{"id":3341,"date":"2026-09-02T13:28:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T11:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/?p=3341"},"modified":"2026-09-02T13:29:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T11:29:32","slug":"na-drugoi-konec-sveta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/gdynya\/na-drugoi-konec-sveta\/","title":{"rendered":"At 90 years old \u2014 to the other side of the world: a blind woman from Gdynia went to Australia to fulfill her dream: 100,000 zlotys were raised for her dream in two hours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

90-letnia Helena Urbanek z Gdyni podr\u00f3\u017cowa\u0142a do Australii \u2014 podr\u00f3\u017c, o kt\u00f3rej marzy\u0142a przez ca\u0142e \u017cycie. Niewidoma od dzieci\u0144stwa, po przetrwaniu wojny i trudnego dzieci\u0144stwa, nie pozwoli\u0142a ani wiekowi, ani niepe\u0142nosprawno\u015bci powstrzyma\u0107 si\u0119 od realizacji swojego marzenia. Tysi\u0105ce internaut\u00f3w zg\u0142osi\u0142o si\u0119, aby pom\u00f3c jej w tej decyzji.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the morning of September 2, Helena began her journey to the other side of the world. Together with her companion Monika, she took a train from Gdynia to Warsaw. From there, the women will fly through Dubai to Sydney. The flight alone will take about 24 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Australia, Helena will spend three weeks. She is expected to meet with representatives of the Polish community, the Polish consul, as well as with visually impaired children at one of the local schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dream was made possible by internet users<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The story of Helena gained widespread attention thanks to 25-year-old influencer Damian Stefa\u0144czyk. He invited the woman to participate in an intergenerational podcast and during the conversation asked her about her biggest dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helena shared that she has always wanted to visit Australia. After the recording, Stefanczyk decided to help her fulfill her wish and launched a fundraising campaign for the trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reaction of users was unexpected even for the organizers. More than 100,000 zlotys were raised in just two hours.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the age of five, she lost her sight<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The story of the journey is supported by the complicated fate of Helena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During World War II, when the girl was only five years old, she was struck on the head by a German policeman. The injury was so severe that Helena lost her sight<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, she ended up in a German institution for blind children, where, according to her memories, she was subjected to cruel treatment and torture<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, what she experienced did not break her. In the 1960s, Helena graduated from a school for the blind in Laski near Warsaw, and then she trained as a masseuse. Later, she began teaching Braille at one of the integration schools in Gdynia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The woman retired only at the age of 87.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

«It’s never too late for dreams»<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite her age and loss of vision, Helena continues to travel. At 89 years old, she embarked on a sailing trip on the «Zawisza Czarny» as part of the «Zobaczy\u0107 morze» project, organized for blind and visually impaired people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ona postrzega \u015bwiat przede wszystkim przez d\u017awi\u0119ki, zapachy i dotyk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never too late for dreams,\u201d says Helena.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She loves listening to the birds singing, the noise of the streets, and especially the sea<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eMorze tak huczy, \u017ce mog\u0119 je zobaczy\u0107,\u201d m\u00f3wi 90-letnia kobieta z Gdyni.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Australia, another important meeting awaits her<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

During her stay in Sydney, Helena will meet with the Polish consul, who promised to assist her throughout the trip. The program also includes meetings with the Polish diaspora and visually impaired children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip itself will be part of another project. Damian Stefa\u0144czyk plans to make a documentary film about the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helena is also preparing a book \u2014 this will be the third publication of the 90-year-old woman<\/strong>. It is planned to be released later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dla Heleny Australia to nie tylko wycieczka turystyczna. To dow\u00f3d na to, \u017ce marzenia naprawd\u0119 nie maj\u0105 daty wa\u017cno\u015bci.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

90-year-old blind Helena Urbanek from Gdynia went to Australia \u2014 a country she has dreamed of visiting her whole life. Internet users helped her make her dream come true by raising over 100,000 zlotys in just two hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_tm_exclude_from_home":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gdynya","category-novosti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3343,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341\/revisions\/3343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}