It is also another meeting organized by OWOP in two formulas. The first is the entrepreneur breakfast. The second is meetings using the People meet People method, which was transferred to Białystok from a friend organization from Arendal in Norway. Of course, it has been adapted to local needs and conditions.

Half an hour to break the ice

Before business ideas began to be discussed, there was another opportunity to break the ice. On Saturday December 10, at the Galeria im. The Sleńdziński group of residents of Bialystok and those who came to us from Ukraine, Belarus or Georgia spoke about their lives. A hall has become a meeting place for social activists, pensioners, librarians, doctors, sociologists, representatives of the world of culture, students… In a word – people of various professions who intersect somewhere in the streets, squares and buildings of Białystok.

Then, two by two, they started talking. Traditionally, it was half an hour. This is the premise of the People meet People method brought from Arendal. And over time, ideas from the conversation began to be shared. We then hear:

** I will understand differently what is currently happening in Ukraine.

** We quickly found a common theme. Those are books.

** The kitchen brought us together.

** I am shocked that it was a Georgian woman who told me what was happening in Bialystok!

** We have a similar travel experience. She was leaving here, in my case a girl of the same age.

** I felt a desire to support, to help.

Everyone also agrees that half an hour is too short! Katarzyna Łotowska from the Support Center for Non-Governmental Organizations explained: – That’s the point. The method is designed to make you want more.

And in fact. We started exchanging phone numbers and Facebook contacts. Others – already more “friends” – went to the next joint meetings.

EURES opens up to Ukrainians

People showed up again on Tuesday (December 13) in the Fama club for the 2nd entrepreneurial breakfast. This time, representatives from Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia and… Tajikistan were present.

Among the new faces there were, for example, two Belarusian women – mother and daughter – who, seeing that there was no chance for change in their homeland, left their current lives and moved from Minsk to Białystok . Now they are thinking of opening… a podiatry practice (a field dealing with foot care). In turn, a Belarusian-Tajik couple plans to open their own cafe in Białystok. All in all, it would be a nice addition to the city’s multicultural culinary offer – after all, we already have places where you can taste the specialties of Jewish or Georgian cuisine.

As usual, no questions were asked. Belarusians are interested, for example, in how to notify their educational qualifications.

– In cooperation with a lawyer, we are currently tracing the paths that representatives of various professions from Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova should follow – announced Małgorzata Bobryk from the Białystok OWOP.

In turn, Beata Chrościńska from the Voivodeship Labor Office presented the network of EURES employment agencies. It involves the exchange of employees from the countries of the European Union, as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Currently, it is also open to citizens of another country.

– Faced with the armed conflict in Ukraine, the network is open to those who left Ukraine after February 24, 2022 – explained the representative of VLO. She also added that the office had already made, for example, an offer for Ukrainians when picking strawberries in Finland, where the employer provided free accommodation and encouraged them to come with children.

When asked if foreigners come to Podlasie as part of the network, she replied that we are a region focused on sending rather than accepting employees.

Meetings at the Gallery. Sleńdziński and in the Fama club were organized by OWOP with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF.