Gran Chaco
Salta Province, Argentina, December 2021
I have just arrived to Buenos Aires and I am preparing for travelling up north to Argentina's Gran Chaco. As you may remember, the northern part of the country (as well as south of Paraguay) are now experiencing fires. It is estimated that up to 10% of the Corrientes Province is burnt to ground, with forests, and infrastructure being destroyed. Things are so bad that Argentina decided to ask the EU to send assistance to help in getting the situation under control. If all goes according to a plan, the French firemen will arrive within some hours, and then some essential equipment from Norway will follow.
While I will be coordinating the receipt of this aid, I will also be travelling to the affected areas of Argentina and Paraguay to assess the humanitarian impact on the affected communities in both of the countries. Gran Chaco is mostly a very poor part of the Americas, where daily life is extremely difficult to its inhabitants even without challenges such as fires. Should we learn that people cannot cope without assistance, we will recommend release some additional funds to reach the communities along with the help to the Argentinian authorities.
As the mission to Gran Chaco progresses, I will be posting the photo reports too.
Meanwhile, I am observing the political situation in Europe with the greatest concern. The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, saddens and angers me. Although I have seen it a lot in my professional career, it is still difficult to accept that politicians are able to destroy lives and livelihoods (as well as sanity) of so many people so easily. Something is seriously wrong with our systems of governance on every possible level.
I guess the situation in Ukraine has an additional effect on me, as it is directly impacting my native Poland. It is estimated that just within 4 days of the invasion, over 300,000 refugees fled from Ukraine to Poland alone (and 150,000 more to Slovakia, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova). So far, it is impressive to see how the governments and societies of these countries seem to be managing the crisis, but surely the needs are great and challenges will be mounting in weeks to come. I am actually taking a close look at how my own organisation is supporting the humanitarian efforts, and have already volunteered to be deployed either to Ukraine itself or any of the countries around, should the need for my services arise.
A new humanitarian mission
Salta Province, Argentina, February 2021
The fires in Gran Chaco on the areas between Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia have intensified recently. It is however both Paraguay and Argentina that seem to be affected the most.
In an attempt to find out a humanitarian impact of these on lives of the affected communities, I am setting off to the two countries on a humanitarian mission. On Monday, I am leaving Panama for Buenos Aires. After a few days in Argentina's north, I will then proceed to Asuncion and then southern parts of Paraguay. While in the field, I will be shown around by colleagues from our partner organisations. I will be meeting the communities, and also the authorities to see what has been done so far, and how we can be of help, if at all.
In the meanwhile, I keep receiving substantial amount of emails from various humanitarian colleagues that appear to be heading to Poland and Romania to establish their presence there to help in dealing with the influx of Ukrainian refugees. While I am unable to give advice on Romania, I do have quite a lot of information on the civil society organisations in Poland (including organisations working with migrants and refugees in particular). Should you, or your organisation need some guidance, please do not hesitate contacting me, I will be happy to help out the way I can. On a personal note, I feel so strange to see that the international humanitarian agencies are setting up potentially large scale operations in my own country. The world is certainly full of surprises.
Links to all of my picture albums on 'Google Pictures'
Links to all of my picture albums available in 'Google Pictures'
Panama in 2022
๐ต๐ฆ (2022)
Assessing the impacts of fires in northern Argentina
๐ฆ๐ท (March 2022)
Floods in Bahia Province
๐ง๐ท (Jan. 2022)
The end of the year in Argentina
๐ฆ๐ท (Dec. 2021)
Panama in 2021
๐ต๐ฆ (2021)
A quick visit to Brussels
๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Dec. 2021)
Autumn holiday in Ontario
๐จ๐ฆ (Nov. 2021)
The refugee crisis in northern Chile
๐จ๐ฑ (Oct. 2021)
Early autumn with Mum in the Lake District, and visiting friends in south and eastern Poland
๐ต๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Sep. 2021)
Summer in Portugal after a long absence
๐ต๐น๐ช๐บ๐บ๐ธ (Aug. 2021)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: disaster in the paradise
๐ป๐จ (Jul. 2021)
Only in Miamiโฆ
๐บ๐ธ (Jul. 2021)
Adventures of Mexico
๐ฒ๐ฝ (Jun. 2021)
Manuel Antonio and Alajuela: Costa Rica's natural wonders
๐จ๐ท (Apr. 2021)
The walking refugees, the city, the desert and the mountains
๐จ๐ฑ (Mar. 2021)
Second time Argentina!
