This diary is a collaboration submitted by Tina, Niamh, Ben, Mia & Connor and their chaperone, Kamila Rybicka.
Diary Entry - Days 1 & 2
Our three flights to Berlin from Halifax, Detroit and Amsterdam were completely full but all on time. We had no problems at all in Dutch customs apart from the hour and a half line up to get through! The bus ride from Tegel Airport in Berlin to the Main Railway Station, which was near to our hotel so we could walk to catch the train the next morning, took about 20 minutes.
Our hotel rooms were ready and available early so it was great that we could shower and freshen up - as not much sleep took place on the plane - and then we had our first lunch in a German restaurant!
After lunch Kamila had to make a change of plan as the city centre was blocked off to traffic for a cycle race, at the time we wanted to take the tour bus, and so we first walked to Brandeburg Gate and then Kamila took us to the Reichstag and then to the incredible Holocaust Memorial. After that we walked through the main tourist areas, including Friedrichstrasse, where Kamila invited us boys into the Bentley dealership to look at the cars! From there we walked to the River Spree and took a 90 minute boat cruise through the city - Berlin has more bridges than Venice - and the weather was glorious - sunny and hot.
After that we were all exhausted and so we took the subway back to the hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and went to our rooms at about 8pm to get a good night's sleep as we have to leave the hotel tomorrow morning at 6am to walk across to the station to catch the Warsaw Express to Poland... where our work begins.
Diary Entry – Day 3
Today we had a very busy day. It started off by us kids "not" getting up in the morning on time. AHH!! We all took alarm clocks but we didn't hear them.....We were all so tired and jet lagged that it was hard to wake up!!! But when we heard Kamila banging on our doors that soon woke us:-)
We made it to the train with ten minutes to spare and the train ride was perfect. Most of us had some sleep, played cards, chatted and watched the world go by.
When we arrived in Warsaw we were met by Agata, our second chaperone who drove us in our van to the IBIS hotel. We rested for a while and then we went to the Old Town for a Polish-style lunch. Then we walked around the beautiful streets of the Old Town and then went on the Royal Route to see the Grand Theatre and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as well as the Warsaw University and its amazing library :-) Then we walked to the town center and took a tram ride to the hotel - that was great fun. Afterwards we drove around to see more interesting places and then went for a Polish - style dinner at the Old Town where we also were introduced to Patrcyja, the manager of the Children's Foundation. It was really nice. At the end we saw the symbol of Warsaw - Syrena - the Mermaid. It was really cool.
We love the architecture and history which we find in Warsaw. The city is so different from any other that we've seen before. While having an ice cream we met a couple of women from USA and Ireland who were doing some charity work... that was very interesting to chat to them.
This was our last day before our work starts tomorrow. We are first going to the Foundation's office in the morning (and promise to get up with the alarm clocks this time) to pack the gifts for the children and load the second van and then we are going to the Museum of WWII and the Warsaw Uprising. We cannot wait for that and we are excited for all the days ahead that we are going to spend on the road, visiting the sick children in Poland!
Diary Entry – Day 4
Today the weather changed again and it was sunny and very warm. After breakfast we started off by going to the office to pack the presents. There were quite a lot of gifts to pack, but as so many of them were too big to load them all into our vans, these ones had been sent directly to our hotel in Gdansk by courier where we will pack them there and deliver them to the children who we are visiting in that area.
At the office, we also went through the albums of the 1,000 + wishes that the Foundation has granted to terminally-ill children during the past 5 years - it was quite emotional to see. We also met 2 great people, one from the USA and one from Holland who support and help Kamila's Foundation in Poland and who wanted to meet us to wish us well. Both of them were previously involved as volunteers with Wish Foundations in their respective countries and when they moved to Poland with their work they fell in love with the Polish Foundation and help out as much as they can. Kamila's Foundation in Poland is called Fundacja Dziecieca Fantazja (Children's Fantasies Fulfilled) and by the time we get home we hope to be able to pronounce it!
