting of travellers in Szczyrk, I was awarded a distinction for it Here you can view 30 out of 80 photographs selected for the exhibition.



PROJECT 1

  In 2005, together with Marek Lechki, I made a two-month trip by 4x4 car across six North African countries. During this trip we made over 18.000 km and I took several thousand pictures. From this rich collection Marek selected 500 photographs and created a one-hour multi-media presentation, which was finally transformed into a 35-minut show addressed to schools, cultural centres and other educational institutions.

In the same year, I started my first volunteer project, which was arranging presentations of this show. The purpose of the presentations made for primary and secondary schools, as well as university students, was to familiarize the audience with the unknown images of Africa and its inhabitants. The main idea of the meetings was “to open oneself to the Other”. Ryszard Kapu¶cinski wrote about that in his book entitled “The Other”. I believe that a deep understanding of “the Other” would translate into greater tolerance and openness to other people’s needs and problems. During picture presentations, young people could also see authentic handicraft artefacts which I brought from my trip to Africa.

In total, I organised more than dozen meetings with hundreds of young people, including meetings in the centre for children with seeing and hearing disabilities.