๐ฆ๐ท (Feb. 2021)
Panama in 2020
๐ต๐ฆ (2020)
Honduras: Eta and Iota hurricane emergency response mission
๐ญ๐ณ (Nov. 2020)
2020 autumn break
๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Oct. 2020)
The post-lockdown experience in Krakow
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Sep. 2020
A weekend in Toledo and Madrid after six months lockdown
๐ช๐ธ๐ช๐บ (Sep. 2020)
The first walk
๐ต๐ฆ (May 2020)
Argentina, a country of extreme contrasts
๐ฆ๐ท (Feb. 2020)
Venezuela refugees' response in Brazil
๐ง๐ท (Feb. 2020)
Resilient communities in Bolivia
๐ง๐ด (Jan. 2020)
Quito and the Province of Bolivar
๐ช๐จ (Jan. 2020)
Tahir's visit to Panama
๐ต๐ฆ (Dec. 2019)
Panama in 2019
๐ต๐ฆ (2019)
Costa Rica, the America's paradise
๐จ๐ท (Nov. 2019)
Mystic Portugal
๐ต๐น๐ช๐บ (Nov. 2019)
Halloween and my 47th birthday
๐จ๐ฆ (Nov. 2019)
Preparing for the hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea
๐จ๐ผ (Sep. 2019)
My first humanitarian mission in America
๐ง๐ด๐จ๐ด (Sep. 2019)
My first week in Panama
๐ต๐ฆ (Aug. 2019)
A bit of Los Angeles from a car
๐บ๐ธ (Aug. 2019)
Last moments in Poland before moving to Panama
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Jul. 2019)
The epic trip around Europe
๐ฆ๐น๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐น๐ธ๐ฎ๐ญ๐บ๐ช๐บ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐จ๐ญ (Jul. 2019)
Showing Tahir around Poland and Slovakia
๐ธ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Jul. 2019)
Summer in Warsaw and Krakow
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Jul. 2019)
My last day in Asia
๐ธ๐ฌ (Jul. 2019)
2019: My final year in Thailand
๐น๐ญ (2019)
Good bye Manila
๐ต๐ญ (Jun. 2019)
A mission to Indonesia
๐ฎ๐ฉ (Jun. 2019)
Working in Belgium and Austria
๐ฆ๐น๐ง๐ช๐ช๐บ (May 2019)
Spring in central Portugal
๐ต๐น๐ฉ๐ช๐ช๐บ (Apr. 2019)
Humanitarian assessments in DPR of Korea
๐ฐ๐ต (Feb. 2019)
A short trip to the Philippines
๐ต๐ญ (Feb. 2019)
Northern vibes
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ๐บ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ (Jan. 2019)
Response to humanitarian needs after the tsunami in Sunda Strait
๐ฎ๐ฉ (Dec. 2018, Jan. 2019)
The last trip for 2018
๐ต๐ญ (Dec. 2018)
Iberia with people with one loves
๐ต๐น๐ช๐ธ๐ช๐บ (Oct. 2018)
The Sulawesi & Lombok earthquake
๐ฎ๐ฉ (Oct. 2018)
Visiting Tahir and friends in Toronto
๐ฉ๐ช๐ช๐บ๐จ๐ฆ (Sep. 2018)
A day in Krakow with Mum
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Sep. 2018)
Going to the Pacific
๐ซ๐ฏ๐น๐ด๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ (Aug. 2018)
Ko Chang for the last time
๐น๐ญ (Jun. 2018)
Race against the time
๐ง๐ฉ (May 2018)
Learning my adopted country, Portugal
๐ต๐น๐ช๐บ (Apr. 2018)
An early spring in Vienna
๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐บ (Apr. 2018)
Magical Sukhothai
๐น๐ญ (Mar. 2018)
Typhoon Gita: travelling to the Pacific
๐น๐ด๐ซ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ (Feb. 2018)
Mum visiting Thailand
๐น๐ญ (Jan. 2018)
Thailand A. D. 2018
๐น๐ญ (2018)
Typhoon Temblin: humanitarian disaster for the people of Mindanao in southern Philippines
๐ต๐ญ (Dec. 2017)
Ancient Thailand in a nutshell
๐น๐ญ (Dec. 2017)
Spending time with Mum
๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฟ๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Dec. 2017)
The enchanting Dhaka
๐ง๐ฉ (Nov. 2017)
Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh
๐ง๐ฉ (Nov. 2017)