Afterwards we went for lunch which was absolutely delicious - we ate everything! It was fresh and very Polish and very tasty home-made food. On the way we stopped at a children's playground - we just had to stop and try it out - we've never seen such a playground before! Amazing:-) Then we went back to the hotel and then found out that they had closed the museum of WWII for the afternoon - apparently it's the sort of thing you get used to in Poland - and so the schedule was re-arranged so that we are going there at 8am in the morning before we set out on our journey to visit the children.
So instead of the museum this afternoon we saw the rest of the sights and then went to the shopping mall which was an amazing experience, because it is HUGE, newly built and the 3rd biggest in the whole of Europe! We spent a couple of hours there before we were introduced to Polish McDonalds! That was also a different experience - MacDonalds in Poland is far, far better than in Canada - its unbelievable. The food here is amazing and not an overweight person in sight!
Now it is time to go to bed much earlier than planned as we must be up at 6am (we were all up on time this morning) for breakfast and then to get to the WWII Museum for 8am. After that we have to travel to visit the first of our three children. One of them Lukasz, it's his birthday as well - and so on the way we're picking up a cake and balloons for him. It's Lukasz’s 17th birthday and he has spinal muscular atrophy and only weighs 30lb!
So tomorrow we start our real work, we travel 380km, meet the children in their homes and see it all first hand - and so it won't be until very, very late when we get to our hotel in Bydgoszcz.
You should wish you were here - it is amazing. (How many times have we said that!)
Diary Entry – Day 5
We've had a busy day and because of the weather we could not drive quickly - it was raining all day, but it was warm and it really didn't matter as we were in the van for most of the day.
First, after an early breakfast, we went to the museum of WWII and the Warsaw Uprising. It was going to be open at 8 am, but, in true Polish fashion they finally opened the doors at 9 am (!) - Poland, eh? The museum was incredible, we've never seen anything like it. Then we drove towards Bydgoszcz. It wasn't a difficult drive, but we had to pass on visiting Karolina on the way out as Kamila was still waiting for the confirmation from the Foundation's office when all the bedroom furniture will be delivered. So Agata will arrange this one on the way back.
So first we saw Zbyszek (8) who has Cystic Fibrosis. He was such a sweety and lived in a very, very poor house. They only had one room between 5 of them (parents, two sisters and him) and next door there was another room with their grandmother and their sick grandfather (stroke). It was disturbing to see how these people live - they all sleep, eat, work, study in one room! There is no real kitchen either and in one of the photos we've attached you can see the tv area, the dining area and the bunk beds together - that's basically it! They were very sweet, nice and kind. They prepared and baked special cakes for us (we were really brave and tried them all although we didn't really liked them that much - and of course, we drank a lot of tea!). Zbyszek got a lot of dinosaur stuff (toys, stickers, books, films) - he loves dinos and of course a battery operated car, which took us 3 hours to put together!!! Zbyszek was very patient and very nice. He was so happy and his parents say they could never afford to buy him anything like that and his mom was crying quietly - she was so emotional saying that so many nice, young people had come to visit her son. It was raining so Zbyszek couldn't really go outside with his super-car, but he was happy.
Next we drove to Bydgoszcz for dinner and then we went to visit Lukasz (17) who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Lukasz is the most inspiring boy on the planet. Despite his condition, the way he looks and his life - he is full of optimism and really happy with life. He has a loving family who would like to do everything for him. He is a special, extraordinary boy. We talked about school, our hobbies, our lives and he told us about his. Then Lukasz showed us his photos and at the end signed one of his stories for us. Now we have it (in Polish) with the autograph of the author - that was very special! We spent about two hours with Lukasz and it was hard for us to say good bye. We brought Lukasz lots of balloons, a birthday cake (and we sang happy birthday in Polish) and we gave him some birthday gifts. But the best gift for Lukasz was our visit... he is very lonely, he can't go to school, never goes outside of the small one room apartment and all his days are the same and so it was so nice for us to visit him.
So we finally got to our hotel just before midnight and tomorrow will be another long, hard day.
