Polish schools from small towns across the country join national action, "Help Bangladesh", organized by Polish Humanitarian Organisation - the main NGO delivering humanitarian aid outside Poland. The goal of the initiative is to support children affected by SIDR cyclone, which stroke southern region of Bangladesh exactly month ago.

The enthusiasm and engagement of the pupils is a great surprise for the observers of Polish society, which is not really perceived as being globally aware. The crisis in Bangladesh has been hardly covered by the Polish media and the issue of climate change or natural disasters are generally rare topics in the national discourse. Does this initiative mean there is new trend among young Poles?

On December 14, Polish pupils are building models of houses - symbolizing the solidarity with victims of the natural disaster that took place in Bangladesh. Later on, the houses will be sold during public auctions, organized across the Polish regional media, and the income will be used to support the children who suffer because of the recent cyclone.

A month ago, on Thursday, November 15 Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Sidr hit south-western coast of Bangladesh. Wind blowing with the speed of 250 km/h (160 mph) caused 5-meter (16-feet) tidal wave and tropical storm.

The most recent reports talk about 3 350 dead, 55 280 injured and at least 2,6 million affected struggling to survive and rebuild their lives. There are at least 1000 of people missing. 570 thousands of houses are fully destroyed and 900 thousands partly damaged. 4,2 thousands of schools no longer exist. Total number of people affected by the cyclone is estimated around 9 millions - number equal to total population of Sweden. Among the most affected, 1 million are children.

According to PHO, The "help Bangladesh" initiative not only makes young Poles aware of severity and impact of the humanitarian disaster, but also enables active involvement in relief work.

We are pleasantly surprised to see high interest especially from small-town schools. This means Poles do think globally and demonstrate support locally - comments Janina Ochojska, the President of Polish Humanitarian Organization. Models of the houses, that are to be built by the pupils, symbolise commitment to relief activities and solidarity of the young Poles with their peers in Bangladesh who lost their houses and whose lives were badly affected. Initiatives like the housing-models building classes and charity auctions for Bangladesh children might be a significant sign of general changes taking place in Polish society. Being a developing country itself in the recent past, Poland is still learning what it means to engage globally.

The Polish pupils and the majority of Polish society do not know, however, that the date of December 14 is symbolic. This is the last day of the most important climate change conference, taking place in Bali (Indonesia). During the conference representatives of 180 countries debate on the next steps that need to be undertaken to fight global warming. - The results of the global warming and natural disasters caused by it affect mostly the least developed countries and the poorest inhabitants of our world. Most politicians - especially in countries like Poland - do not understand that fighting global warming means fighting mass poverty. We do not even know if the Bangladeshi victims of the global warming will survive to witness the next (after Bali) climate change conference that will take place in Poland (Poznan) next year.