Michal Zawisza - Vice-Consul, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland

President Katrina welcomed everyone to the meeting, including the speaker, Michal Zawisza, the Vice-Consul of the Republic of Poland, based in Edinburgh.

In her “Interesting Rotary Information” section, tonight, Katrina highlighted one of the eco-friendly service projects currently being showcased in the RI website – “Recycling in Brazil”.

Over the years, Rotary has carried out thousands of projects to protect the environment.  In the past five years, Rotary has allocated $18million to environmental projects that help our planet. The project in Brazil is one such project.

In Campo Mourão, Brazil, only 5 percent of garbage is recycled, and workers at the local recycling facility lacked the equipment needed to increase productivity. Without a conveyor belt, they had to sort recyclable materials at tables and move them by hand, requiring extra time and effort. And their out-dated press was slow and created bales of recyclables that were smaller than standard for the regional market.

Working with a local environmental program that coordinates the recycling cooperative, the Rotary clubs of Campo Mourão and Little Rock, Arkansas, developed a project to increase workers’ capacity to separate and process recyclable materials, providing both economic and environmental benefits. The project funded equipment to improve worker safety and efficiency and provided environmental and financial training. Workers sorted an additional 2.63 tons of recyclables per month after the grant project was implemented, and their income increased nearly 25 percent per month.

Speaker for the Evening

President Katrina introduced tonight’s speaker, Michal Zawisza.

Michal said that he had spoken to the Club just over 3 years ago, not long after he had arrived in Scotland to take up the role of Vice-Consul.  The posting was for four years and he was now nearing the end of his time in Scotland.  His talk would be on the characteristics of what a Consul does.

A Consul helps people who are facing particular situations in their lives e.g. helping people to go back or visit Poland, protecting the rights of individual Polish people in Scotland, dealing with emergency situations that Polish people or their descendants may be facing, taking care of Press issues by responding quickly and dealing with citizenship cases.  Michal said that many Polish people came to Scotland during WW2 and remained here afterwards, where they felt safe and welcome.  There had been a recent increase in applications by 2^nd and 3^rd generation Poles for British citizenship and also those who wished to go back to Poland to see their Polish roots and their extended families There are at present 100,000 Poles living and working in Scotland

Other aspects of Michal’s role as Consul included facilitating business relationships in terms of international trade, cultural diplomacy e.g. music and concerts, organising cultural exchanges between Scotland and Poland, supporting education, and marking important events and dates in Polish history. To cope with the full spectrum of activities, a Consul had to be a bit of a lawyer, social worker, diplomat, psychologist, politician and a good problem solver. 

After questions, in proposing the vote of thanks, Jane Allan thanked Michal, on behalf of the Club, for a very varied and interesting talk and wished him well in his next posting.

Willie Talbot reported that the bonus ball had been won by Hugh Graham.

Secretary Ian had submitted the Club’s vote in favour of our District Team entering into discussions with D1230, with a view to forming a new district and Callan Dick advised that District had received replies from 49 Clubs, so far.