Polish and refugees from different countries met on 12 September 2026 in the Lublin Baobab initiative "Women Together". Participants talked about discrimination and shared pierogi. The task is financed by the European Commission. For Poland the stake is clear: integration is to build a community around our laws and customs, not make parallel worlds.
Conversation at a Common Table
As reported Polish Radio Lublin, gathering under the motto “Women Together” gathered Polish residents surviving in Lublin and refugees from various countries. Agnieszka Warzarska, the task coordinator, explained that the goal was to make a place for women with different experiences and origins to talk. Participants besides learned to admit discrimination and respond erstwhile the law is broken.
A applicable part of the gathering was the “Pierogów świat at 1 table”, jointly run by a Polish and Ukrainian volunteer. Małgorzata Milanowska of the Civic Activity Foundation pointed out that anti-discrimination can start with average conversation and joint cooking. That's a reasonable starting point. Without direct contact, common distrust and simplification can easy grow.
Integration does not mean giving up Polish rules
Good integration has a circumstantial direction. The individual who binds his life to Poland should learn the language, law, culture and obligations in our country. The host has the right to anticipate respect for his own rules. A guest or a fresh resident has the right to treat him or her equally. This balance serves everyone.
That is why meetings at the table may be of greater value than authoritative slogans. The joint sticking of dumplings is embedded in life, locality and reciprocity. However, it does not exempt the authorities from a liable migration policy. Border dispute and migration rules concerns the safety of the full country, while local integration includes people who already live in the Polish city. These 2 orders must not be confused.
EU backing needs transparency
The initiative is part of the task “The Power of Women! Together we live, we act together” whose goal is to include migrants, refugees and repartarians in the social life of Lublin. According to the organizers, the task is financed by the European Commission under the Equal Rights Programme, implemented by the CERV programme "Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values". The origin does not give the amount of support.
Public and EU money requires full transparency: who receives it, what actions it spends on and what measurable results it is. The language of good-sounding slogans is not enough. Poles have the right to know whether funded programs aid to learn autonomy, rights and work for the community, or become a tool for imposing ready-made ideological schemes.
The Community must have a foundation
Lublin already knows initiatives aimed at Ukrainian community and discussion about Polish reason of state during specified events it remains necessary. Kindness toward the visitor is not contrary to same - care. On the contrary, only a community conscious of its principles can accept others without fear and without blurring itself.
The gathering in Baobab is worth judging by fruits. If it leads to cognition of Polish law, language and customs, it strengthens local ties. If it comes down to the EU's fresh language, it'll miss the target. Poland needs to integrate a demanding, fair and rooted host culture.
Source: Polish Radio Lublin
Source: Polish Radio Lublin
