Learn the stories of Ukrainian refugee women told by Polish sisters and help support the Home of Independent Mums from Ukraine.
A group of exceptional Polish women told true stories of Ukrainian refugees in 13 short spots produced by the Open Dialogue Foundation. The videos are an acute reminder that such a fate could have befallen any one of us — if only we had been born a few hundred kilometres away, and if our home had not been Warsaw or Częstochowa, but Bucza, Kyiv or Mariupol.
The goal of the #DomMam campaign is to raise one million zlotys to support the maintenance and expansion of the Homes for Independent Mums from Ukraine. The idea is that these will be communities helping women fleeing war to start a new, independent life in Poland. Well-known and popular Polish actresses, singers and journalists took part in the campaign: Anna Dereszowska, Joanna Moro, Barbara Kurdej-Szatan, Sarsa, Zofia Wichłacz, Magda Boczarska, Karolina Korwin Piotrkowska, Joanna Jabłczyńska, Marika, Natalia Przybysz, Reni Jusis and Magda Schejbal, as well as the icon of the Warsaw Uprising – Wanda Traczyk-Stawska.
The participants of the campaign played the roles of refugee women from Ukraine and told their real, dramatic stories — about hiding a child under a sofa during bombings, a Russian rocket launcher aimed at the heroine’s block, or the exhausting, several-day evacuation from Ukraine with a 6-month-old baby. Many of these stories were collected at Warsaw railway stations and other aid stations by the volunteers of the Open Dialogue Foundation, which took the Homes for Independent Mums from Ukraine under its wing.
Since the outbreak of war, two such houses have already been set up, sheltering a total of 30 people, including 11 mothers, 3 grandmothers and 16 children. Their aim is to help women fleeing war to start a new, independent life in Poland and to build a community that will support each other. The residents are provided with shelter, food and basic hygiene products, as well as the support of therapists, a sense of togetherness and understanding for others. Children have access to education, including language courses, and mothers are helped by Foundation volunteers to find permanent jobs. The residents of each Home also form supportive communities — each resident is involved in caring for members of other families and for the common space as part of their duties, such as cleaning, preparing meals or looking after the children. Of course, no one is left on their own — the Houses can count on the support of the Foundation’s volunteers and the caretaker of the Homes for Independent Mums from Ukraine — social activist and co-founder of the “Protestea” street movement, which distributes tea during anti-government protests — Agata Dziopa.
The Foundation wants to help in the long term, not just in the spur of the moment. Despite the heroic resistance put up by Ukraine, the war is still going on and the wave of rush to help is subsiding. To raise one million PLN, with the support of a group of filmmakers and production houses and well-known Polish women, the Foundation produced the #DomMam social campaign. This amount will ensure the functioning of two already open Homes for Independent Mums and the creation of others, capable of providing shelter for a period of one year to a total of 120 people — women with children, with experiences close to the dramatic stories told in the campaign by Polish celebrities.
More about the project and the campaign: http://www.dommam.pl/
All videos can also be viewed on our YouTube channel
Organiser of the action: Open Dialogue Foundation
Campaign participants: Magdalena Boczarska, Anna Dereszowska, Joanna Jabłczyńska, Reni Jusis, Karolina Korwin-Piotrowska, Barbara Kurdej-Szatan, Marika (Marta Kosakowska), Joanna Moro, Natalia Przybysz, Sarsa, Magdalena Schejbal, Wanda Traczyk-Stawska, Zofia Wichłacz
Partners: Warsaw Production Team, Pin Up Studio, Lunapark, Studio Głośno
Screenplay: Sylwia Serdak, Katarzyna Rosół
Project coordinators: Katarzyna Szczypska, Sylwia Serdak
Volunteers of the Foundation: Anna Kulesza, Aleksandra Supranowicz
Production house: Warsaw Production Team sp. z o.o.
Directed by: Tymon Nogalski and Dawid Misiorny (Hart Warsaw)
Cinematographer: Maciej Dydyński
Producer: Sławek Richert, Michał Zamencki (WPT)
Production Manager: Sara Wawrzczyk (WPT)
Production Assistant: Franek Kostrzewa (WPT)
Production sound mixer: Mariusz Bielecki, Mikołaj Tyrakowski
Lighting: Mateusz Skraba, Wojciech Kacprzak (Pin Up Studio)
Make-up/Hair: Anna Słowińska, Natalia Brzęczykowska, Aleksandra Kaczka, Karolina Ryciak
Photographers: Marta Miklińska, Mateusz Szost, Jakub Kaszewiak
Editing/online: Bogna Kowalczyk (WPT)
Colour correction: Anastasia Dziadyk (Lunapark)
Sound production: Darek Podhajski (Głośno)
Co-production support:
Pin Up Studio: Paweł Hoffman, Jakub Rokicki, Ola Dzięciołowicz, Emma Bonja
Lunapark: Magdalen Miszczak,
Studio Głośno: Anna Bileńska, Julia Niebielska
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