Berlin Cosmopolitan School helps Ukrainian refugees / An act of charity

3rd March, 2022
Within a very short time, the Berlin Cosmopolitan School implemented a donation campaign for Ukrainian refugees. On Saturday afternoon, a call came from Poland to help the refugees from the Ukraine in order to close the gap until large-scale fundraising campaigns by the established aid organizations reach the refugees. The time frame to be bridged is one to two weeks. During this time, agile actions are needed to ensure the basic needs of the refugees. The kindergarten of the Berlin Cosmopolitan School then started an unprecedented campaign and generated a total of four vans and two cars full of urgently needed donations, which left Berlin for Poland on Wednesday morning.
Kinga Czyzniejewska from Poland runs a travel company. It is logistically very well networked in the region. Since the outbreak of war, however, Czyzniejewska has been selflessly helping the Ukrainian refugees. On Saturday evening, Czyzniejewska approached the kindergarten directors Katharina Ehrenfried and Matthew Carlyle via a contact with the Berlin Cosmopolitan School. Their concern: Ukrainian refugees have been arriving at the Polish-Ukrainian border for days – women, children and men over 60 years of age – who need to be taken care of. The electricity in the region failed due to the war, it is very cold and the children in particular have to be taken care of. Clothing, food, medicines, blankets, toys, sanitary products and above all electricity are needed.
As the first point of contact, Katharina Ehrenfried then initiated the donation campaign on Saturday evening. All parents of the kindergarten were contacted. Due to the constant exchange with Czyzniejewska, more and more things were added that are needed. Katharina Ehrenfried: “The willingness of the parents is enormous. Parents go out and buy battery systems, sanitary products on a large scale, pharmacies give us discounts on medicines, donate high-quality snow clothing, toys, sleeping bags, blankets and much more. We are very grateful for so much charity.”
All items were packed in the kindergarten and labeled in Ukrainian, Polish, English and German. Many volunteers, including men and women from Ukraine, Russia, Poland, the USA, Iran and Syria, helped and in some cases contributed their own experiences of fleeing.
On Wednesday, March 2, 2022, six vehicles left for Ms. Czyzniejewska in Bunzlau, Poland. Almost at the same time as the delivery from the Berlin Cosmopolitan School, 50 children from an evacuated orphanage in the Ukraine arrived in Bunzlau. These are equipped with the clothes donated by the BCS kindergarten. Kinga Czyzniejewska says: “I set up four beds, but I have no children myself. I don’t have any toys or clothes for children here at the moment.”
The donations from the kindergarten parents will be used for this from today. The donations were taken from Bunzlau to the Ukrainian border by Polish helpers and distributed to the refugees. Part of the donations were brought to refugees in Ukraine by Ukrainian helpers.
“This is a real testament to our strength. We are one unit and very happy that we can help,” says Yvonne Wende, founder and director of the Berlin Cosmopolitan School. The Berlin Cosmopolitan School continues to collect donations for refugees from Ukraine.

About the Berlin Cosmopolitan School, Preschool and Kindergarten

The Berlin Cosmopolitan School is changing the traditional way schools and kindergartens work with different approaches to learning in the areas of nature and environmental protection, sports, new work, culture, dance, music and art and much more. The aim of the independent school, preschool and kindergarten is to bring all students along according to their abilities.

“When school motivates, everyone learns more” is the conviction of the Berlin Cosmopolitan School. Regular outdoor learning, sports activities and competitions, digital projects such as robotics, internships from grade 6, music-making from kindergarten age, dance clubs, bilingual education and much more help the children to discover and develop their own preferences and abilities.

Important concerns of the Berlin Cosmopolitan School, Kindergarten and Preschool are social justice, equal opportunities in education and a balanced community. The school regularly awards scholarships to students and accepts refugees. Through its established network and internationally trained staff, the educational institution has the opportunity to explore new educational paths for every age group.

The Berlin Cosmopolitan School was founded in 2003 as a non-profit organisation by Yvonne Wende. In 2004, the first bilingual (English-German) kindergarten and preschool opened for Berlin-Mitte with 18 children. Shortly after, the primary school started and most recently, in 2009, the accredited bilingual Gymnasium of Berlin Cosmopolitan School 01P22. Since then, the number of students has steadily increased. Approximately 1,000 students from all over the world are now being taught on the Rückerstraße and Invalidenstraße campuses. The kindergarten has grown to a number of more than 300 children between the ages of 1 and 6.

In 2013, Berlin Cosmopolitan School was accredited as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, first for primary school and also for the Gymnasium. The IB Learner Profile is about developing children and young people into lifelong learners. The school and kindergarten use primary experiences to design lessons.