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<<1>> - Feminoteka is focusing
on supporting women
<<3>> who experience gender-based violence,
<<6>> mainly sexual violence,
<<8>> but also domestic violence.
<<10>> - Currently, six women live here
<<12>> with five children,
three dogs and four cats.
<<15>> We are the only place of its kind
<<18>> in the whole of Poland
<<19>> that takes in women with pets.
<<23>> - We create a safe space for women
<<26>> so they can share their very hard,
<<29>> sometimes traumatic experience.
<<31>> And they can find here peace,
<<34>> they can find support,
<<35>> they can find trust,
<<36>> which very often they
can't find in society.
<<41>> So in 2025, we received
almost 2000 calls,
<<45>> mostly from women who
experienced violence,
<<48>> but also from witnesses of violence.
<<51>> Those women who are calling us
<<52>> are not only Polish,
<<54>> but also migrants and refugees,
<<56>> mostly from Ukraine.
<<57>> We are renting this
building from the city.
<<61>> It was very messy
when we received it.
<<64>> - Hi, this is the place we
want to renovate, come in.
<<68>> We don't know what's
underneath the floor.
<<70>> The roof also needs
a huge renovation,
<<74>> so we need a professional
<<76>> and experienced crew to
take on that challenge.
<<81>> And the plan is to have it ready
<<84>> for women with newborns.
<<87>> You know, it's a special
moment in time,
<<90>> and also it's a time when women
<<92>> that experience violence
are very vulnerable.
<<95>> - Without Feminoteka's
shelter, they may face
<<98>> any kind of danger,
which is connected
<<101>> to being a homeless person,
<<104>> like violence, abuse.
<<106>> - Feminoteka welcomed me very well here,
and gave me everything I needed.
<<111>> I feel like I simply have my
own place, that no one can tell me:
<<119>> "Leave”, as the man
I lived with used to tell me.
<<123>> Here I feel like I’m standing
firmly on my own two feet.
<<128>> There are mothers who are afraid
to take that step and leave,
<<133>> because they have no money, and how will
they manage with a child, how will they get a job,
<<136>> how will they handle everything?
<<138>> That’s exactly what I was afraid of.
<<141>> It would be good if they knew
that there are shelters like this,
<<145>> that there is a place to go,
so that they wouldn't be afraid.
<<151>> - We run trainings,
<<153>> for example, like yoga sessions,
<<155>> yoga after trauma, and Wen-Do,
<<157>> to improve their healing process
<<159>> and also to work with their feelings
<<163>> of self-assurance.
<<164>> And Wen-Do is feminist
self-defense techniques.
<<168>> It's working with assertiveness,
<<171>> setting our boundaries.
<<173>> With the support of dōTERRA,
<<174>> we don't have to be in the kind
<<177>> of situation like we were last month,
<<179>> that we had to refuse two women
<<181>> who wanted to stay in our shelter
<<183>> because we didn't have
the rooms for them.
<<188>> Together we
can help more women
<<191>> in need who experience violence.