Diary Entry – Day 6
Today was really hot and humid. We started off early and after breakfast we went to see Natalia who is 18 and fights her battle against leukemia. For the last 10 months she has been in hospital in a separate room by herself and she has been home for only one week. We brought her a lot of beautiful clothes and accessories as well as a voucher for shoes which she can choose herself. She and her mom were really sweet and her mom baked a wonderful cake especially for us!
Then we drove to see Klaudia who is 7 and suffers from muscular dystrophy. She can still walk but soon she will be permanently in a wheelchair. It was so sad to see. They have no bathroom (just a little wooden shack outside as a toilet and in it there was in a bowl to wash in) and so Klaudia's wish is to have a bathroom. All the equipment is on its way to her and so we could show her photos of what she would be getting but of course we also brought her lots and lots of toys and books.
Then we visited Malbork Castle – one of the biggest in the world. It was incredible! We also had dinner there in a Gothic room - it was really cool.
Then we rushed and drove in the evening to Gdansk to visit Patryk who is 17 and struggling from cancer. He is in a very bad condition and he is in a lot of pain and he had been taken to hospital and so that's where we went. His cancer has spread throughout his body and so there is no hope for him. Because he knew were coming to see him he decided not to take his morphine so that he could be more alert and talkative to us. But his doctor said that only 4 could go in to visit him, 2 of our kids, plus Agata from the Foundation and a photographer. This was totally understandable and so we decided amongst ourselves who would go in and Mia and Ben went in to see him. It was a really hard visit - we all met his mom (Patryk is the only child, a former "almost" professional soccer player). Patryk's wish was to have a laptop with internet and games - and when he saw his gift - he was the happiest boy on the planet! He absolutely loved it!!! As a thank you, Patryk and his mom prepared a special "thank you note" to his sponsors. It was a very, very emotional visit for us all.
Then we went to the hotel and for a wonderful evening walk (11pm) at the beach to reflect on our day - that was amazing and we HAD TO go into the water!!! All of us went in! :) The Hotel is very cool and big adventure for us - it's right on the beach!
We’re nearly half way through our amazing journey for a Lifetime. Tomorrow we have another busy day - we visit 2 children and then the hospital of Cystic Fibrosis children in Gdansk.
Diary Entry – Day 7
We had a very busy day today. After breakfast we wrapped the rest of the presents and then went to the Cystic Fibrosis hospital in Gdansk. We saw about 10 children and gave them toys, sweets, games and left many more presents for lots of other children in the hospital "common" room. We especially liked Patrycja who was about 12 and we sang "happy birthday" to her in Polish
Then after spending about half an hour in the shopping mall, we went to visit Amelia who is 5 and fights against leukemia. Amelia wanted to have "the Little Petshop" toys as well as a battery operated car. They live in a very poor apartment block in a very small flat. Amelia also has a younger brother. It took us about 2 hours to put the car together and while us boys were doing this the girls were helping Amelia with her toys - she really was very happy and smiling all the time. She couldn't wait for her vehicle and she was very excited - it was a really nice visit.
Afterwards we went for lunch (Polish Piegories) and for a walk in the old town of the beautiful city of Gdansk, which is 1000 years old. It was fantastic to see everything and all the people there. It was a little cold though and windy.
Next we picked up the dog from the train station which was brought there from Warsaw by Patrycja's sister. The little, tiny Yorkie puppy is so cute and it's for Karolina who we will be visiting tomorrow! So we travelled with him to the next house when we went to visit Iwona who is 14 and who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis. Iwona was a very nice, beautiful girl, full of energy and great spirit. Her dream was to have some new furniture for her room - she got a beautiful sofa bed, a desk and a chair. She was really happy and talkative. After a short time we noticed that she really had a crush on Ben! Iwona and her younger sister were giggling all the time and wanted to have a photo of Ben alone. It was really nice - "the Ben story". Iwona has a little puppy dog as well and her name is Tina. So it was obvious that Iwona wanted to have a photo with the two Tinas together. It was one of our favorite visits.
After that we went to eat supper in the mall and went back to the hotel - with the puppy in our room for the night!
