![PAY IT FORWARD - Amelia and Wowa]()
PAY IT FORWARD - Amelia and Wowa
What they miss most is home, Ukrainian bread and their family. Two years after the outbreak of the full scale Russian invasion, they created a substitute home in Konin, with a garden, flowers, herbs and even fruit growing in pots on the windowsill. All of this could happen thanks to help from Doctor Piotr Janaszek’s PAY IT FORWARD Foundation They are an incredibly active and inseparable couple. They help others, work, organize trips abroad for children from Ukraine, make delicious dumplings, and their home is always open to others. They are extremely generous, hospitable and friendly. It becomes immediately obvious that wherever they are and in any circumstances, they will be carried away by... love. It’s an amazing marriage of Amelia and Wowka.
Two elements
You can already smell the delicious food on the threshold of their house. In her tiny kitchen, Amelia is the queen and conjures up delicious Ukrainian dishes. Dumplings of many types and flavours, pierogi, pancakes with various fillings, liver cake, or ordinary cabbage with potato dumplings, but the taste of which we remember from childhood. And what muffins and cakes she bakes… Ummmmmm delicious. Amelia is a beautiful, long-haired woman with dark, kind eyes, a young, smart and very understanding. Amelia's Armenian roots make her live by principles and she is very proud of it, although sometimes these principles even hinder her in life. She has such positive energy and so much of it that if she could walk, she would probably fly . Wowa is funny, has a very positive attitude to life, helpful and incredibly composed. He has a lot of distance towards himself and loves driving. His Polish roots make Wowa feel at home in both Ukraine and Poland.
They met in a sanatorium. And because they were 800 km apart, they were writing very looong letters to each other. They are both disabled - Amelia due to a stroke, and Wowka, as a 17-year-old, jumped headfirst into the water. And since they both use wheelchairs, their parents decided to take care of them. That's why Amelia and Wowa, right after the wedding, bought an old house in Baraniwka, at a safe distance from their parents - 800 km away and renovated it in their own way. They had a beautiful garden full of fruit and vegetables, Wowka was running a small family business and there was no indication that their entire life would soon collapse. They will remember the day the full scale war broke out in Ukraine for the rest of their lives. The first bomb alarm, and they were both in wheelchairs and far from any shelter. It happened for the second and third time. After the fourth time they were on their way to Poland.
- My friend from Poznan - Sebastian, helped us escape from this hell. He contacted us with the PAY IT FORWARD Foundation and we have been here for two years, although when we left Ukraine we thought we were leaving for three months only, maybe half a year. Thanks to the Foundation, we really have everything: peace, a sense of security, care, work, friends, we are professionally fulfilled and we develop incredibly. Although one day we will return to Ukraine, no one will ever take away the Foundation from our hearts, which helped us in the most difficult time for us. There are still people with big hearts in the world- says Wowka and cannot hide his emotion.
New life for breakfast
There is no Ukrainian in Konin who does not know Wowka. He works at the Konin City Hall and helps all Ukrainians to settle in this city. Wowa knows the problems of disabled people like no one else, so working with the PAY IT FORWARD Foundation, it helps disabled people from Ukraine in finding their way in the new reality. He's a man of many talents. Of course, he is supported in everything by Amelia, who, apart from taking care of the house, also runs a community center for Ukrainian children. They both became very involved in the tripartite Polish-Ukrainian-French project and thanks to their involvement, the children went on vacation to Poland and France. When they manage to find some free time, they travel. There is probably no country in Europe where they have not been. They usually travel in their reliable, old Peugeot, which has been through many things but always brings them safely to their destination.
They are doing well in Konin. They have a job, friends, they feel safe. After a long, dangerous journey from Ukraine to Poland, Wowa remembers his first breakfast the most.
- Hot, fragrant coffee with milk, fresh bread, cheese and sausages - I will never forget that taste. It was as if someone had offered us a new life - recalls Wowka.
And although they feel good here, there is not a moment during the day when they do not think about their loved ones left behind in Ukraine.
- We miss our parents, siblings and friends. We are worried about them. My parents live near Kiev, and my sister lives in Kiev. Since the beginning of the war, we have been trying to convince them to move to our house because it is more peaceful there, but they do not want to. My grandparents are from Armenia and when they left their beloved Armenia many years ago to go to Ukraine for a better life, they said they would never run away anywhere again. They are Armenian stubborn. We help them as much as we can by sending medicines and money, but we realize that what they need most is a complete family. For Wowa it is easier because his heart is half Polish. I miss everything I left in Ukraine: home, the smell of fresh bread, everyday life without war. That's where I left my heart and soul, says Amelia and her voice is breaking.
Even though they miss Ukraine, they both agree that they learned a lot in Poland and owe a lot to it. For them, the war turned out to be a great test of strength, faith in God, perseverance and persistence in love, despite everything.
I have known them for two years, we are friends, we have done a lot together for Ukraine, I have eaten many dumplings with them, I have experienced many emotions, laughter, and I know that Amelia and Wowa, wherever they are, in any circumstances, will always be carried by LOVE and they will be able to build a HOUSE anywhere.
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