November in Sri Lanka
๐ฑ๐ฐ (Nov. 2017)
Glimpses of European autumn
๐ต๐น๐ง๐ช๐ซ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Oct. 2017)
Mongolia, 4th time in the country
๐ฒ๐ณ (Sep. 2017)
Weekends with Tahir & friends in Thailand
๐น๐ญ (2017)
The war displaced in Marawi of the Philippines
๐ต๐ญ (Jul. 2017)
Celebrating summer's arrival in Bangkok
๐น๐ญ (Jun. 2017)
Europe's visit: spring 2017
๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (May 2017)
Settling in Portugal
๐ต๐น๐ช๐บ (Apr. 2017)
Cox's Bazar's camps
๐ง๐ฉ (Mar. 2017)
Bangkok's canals
๐น๐ญ (Jan. 2017)
2016 Winter break
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ๐ท๐บ๐น๐ญ (Dec. 2016)
Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar
๐ง๐ฉ (Dec. 2016)
Mongolia's summer
๐ฒ๐ณ (Sep. 2016)
TRIPLEX: Southern Norway & Oslo
๐ณ๐ด (Sep. 2016)
Sri Lanka
๐ฑ๐ฐ (Aug. 2016)
Western Thailand
๐น๐ญ (Jul. 2016)
Northern European experience
๐ซ๐ฎ๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Jun. 2016)
A weekend in Khau Yai National Park
๐น๐ญ (May 2016)
Down-under
๐ฆ๐บ (Apr. 2016)
Oceania
๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐บ (Mar. 2016)
UAE, Spain & Portugal: winter fun
๐ช๐ธ๐ต๐น๐ช๐บ๐ฆ๐ช (Feb. 2016)
Mongolian winters are toughโฆ
๐ฒ๐ณ (Jan. 2016)
Autumn of 2015
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐ธ๐ช๐บ (Nov. 2015)
The displaced in the Philippines
๐ต๐ญ (Aug. 2015)
Studying Spanish in Gran Canaria
๐ช๐ธ๐ช๐บ (Aug. 2015)
Visiting DPRK
๐ฐ๐ต (May 2015)
May 2015 home visit
๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (May 2015)
Spring in Seoul
๐ฐ๐ท (Apr. 2015)
My first trip to the Philippines
๐ต๐ญ (Apr. 2015)
Family in Thailand
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ๐น๐ญ (Mar. 2015)
A day in Beijing and a week in Ulaanbaatar
๐จ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ณ (Feb. 2015)
Floods in northern Malaysia
๐ฒ๐พ (Jan. 2015)
Discovering Thailand
๐น๐ญ (Dec. 2014)
Paris: the beauty with Mum
๐ซ๐ท๐ช๐บ (Nov. 2014)
Gdansk and Sopot
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Nov. 2014)
Enjoying time with Mum
๐จ๐ฟ๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Nov. 2014)
UNDAC training
๐ฟ๐ฆ (Oct. 2014)
The Warsaw Uprising
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Sep. 2014)
Visiting long missed friends
๐ฎ๐ธ (Sep. 2014)
Faroe Islands
๐ซ๐ด (Sep. 2014)
Spas of Galicia
๐ญ๐บ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Sep. 2014)
In the land of Cyril and Methodius
๐ง๐ฌ๐ช๐บ (May 2014)
A wedding in the Eternal City
๐ฎ๐น๐ช๐บ๐ป๐ฆ (May 2014)
Flying around South Sudan
๐ธ๐ธ (2014)
Southern New Zealand
๐ณ๐ฟ (Jan. 2014)
The green islands on fire! The northern part of the country
๐ณ๐ฟ (Jan. 2014)
Travelling to the other end of the world
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฆ๐บ (Jan.2014)
Unity State at war
๐ธ๐ธ (Dec. 2013)
Sandomierz & Kazimierz Dolny
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Aug. 2013)
South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia
๐ช๐น (Jul. 2013)
A summer with friends
๐จ๐ฆ (Jun. 2013)
'Uma marvilha: Lisboa'
๐ต๐น๐ช๐บ (Jun. 2013)
In Senegal for work & meeting friends in Dakar
๐ธ๐ณ (Jun. 2013)
Playing a tourist guide around Slovakia & Poland
๐ธ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (May 2013)
Colourful Willemstad
๐จ๐ผ (Jan. 2013)
A trip to the Caribbean paradise
๐ง๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Jan. 2013)
Freezing in Nowy Sacz
