New Beginnings: How Young Migrants in Poland Turned Uncertainty into Leadership
When the war in Ukraine displaced millions of families, Poland became both a refuge and a new challenge. For hundreds of thousands of young people who crossed the border, safety was only the beginning. They had to rebuild their identity, community, and confidence in a country that felt unfamiliar.
Classrooms filled with new faces. Dormitories mixed different languages. Teachers and youth workers had to adapt quickly. For the young migrants, every day meant learning not only new words but also new ways of belonging.
At first, many felt invisible. “I used to love going to school,” recalls Artyom, a 17-year-old student from Kharkiv now living in Warsaw. “But when I arrived here, I couldn’t understand anyone. I stopped talking in class. I started to feel smaller every day.”
That sense of withdrawal could have stayed, but it didn’t.
In early 2023, a Warsaw youth centre working with UNICEF Poland launched a small peer-support group for newly arrived students. It wasn’t a large-scale programme, just an open room, a few local volunteers, and time set aside for conversation, shared meals, and small group projects.
Something began to change. When Artyom joined the group, he met others who felt the same loss and confusion. Within weeks, he began helping newcomers with Polish homework and showing them how to use public transport.
“When I helped others, I stopped thinking about what I’d lost,” he says. “It reminded me that I still had something to give.”
That simple act of helping became the spark for something bigger. Artyom’s role shifted from being supported to being someone others could rely on. Teachers noticed the change in his confidence, and he began mentoring younger students arriving later in the term.
Across Poland, similar stories are emerging. A study by the University of Warsaw found that migrant youth who take part in peer and leadership programmes show higher levels of well-being and stronger engagement at school than those who remain isolated.
Resilience grows in environments where young people feel safe enough to try, fail, and try again. It thrives where empathy is present and where their voices are heard.
Organisations like Zwolnieni z Teorii, Fundacja Ocalenie, and UNICEF’s Learning for the Future programme show what works: giving young people a role, not just resources. When they lead small projects, train as peer mentors, or share their perspectives in class, they start to believe in their own ability to make change.
By the middle of 2024, the youth group Artyom joined had grown to more than forty members. They now organise intercultural events, language exchanges, and small community art projects in Warsaw and Kraków.
The students who once struggled to adapt are now creating resources for new families arriving from Ukraine, including simple guides and mental-health information in both Polish and Ukrainian.
What began as a way to cope has become a platform for leadership.
“We don’t want to be seen as victims anymore,” says Artyom. “We are part of this country now. We are building it too.”
His story mirrors that of many young people in Poland who are redefining resilience. It is not only about enduring hardship but transforming it into connection, purpose, and courage.
Lessons from Poland’s youth
The Polish experience offers valuable lessons for communities everywhere:
Trust and small beginnings matter. A safe and welcoming space can change lives long before formal systems step in.
Let young people lead. Leadership is most powerful when it grows from shared experience, not authority.
Resilience is built in relationships. It begins when one young person says, “I understand what you’re going through.”
Poland’s youth centres and schools are now more diverse than ever. Beneath the surface of statistics and headlines, there is quiet progress taking place. Young people are turning empathy into leadership and rebuilding their futures in a new home.
For Artyom and thousands like him, resilience is no longer a word. It’s a way of life.
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