Tomorrow we have a lot of driving to do and we will visit 3 children and so it's an early start again.
Diary Entry – Day 8
Today we've had a loooong day. The weather was really good - sun and cloud and warm. We left our friendly hotel/cabin in Gdansk just after breakfast and we drove to see Kacper - our first wish-child today. We are now traveling with one van from now on - with Agata and Kamila and the rest of the gifts - as there's enough room to carry the remaining presents.
Kacper is 9, he lives in a small flat in Gdansk and has cystic fibrosis. He wanted to have a bunk bed and a desk - and that's what he got! Kacper also got some games, books and toys to play with. He was really happy with his presents but also very shy.
Next we drove to visit Karolina who is 14 and lives in Wejherowo (about 50 km from Gdansk). She has been struggling for many years from brain, spinal and nervous system cancer. After several operations she is now in a wheelchair and some of her muscles are paralyzed and so she cannot speak clearly and her mobility is limited. Karolina's biggest dream was to have a puppy dog - the tiny Yorkie. It was a total surprise for her. At first we gave her a box with all the accessories like a little bed/playpen, a blanket, a brush, a bottle of shampoo and conditioner (!), a couple of bowls and of course some toys, a tiny-tiny collar with a leash. That was so cute. Karolina loved it but.... something was "missing" and suddenly a puppy appeared! Karolina screamed with happiness, she couldn't believe she was getting a real cute doggy that she dreamt about! Her mom was very emotional and Karolina was smiling the whole time! As she said in her letter to the Foundation - as she doesn't have many friends, now she will have a real friend, a friend who will give her an unconditional love and who she can tell her secrets to. Karolina named the puppy "Kubus" which means "Winnie" and let him explore her flat. In the meantime we had a lovely conversation with Karolina over tea and cookies about her life and about our school, hobbies and interests. Karolina has recently won a drawing contest - that was cool. She promised to draw her puppy and send it to us by email. It was a very special visit.
Then we drove and drove and drove..... for a long time - about 250 km to the next wish-child. We had lunch on the way in a nice restaurant by the road, called the "pond in the woods" and we really sat by the pond. Finally we reached our destination which was Adrian's flat.
Adrian from Gryfice near Szczecin is 4 and he fights a losing battle with cancer. It was a very emotional visit. He is so small and you can see all the suffering in his little tiny face. He spends 3 weeks out of every 4 in a hospital bed. His eyes lit up for a moment when we and his dad opened his new bike! He was very, very happy, but so shy and scared of everything and everyone that it was very sad to look at him. Adrian loved all his gifts.
We also brought him games, books, some toys and balloons - he loved them. Adrian's mom asked us not to be dressed in white or light colors as Adrian hates them and gets scared..it reminds him of doctors and surgeons. It was a very hard visit for us all - we left with our souls in our hands........
Then we drove to Szczecin for supper and checked into our hotel. Tomorrow we have three more wish-children - Nikola, Daniel and an additional boy - Micha? who is 15, and who lives about 40 km from Szczecin and struggles against malignant cancer, which has spread throughout his body very fast. Micha?'s fantasy is to have a bike and we've got one on board for him. His mom was very excited that so many young people will visit her son. Michal, because of his illness, needs contact with his peers. If we have some spare time, we will also try to go to the seaside and to the beach tomorrow - it is going to be a hot, sunny day, but like in Halifax - you never know what kind of weather you are going to get here at the seaside!
Diary Entry – Day 9
Our day, which started at 9 a.m. was supposed to be hot and sunny...and was the exact opposite: cloudy, windy and a little bit chilly. It didn't prevent us going to the sea at the end of the day, though, where Niamh and Connor even ended up in the water, stared at by all the Poles, for whom the water-warm for us - was really cold to them!
But let's start from the beginning. Nikola, our first wish-child, is a 3 year old girl struggling with brain cancer. It took us a while to get to the village of Police near Szczecin where the little girl lives, because our GPS turned mad and first led us to the middle of nowhere!
