“With tenderness about Poland – because everyone needs to feel at home.”
A Few Words from the Heart
This is the first entry on my blog. I start with something I have had in me for years – the need to talk about Poland in a calm, deep and understandable way. Not from the position of an expert behind a desk, but a person who observes and listens. A person who wants to build bridges – between visitors and residents, between facts and emotions, between the past and the future.
For months I have been carrying a question in me: how to talk about Poland to people who have never been here, or are here for the first time – often not by choice, but by necessity?
And today I am starting to look for the answer – together with you.
Migration: a personal and political topic
Migration is no longer a phenomenon “out there”. Today, it happens here, next to us, in our apartment building, tram, classroom, workplace.
Poland has become a country to which we come – not only one from which we leave. This is a huge change. But instead of talking about it calmly, with empathy and knowledge, we too often allow the topic of migration to be used for political purposes. We talk about numbers, not people. About “threat”, not about coexistence.
Meanwhile, behind every migration there is a story. A dream. Escape. Hope. Or simply: the desire for a decent life.
The facts speak for themselves
At the end of 2024, there were over 2.5 million foreigners legally residing in Poland. The largest groups are:
- Ukrainians – over 1.1 million
- Belarusians – approx. 150 thousand
- Georgians, Indians, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Nepalese – dynamically growing minorities
- More and more foreigners come from Asia and Africa
- The largest number of migrants live in Warsaw, Krakow, Wrocław, Poznań and the Tri-City. In the capital, every tenth resident has foreign origins.
Most people come to work – legally, with documents. But in addition to work, they face Polish bureaucracy, language, pace of life, communication style. They are often left alone with this. Sometimes they try to integrate, but they don’t know how. Sometimes they don’t try – because they are afraid.
And we, Poles? We also often don’t know what to do about it. And we don’t have the tools.
What are we missing? Education, empathy, conversation
We don’t need great ideologies, just… tenderness and order. A common space where people can ask: How does it work? Why do they say that? What does it mean to “do something in Polish”?
We need a new language about migration – based on facts, but full of humanity.
One that does not idealize or demonize anyone. One that allows us to understand another person without losing ourselves.
My answer: create a space of understanding
That’s why I’m starting this project. The website agnieszkazmijko.pl will feature:
- short cultural courses about Poland,
- free downloadable materials,
- videos, podcasts and stories,
- offer for companies, families and institutions,
It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being human.
In closing – an invitation to a conversation
If you are a foreigner – what was the most difficult thing for you after coming to Poland?
If you are Polish – what surprised you in contact with someone from another country?
I collect these stories. I create a space for education and mutual understanding from them.
If you have an idea, a question or want to share something – write to me.
“Poland is not just a country. It is an experience that can be described, understood and sometimes – loved.”
Thank you for being here. This is just the beginning.