When you’ve spent years in other countries and then come back to live where you are a citizen, you may have the problem of reconciling what you did before with what you’re doing now.
I lived in Abu Dhabi for eight years from 2005-2013. I had spent more than 20 years in Europe, mainly Poland, from 1982-2003. In Miami, a new location for me in the US, I’m constantly finding reminders of the UAE and the Gulf, but most recently reminders of Poland.
I had heard for years about a Polish immigrant in the US named Blanka Rosenstiel who was involved in promoting Polish culture here. Although I have kept in touch with several former US Ambassadors to Poland and some Polish officials, I never met the woman known as Lady Blanka Rosenstiel until I came to Miami.
As a tribute to her roots, Lady Blanka started two foundations, the American Institute for Polish Culture (1972) and the Chopin Foundation (1977). The American Institute for Polish Culture supports research into Polish history and university scholarships for American students of Polish background.
The Chopin Foundation inspires young American pianists to learn to play Chopin’s music and sends the best ones to the world’s oldest piano competition, the International Chopin Competition held in Warsaw every five years.
Because I was trying to join the board of directors of nonprofit cultural institutions in Miami, I contacted the Chopin Foundation. The executive director invited me to one of their Salon Concerts at a beautiful country club in Miami Beach. It was there that I finally met Lady Blanka.
Lady Blanka is a social entrepreneur, generating donations and grants to benefit these foundations. She understands the importance of events of all kinds to draw supporters – from free Chopin concerts to the paid Salon Concerts and the pricy Polonaise Ball weekend that begins Saturday evening with the Ball and concludes with Sunday brunch.
On Saturday, February 1, properly beautified in my best dress, I was at the Eden Roc Hotel checking at the reception for my table assignment. With great pleasure I saw it was at one leg of the huge U-shaped head table. That put me across from the Mayor of Coral Gables where I live and near Lady Blanka and the guest of honour, former President of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Lech Walesa.
It turns out that every year he comes to the ball to present the Lech Walesa Media Award. The recipient in 2014 was Andrew Nagorski, former Newsweek correspondent in Warsaw and Moscow and later foreign editor. It was great to reunite with Andy; we looked at each other and smiled – we look just the same, 20 years older!
The highlight for me was seeing Lech Walesa again. I got my usual kiss – no US President has ever kissed me – and then we took the photo you see here. It’s become a tradition.
My first photo with Lech was in 1983 when ABC interviewed him at his apartment in Gdansk. At the time he was no one according to the then-government running Poland under martial law.
The second was in 1994 when my company did PR for Dell in Poland, and the President wanted to meet the young millionaire founder, Michael Dell.
And now the third photo, more than 30 years later…he with the satisfaction of having led his country into freedom, me knowing that I was part of that, simply by doing my job as an American journalist.
By Alma Kadragic