Finally we managed to find Nikola's home but on our way, we saw a second hand shop, in which a T-shirt with the words NOVA SCOTIA was hanging in the window! We had to stop and take a picture.
Nikola is a sweet smiling girl. Due to her brain tumor (she just went through her third surgery and has started a 7-week course of radiotherapy) she hardly walks and has problems with her eye coordination. It doesn't prevent her from being the sweetest girl and we brought new members to her family: a dancing, flashy and fluffy Teletubby, a very talkative Winnie the Pooh, a Teletubbies set for the bath, books and movies, and of course plenty of balloons and sweets.
Even though Nikola was a little bit shy with us at the beginning, she forgot we were even there when she started to open her presents! She immediately fell in love with the singing and dancing Teletubby. She actually wasn't the only one: Niamh had as much fun as Nikola playing with it and Nikola's mother finally told Niamh that she should definitely get one too.
It was really hard to look at Nikola and to think about everything that she's going through at her age, but at the same time her smile was so bright and her happiness so obvious, that she made our day. We spent an hour at Nikola's, but then she started to cuddle with her mum, who was by her side for the whole time. Nikola's nap time was really close, so we left, happy to see this elegant mademoiselle wave us a goodbye with her tiny hand.
Our second visit was in Stargard Sczecinski, about 50 km from Szczecin, where we visited Daniel, a 5 year old who's struggling with a Wilms tumor (the same disease Adrian suffers of). We brought Daniel some small race cars and the track and equipment to make them crash and Daniel forgot about the whole world for a while, entirely concentrating on his new toys.
He also wanted a small toy computer which we gave him but for the moment that wasn't as exciting for him as the cars - he is obviously a huge car lover. After spending some time with Daniel we said farewell and went to have a lunch in Stargard, because we were all starving.
We found a small pizza place, where we had some giant pizzas and an ocean of coke. The pizzas were great and we left the restaurant completely full, heading to Stepnica, where Michal lives, a 15 year old with cancer of the intestines. Michal just had his fifth surgery and is in a very, very bad condition. He actually wasn't on our wish list, but we got a call a few days ago, that he probably has only a few months left to live and so we couldn't not react to this tragic information. Michal, who loves motorbikes, sailing and fishing, was dreaming of a BMX bike (you know, the tiny bicycles with which you can jump and do all kind of acrobatics).
He got the bike and looked very happy (and he was really surprised by our visit - because no one in his family told him about it, even if it was really hard for them - because it's really hard to keep a secret in such a big family!). Unfortunately he won't be able to ride it straight away, because he's too weak after his surgery.
We are starting to get used to Polish hospitality and know that most of the time we are going to be offered tea and cake during our visits, but we really didn't expect such a gigantic cake with whipped cream. That was Michal's family surprise for us.
We had no other choice but to try this beautiful cake. At the same time we were deeply touched by the chocolate words written on it: "Thanks for fulfilling my dream". The most difficult thing of all was to eat the cake after the huge amount of pizza we had just had, but we had to... and it was delicious.
Before leaving, Michal decided to show us the closest beach where he used to go, because some of us really wanted to see the Polish sea again. The whole family jumped in our bus (we didn't know how many of us could fit in, but we got twelve in and it was real fun) and we went to the sea together. Once we were there, Connor and Niamh couldn't resist jumping in the water.
After taking some photos and chatting we drove Michal and his family back home, exchanged our e-mail addresses and left for Szczecin and headed....to a restaurant, who were expecting us for a pre-booked supper! It was a strange experience - we had been eating so much today that it was so difficult to finish our meal, which was great by the way. We finally left the restaurant laughing and completely stuffed!
Tomorrow, we're leaving Sczecin on our way to Poznan, where our last wish-child is expecting us. On the way there we're going to visit the famous World War II fortifications - 35 km of tunnels, in which now live 30,000 bats! We're really very curious about it.
Diary Entry – Day 10
Today our day started at 8 a.m., because we had more than 200 km to our next destination, Poznan, and an amazing historical place to visit on our way.
