Untitled - Narodowe Centrum Kultury

tytuł artykułu 59
target groups / methods
We worked with a group of about 25 people
in workshops that included integration,
problem solving, instructor comment, practical
exercises and feedback.
funding
For three years the project was part-funded
by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation
and the Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”
as part of the Senior Citizens in Action programme
(www.seniorzywakcji.pl), partnered
by Emporia. It was partly funded through donations
for the benefit of the Society of Polish
Free University, Lublin, which submitted
and ran the project. We held classes in rooms
generously provided by the Provincial Cultural
Centre and Klonowic Elementary School.
The idea of the School for Supergrandmas and
Supergrandpas has proved successful but needs
popularising. Like any other team effort, the School needs
an animator/facilitator who will offer encouragement,
search for allies, make plans, find funding and a room.
Most importantly, however, she will create a friendly and
trusting atmosphere, integrate and divide responsibilities,
select experts familiar with workshop methodology
and participate in the workshops along with the group,
learning how to be a Supergrandma (now or in the future).
Photo: Jan Brykczyński/Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”
challenges
It was a challenge to overcome the stereotype
that “grandmothers don’t need to learn
anything because they have raised their own
children”. Press coverage helped. The good
word spread. Now, as we are entering the
fourth year of the project, we already have
a waiting list. Happy participants are the
best advertisement. In each instalment of the
project we had one grandpa.
Dr. Zofia Zaorska
who created the project, is a retired
employee of the Institute of Pedagogy
of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University,
Lublin, gerontologist and long-time
director of the Lublin University of the
Third Age, the author of the book Dodać
życia do lat, trainer with the KLANZA
Association of Educators and Culture
Animators, and a grandmother to three
grandchildren. She is a member of the
Executive Board of the Society of Polish
Free University (TWWP, Lublin Branch),
which submitted the project to the
Senior Citizens in Action programme,
run by the Association of Creative Initiatives
“ę”. Many sessions were led by
trainers from the KLANZA Association
of Educators and Culture Animators,
who are familiar with workshop methodology.
For the past twenty-six years
TWWP Lublin has been running the
University of the Third Age, which currently
has about 800 students in Lublin
and about 1000 more in 12 branches
throughout the region.
Society of Polish Free University, Lublin Branch
(Towarzystwo Wolnej Wszechnicy Polskiej,
Oddział w Lublinie)
Lublin Province
ul. I Armii WP 3/24, 20-078 Lublin
zzaorska@wp.pl
www.superbabcia.org.pl