Joanna Szaflik-Homann
Educator and teacher. She has been associated with Krzyżowa for 14 years. Initially, as an employee of the Kreisau-Initiative she completed projects concerning civic and historical education. Since 2012, she has supported the ”Krzyżowa” Foundation voluntarily, as a member, and in recent years, as the chairwoman of the Council of the International Youth Meeting Centre. She is interested in various forms of education. Both in her professional and social work, she seeks the best ways for creative and uplifting interaction with young people. Currently, she works as a teacher at the Vocational School Complex in Berlin.
She believes that Krzyżowa is most beautiful in spring, but nevertheless her most memorable winter project was 'Europe and Migration' in 2010. Snow covered the whole of Central Europe for several days. Her group was the only one that was present at that time at the International Youth Meeting Centre in Krzyżowa. The participants of the project came, for instance, from such countries as Poland, Germany, Georgia, Romania and Portugal. Nobody arrived on time. Everybody was stranded at railway stations and airports. They felt completely cut off from the rest of the world. The snow which covered Krzyżowa, distanced them from reality and at the same time brought them closer together.