Information about the object:
Cemeteries with Polish gravestone monuments.

Bwana Mkubwa, Mbala, Livingstone, are the sites of former Polish exile settlements in Zambia. The first transports of Poles from Soviet captivity arrived there in February 1943. Their areas included day care centres, a hospital, libraries, theatres, Polish primary and vocational schools. There was an excellent school centre in Livingstone, where Polish senators, generals and university professors, among others, taught. There was a scouting movement and other cells of social life. In the settlements, care was taken to preserve the national identity, an example of which is the White Eagle monument with the inscription: "God Honour Fatherland God Save Poland" and the plaque "Polish Exiles of the Great World War 1939-1945" at the main entrance gate to the estate in Bwana Mkubwa. The necropolises where Poles are buried are exposed to the devastating effects of the African climate and the bush.

Completed works:

2021
Representatives of national scouting organisations reached out to Polish outgrowth settlements in Zimbabwe, the former area of Southern Rhodesia.

Between 3 and 23 September 2021, a team of scout volunteers made up of representatives from various scout organisations reached as many as 7 Polish memorial sites located in the former Southern Rhodesia, i.e. today's Zimbabwe.

Among them were 3 Polish necropolises in the villages of Rusape, Kadoma, Marondera. All the plots and graves were documented, thoroughly cleaned, inventoried and repainted white. For the first time, the remains of the former Polish-Italian cemetery located next to the settlement in Ngesi, from which the Poles were later exhumed to Kadoma, were found. From under the rubble, 2 broken crosses once located on Polish graves were excavated.

In addition, volunteers reached the sites of former Polish exile settlements in Rusape and Ngesi. Together with their current residents, they carried out an inventory of selected buildings and recorded reports showing the current state and appearance of the buildings. In Ngesi, the foundations of a former Polish hospital, chapel, theatre and bar were found next to the cemetery - the inventory will make it possible, among other things, to verify the historical map of the settlement created on the basis of witnesses' memories.

On their way to meet the Polish Honorary Consul in Harare, the scouting expedition also visited the former Polish girls' school in Digglefold, where they took stock of the Polish stone Eagle, located in front of the main entrance. Pupils and teachers also take care of the Polish emblem embroidered by Polish schoolgirls to this day, thus keeping the history of this important place alive among the local community.

The whole expedition was accompanied by many lectures on the fate of Poles in Africa, meetings with Polish people and members of local African communities. Their aim was to publicise the idea of the project and to build awareness of the still little-known topic of the fate of Poles who, after leaving the USSR, found their way to Africa with General Anders's army.

2022
The project aimed at reaching Polish memorial sites in Uganda and former Tanganyika (Tanzania), taking care of them, carrying out an inventory of their condition (the last expedition of historians was in Uganda in 2017), acquiring documentation and building awareness of the fate of Polish exiles - who left the USSR together with General Anders' army and ended up in Africa - in the country and among local communities, Polish youth, students, Polonia.

This year's expedition of trained volunteers, working with historians who were among the first to preserve memorial sites in Africa, focused on cleaning, repainting, inventorying and photo and film documentation of 5 Polish necropolises, 4 monuments, a church and reaching traces of former Polish settlements in Koja, Morogoro and Ifunda.

2023
The project "Scout Africa 2023: We are on alert. Polish Memorial Sites in Zambia' aimed to reach the Memorial Sites in former Northern Rhodesia, carry out cleaning and inventory work, create documentation and record a short documentary film about the exiles who left the USSR with the Anders Army and ended up in Africa, with the aim of spreading awareness and promoting the idea of protecting national heritage abroad. This year's expedition focused on cleaning, repainting, photo and film documentation of the current state of 6 Polish Memorials. A short documentary film on Polish exiles will be produced, which will tell the story of the fate of Poles in Africa in an engaging way for young audiences and promote efforts to protect Polish necropolises.

Funding: Polonica Institute programme "Polish cultural heritage abroad - volunteering".

More about the project: https://polonika.pl

https://polonika.pl

https://polonika.pl

• Fundacja 20, realizacja w roku 2021, 2022 i 2023.