As an expat living in Poland, I can vouch for how important it is to experience an other culture. When I first came here in 2004, I had never lived more than some 30 kilometres farther than the very spot I was born.
Of course, I had travelled, little holidays here and there. A last-minute weekend trip to Rome in my university days, and a fair bit of travelling with my parents – an unforgettable roadtrip in Scotland, and holiday in the Tunisian sun – back when it was still safe to travel to rhe orth African country.
But to LIVE in a country and really immerse yourself in its ways and culture, is something EVERY person should experience in the course of their lives.
I admit that I knew fairly little about Poland before landing in Warsaw all those years ago. But since then I have learnt so much about this beautiful country, I have learnt about the notoriously difficult language – although I’m still a long way from mastering it. I have discovered the kind heartedness of the average Pole – things that are impossible to fathom by just a quick holiday in any given country.
On my travels I met a large number of Australian backpackers. To those not in the know, round-the-world trips are extremely popular with young Australians who regularly take a year off to see the world. They therefore take their thongs, and their barbies, and go Waltzing Matylda with their rucksack. And what an experience that is. What lessons can be learnt from twelve months of savouring the wildest, craziest places on earth, and then taking those experiences back with them to practice in their home country.
Some of the world’s richest ideas were born in this way. One such example just off the top of my head is the story of Dietrich Mateschitz, who was backpacking in Thailand when he developed a taste for a local beverage – Krating Daeng. He thought it would sell well in his native Austria. Today, Mateschitz is worth some 12 billion dollars, and the drink is known as Red Bull.
A recent study by Polish pollster CBOS revealed that one in every six Poles has worked abroad in the last 10 years.
Now I know that many of these were manual labourers living abroad not out of choice, but out of necessity, because there simply were no jobs for them closer to home. Millions travelled to the UK alone to work as plumbers, plasterers, builders, waiters and other miscellaneous jobs. And they probably lived in cramped conditions trying to keep costs low so that many of them could send money back to their families still living in Poland.
They worked (and many still do) jobs well below their qualifications. Poles with master’s degrees in IT building a brick wall in a London suburb.
But my point is this: whatever the circumstance, surely there is something positive which can come out of it. I’m not talking here about the hundreds of thousands of people who are forced into labour abroad, even trafficked to far away places – and I know that Poles have been victims of this. No I am saying that working abroad is usually a good thing, especially for the younger generations.
In the case of those who travel to work in the UK, these Poles gain invaluable linguistic skills, which will surely come in handy in life. They also experience how other cultures live, their pace of life, and their ethics to work and other aspects.
Many of the people who left to work abroad, particularly to the British Isles, decide to never come back, but sooner or later many do, and the Polish workforce is richer because of that.
In many professional aspects, having learnt how things are done in other countries is usually a bonus for many people – it gives them an outlook on life which is impossible to match simply by reading books and watching TV documentaries.
Polish President Andrzej Duda recently suggested that Poles in the UK should not return home. While many saw this comment laden with political subtext, I honestly hope than many of these people find it in their hearts to return to their homeland. Poland needs a workforce which has an international perspective of problem solving. (rg)