Poland Service Learning Trip 2011
Dates: March 3-12
Cost: No more than $2,500
Trip Leaders: David Entwistle, professor of psychology
Jacci Welling, Associate Professor of History
In-Country Hosts: Missionaries Don and Betty Orr
More information: Poland is a country whose history stretches back more than 1000 years. Founded in 966, the nation was divided between Prussia, Russia, and Austria in 1795. It enjoyed independence briefly from 1918 - 1939, when it was crushed by the German blitzkrieg at the outset of World War II. Following WW-II, Poland became a satellite state of the USSR. Since 1989, Poland has again become an independent nation. Poland has become much more economically productive since leaving the communist block, but it is also a nation where alcoholism, materialism, and spiritual longing are commonplace.
We will be working with Don and Betty Orr, Canadian missionaries who have lived in Poland for the last decade. They provide training and support to local pastors and congregations. We tentatively plan to fly into Krakow (pictured left), where we will enjoy a meal and concert in a Jewish restaurant in ul. Długosz, part of the historic Jewish quarter.
The next day we plan to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp (pictured right). Sunday we would relax, attend a church service, have lunch and then head to Białystok. Monday we would begin ministry in Białystok, possibly helping to renovate the apartments of welfare recipients or a Baptist-owned homeless shelter just down the road from our hotel. We would spend our last few days in Warsaw, spending time at a university where Dr. Entwistle has been a visiting professor and exploring the historic Old Town which was completely rebuilt after being destroyed in WW-II. Then it’s time to fly home in time to begin classes at the end of Spring Break.