The Miedzyrzecz Reinforced Region (MRU) was built by the Germans between WWI and WWII and then continued during WWII. It was supposed to defend the Third Reich. The fortifications were created by a system of a few dozen reinforced concrete bunkers - about 21 of them - all joined by a series of subways. The subways were situated at a depth of 30 - 50 metres and they formed an incredible labyrinth of about 35 km in length! Today the basements are a natural reserve for thousands of bats of many species. The MRU is also hard to find....maybe not for everybody, but for sure for our GPS!
Yes, once again, our little machine didn't really want us to take the easy way there, and we had a very interesting journey through a forest, which was beautiful, but definitely not close at all to our destination. We finally switched off this crazy machine and Kamila found the MRU from memory, although coming at it from a different direction.
We spent nearly three hours visiting the MRU tunnels which were so impressive. After leaving the tunnels, we had the opportunity to take a lot of pictures on the tanks and other military equipment.
As we arrived in Poznan our red "Buzzer" transporter chose this moment to start overheating....After a while we discovered that the cooling fluid was leaking from somewhere and that we could boil eggs on our engine.... We were supposed to go to visit the last wish-kid of our trip, but unfortunately we couldn't get there so we called Aleks' mother and explained the situation. So tomorrow morning, after having the bus repaired, we'll deliver his presents, on our way to the train station.
We ended our day in the old town and had an amazing meal in a restaurant, where the owner cooked the main specialties from the Poznan region especially for us. As usual we were full and couldn't eat everything! At the end of our meal we also had another chance to practice our Polish version of 'Happy birthday'... but this time we sang it to Connor, whose birthday is tomorrow. We didn't have any cake or special candles, but Mr. Marek, the restaurant's owner, brought us a local, round shaped dumpling with a tea-light on it, and Connor celebrated his birthday in style. Kamila and Agata gave Connor a military poster that she bought in the MRU and he liked it very much.
We all strolled around in the old town and finally went back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep.
Diary Entry – Day 11
Today was our last day in Poland. While Agata was getting our van repaired we had a nice swim in the outdoor the pool. Agata worked miracles so our van was ready and fixed in no time!
Then we packed our luggage into the van for the last time and off we went to see Aleks who is 7 and who suffers from cystic fibrosis. His fantasy was to have a bike with many accessories. The bike will be delivered within a couple of days and so we went to visit Aleks with two boxes that contained all the extra stuff he needs to make his bike very special as well lots of toys and books for him and his three siblings.
It was a great visit – everyone was really happy to see us (but only 3 of us went in as the family lives in a very tiny apartment). It was great to see how excited they all were and very sad at the same time to see their living conditions. They live in one room in an attic – all 4 children and their parents! It was unbelievable.
Afterwards Agata drove us to the train station where we had lunch before getting on the train to Berlin. After a short 3 hours we arrived in this great city and we spent some time shopping, eating and just looking around. Then we took the subway and went to our hotel. Some of us were celebrating our last short night (we had to be up at 3 am!) by not sleeping at all and just chatting.
Diary Entry – Day 12
At 3:30 am we started our journey back home. As we were waiting for our flights we all wrote our reflections about the trip. Each of us had been moved in different ways but there was one common element - it was the most incredible and amazing journey for a lifetime that we could ever have imagined. During our trip we all became great friends and we are so happy to have had the opportunity to take part!
Thank you for reading our diary and for following our daily adventures – and thank you to our family, friends and sponsors for making everything possible.
Here is just one example of “why we do what we do”…. - a thank you letter (translated) that we received from Patryk (17) from Tczew, who is struggling against cancer. Patryk received a new laptop with internet, games and movies during our trip….
“Dear Foundation
From all my heart I would like to thank you for making my fantasy come true. I was waiting for it for a long time, but it was worth it. Thanks to my new laptop I can, while being in my hospital bed, play games, chat and watch interesting movies. I really had missed it before. I would like to say thank you to the Canadian youth for such a fantastic atmosphere and wonderful presents
(I’m sending warm greetings to them from Poland).
Thanks to all the people who have visited me in hospital… I could smile again…
I thank you many times over for this unforgettable moment of happiness…
