Seminar held on International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty provided an opportunity for various social and public services as well as non-governmental organisations to meet together at the seminar organised in cooperation by the Local Social Welfare Centre in Kowala, Association for Supporting the Local Activity Centre CAL and the Kowala Commune Office. The subject of the meeting "Be successful in the Local Social Welfare Centre through Organising Local Community in action. Changing attitude to poverty" gathered institutional workers from the entire Radom municipality and many others. Participants included representatives from the Warsaw institutions and guests from Ukraine.

The seminar itself was to show actions conducted in partnerships on the territory of the community. Block I, a theoretical block, was organised in the Public Secondary School in Parznice. Block II, a workshop block, was held in Kowala, in the rooms of the Commune Office, the Municipal Library, the "Szansa" common room and the Public Primary School in Kowala.

Good practices related to the model of work with the local environment were presented by the managers: The Local Social Welfare Centre in Kowala, the Local Social Welfare Centre in Michałowice - Iwona Radzimirska and the Municipal Social Welfare Centre in Pionki - Jolanta Michajluk. A short speech about the Organising Local Community was given by Paweł Jordan, an originator of the project: "Building and developing social welfare and integration standards." Also local government representatives from Ukraine, who were invited to Kowala and participated actively in the event, were given some time to speak. Workshops were held in four groups. The seminar's participants could learn about: voluntary work with a specific group, work on a specific territory, establishing cooperation/partnership and voluntary work in a countryside.

A concert given by Andżelika Kwiecień and Dariusz Bernatka was also an exceptional experience. The female singer impressed the audience with her gentle performance. When Dariusz Bernatek sang: "kwiaty we włosach potargał wiatr..." you could feel rays of sun, sea wind and the smell of flowers brought by familiar, close hands. Another song by Czesław Niemen „Dziwny jest ten świat” in fact suddenly stopped the world around us and fortunately the lyrics brought a phrase which was like a promise for all of us, that "the people of good will are in the majority". Some participants of the seminar wore small dolls made of thread. These were the lovely presents made by children in Ukraine and given to the participants by the guests from Ukraine. It was a special day spent with special people. Sometimes an ordinary meeting of ordinary people turns into a warm celebration. The visit paid by our guests from Ukraine was one of those meetings. We experienced spontaneity, openness, curiosity typical for children, words without barriers, eyes full of joy, a desire to know and to learn and, finally, regret that everything has its end.

The motto of the seminar was the text by Paulo Coelho "The measure of human dignity is not a crowd surrounding use when we are at the top, but the memory of those who gave us a helping hand when it was most needed". May all the social workers be such a helping hand for those in the greatest need.