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Jan. 2013)
A stopover in Cairo
๐ช๐ฌ (Jan. 2013)
Christmas vibes
๐ธ๐ธ (Dec. 2012)
Visiting refugees again
๐ธ๐ธ (Dec. 2012)
USA with Christine
๐บ๐ธ (Oct. 2012)
An autumn in Brussels and Amsterdam
๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Oct. 2012)
Indian Ocean paradise: Seychelles
๐ธ๐จ (2012)
Refugees in northern South Sudan
๐ธ๐ธ (2012)
Team building
๐ฐ๐ช (2012)
Socialising in Juba
๐ธ๐ธ (Aug. 2012)
May is the best month of the year
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (May 2012)
Northern parts of Vietnam
๐ป๐ณ (May 2012)
A week in Vietnam's Hanoi
๐ป๐ณ (Apr. 2012)
Hong Kong & Macao with Mum
๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ด๐จ๐ณ (Apr. 2012)
A visit to Upper Nile State
๐ธ๐ธ (2012)
Holidays in Mozambique
๐ฒ๐ฟ (Jan. 2012)
A new home in Juba
๐ธ๐ธ (Nov. 2011)
Visiting Sabrina and Thomas in Paris
๐ซ๐ท๐ช๐บ (Aug. 2011)
Nicki and Thomas' wedding
๐ซ๐ท๐ช๐บ (Aug. 2011)
Kosice & Presov during summertime
๐ธ๐ฐ๐ช๐บ (Jul. 2011)
A very sunny summer
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Jul. 2011)
The Ethnographical Park of Nowy Sacz
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (2011)
The adventure in South Sudan begins
๐ธ๐ธ (2011)
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
๐ฑ๐บ๐ช๐บ (2011)
Brussels marks the new beginnings
๐ง๐ช๐ช๐บ (2011)
Good bye to 2010 and hello to 2011
๐ฐ๐ช (Dec. 2010, Jan. 2011)
A week in Oxford
๐ฌ๐ง (2010)
The desert city - Khartoum
๐ธ๐ฉ (2010)
A disaster preparedness workshop in Maputo
๐ฒ๐ฟ (2010)
Adventures in East Africa
๐บ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฉ๐ท๐ผ (2010, 2011)
The Kenyan kaleidoscope
๐ฐ๐ช (2010)
A new apartment in Nairobi
๐ฐ๐ช (2010)
Walking the streets of old Yangon
๐ฒ๐ฒ (2010)
Chills of Bangkok
๐น๐ญ (2010)
The Shewdagon Pagoda
๐ฒ๐ฒ (2010)
Visiting Oxfam's regional office
๐น๐ญ (2010)
November in Poland
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Nov. 2010)
Impressions of Warsaw
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (2010)
A long weekend in Spain
๐ช๐ธ๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Apr. 2010)
Arriving to Myanmar
๐ฒ๐ฒ (2009)
Krakow, Europe's stunning beauty
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (2009)
A day in the Tatras
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Aug. 2009)
Time at home in Poland and Slovakia
๐ต๐ฑ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ช๐บ (Jul. 2009)
Berlin, my favourite city
๐ฉ๐ช๐ช๐บ (2009)
Visiting friends in Germany
๐ฉ๐ช๐ช๐บ (2009)
Socialising with colleagues
๐ต๐ฐ (2009)
Islamabad, Pakistan's capital city
๐ต๐ฐ (2009)
A mission to Chad's Sahara
๐น๐ฉ (2009)
An early spring day in Warsaw
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (2009)
Jewels of Somali Region of Ethiopia
๐ช๐น (2009)
Warsaw, Poland's capital
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Apr. 2009)
Moving to Addis Ababa
๐ช๐น (Jan. 2009)
Winter break at home, with friends
๐ธ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Jan. 2009)
New Year's Eve 2008/2009 celebrations
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (Dec. 2008)
Christmas with family
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (2008)
Visiting my teacher, Jean
๐บ๐ธ (2008)
Inspirational Kolkata
๐ฎ๐ณ (2007)
Bangladesh, my love
๐ง๐ฉ (2007)
Beautiful Queensland
๐ฆ๐บ (Feb. 2007)
Visiting Asia's hotspot, Singapore
๐ธ๐ฌ (Jan. 2007)
A day in Kuala Lumpur
๐ฒ๐พ (2006)
Working in, and exploring Indonesia
๐ฎ๐ฉ (2005 - 2006)
Humanitarian response to the earthquake
๐ต๐ฐ (May 2006)
A visit to David and his family
๐ฌ๐ง (2006)
Przemysl, the beauty of eastern Poland
๐ต๐ฑ๐ช๐บ (2006)
Travelling to the southmost part of Africa
๐ฟ๐ฆ (2005)
Ile de France with ACF colleagues
๐ซ๐ท๐ช๐บ (2004)
A visit to Rio de Janeiro
๐ง๐ท (Sep. 2004)
The Angolan coast
๐ฆ๐ด (Apr. 2004)
The Big Apple
๐บ๐ธ (Apr. 2004)
Namibia
๐ณ๐ฆ (Jan. 2003)
The language exam, one step further towards my new nationality
Alcobaca, Portugal, August 2021
After a long wait, I finally received a preliminary result for my Portuguese language test that I took last November at the Consulate of Portugal in Toronto. The outcome, if confirmed officially, is extremely encouraging as I scored 87,5% (55% necessary to pass) on test.
Needless to say that I am extremely happy and now anxiously waiting for the confirmation and the official certificate from the language centre. Once with me, I will be able to proceed with an application to become a naturalised citizen of Portugal. It is still quite a lot of waiting, and substantial amount of paper work to be done, but the language test was the last major (at least, as I understand it) obstacle to fulfil all the conditions to get naturalised as Portuguese.
If all goes according to plan, I am aiming at submitting my application around March/April 2022, and then few months later, I should hear the answer to my petition.
Keep your fingers crossed, so all goes well, and I shall definitely update you with the progress!
April break at home
Szczawnica, Poland, October 2022
It seems like I will be going to Poland in April. I will be taking 2 weeks off during the Easter break, so that I can spend some free time with mum, family and friends. While, it is still far away, and I will try having more specific plans for visiting Europe at later stage, I already know that I will be around 24 hours in Los Angeles on the way back to Panama. If any of you have suggestions on what is interesting to see in the city, the ideas are welcome!
Meanwhile, I am preparing for my mission to Asuncion and other parts of Paraguay affected by droughts at the end of February. The situation appears serious, and the trip is meant to help out in determining what we could do to support the communities in their struggles in fighting the consequences of the disaster. I do not know Paraguay yet, and if I manage to travel it will be my first trip to the country, and as such very excited to go!
Back to work, refreshed after a holiday break

Pearl Islands Archipelago, Panama, January 2022
I am now back to work, fully recharged after a week off in the Pearl Islands Archipelago (south-east of Panama City, the Pacific Ocean).
The break allowed me to rest (which I needed badly after last travels to Brazil and Argentina), but also discover an amazing part of Panama (see pictures at this link; a part of 'Panama in 2022' album).
Now as I am back, I am facing new challenges. Fires and drought in Paraguay and Argentina, landslides in Ecuador, and the new wave of Venezuelan arrivals to Chile are the main issues that I am trying to deal with, but not the only ones.
So far, I am programmed to travel to Paraguay at the end of February, but this being written, with the humanitarian situation changing so fast, I may need to alter the plans accordingly at the short notice.