Welcome

OUR ROOTS FUND is a Humanitarian Action funded from private resources and contributions from its Friends. It is based in the UK and disbursements started in 2005.

Our empathy lies with people who have been involuntarily uprooted from the homelands of their forefathers as a result of the whirlwind of the two World Wars. Many now find themselves to be ethnic minorities and involuntary nationals of the country to which their forefathers were deported. Such people are seldom able to play a significant role in the mainstream of public life; often, they are underprivileged, few lead a happy life.

We too, have been uprooted, but a turn in our fortune gave us the chance to develop a happy and rewarding life in the UK, our adopted Homeland. In return, we would like to do something meaningful for the less-fortunate; something that will help, encourage and enable them to strive for a better future. The countries of primary interest to us are: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia and Ukraine and, of course, the UK.

Our primary objectives are

· Education of the young

· Promoting Social cohesion

· Financial help for those in need

The Roots Prize

Our first step was to seek cooperation with schools in Postawy in Belarus; in particular, to encourage the learning of English language from an early age, and art.

We have launched this prize to encourage and reward academic achievements by young people. The Roots Prize has been awarded to

Pupils coming top of the class in English Language at Schools in Postawy.
Winners of English Language Competitions held at Schools in Postawy
Winners of Art and winners of photography Competitions held at Schools in Postawy and in Czkalov in Kazakhstan)

Adopted Families

We have informally “adopted” families in need of financial support with the view to a longer-term relationship with them. We appear as an unofficial "adopted" granddad, grandmother or an uncle, aunt. To-date we have an established relationship with three families in Postavy and held “ice cream and banana” parties at the local children’s home

OUR ROOTS TRUST (ORT) - As the scope of Our Roots Fund grew, the Fund was formally registered as a UK Charity in March2011 under the name of OUR ROOTS TRUST Registration No. 1140623 with its dedicated website at www.ourrootstrust.org

The scope of ORT geographic interests now included Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Baltic States, Poland and the UK. Trust’s work focused on people deported from their Homeland (mainly from today’s Poland, Belarus and Ukraine) to Siberia and Kazakhstan during WW2 and are now suffering hardship in the land of their deportation. The objectives of the Trust remained the same.

The Trustees were

Jerry Kubica

Barbara Stryjak

Andrzej (Andy) Jarosz

Unfortunately, after the stroke suffered by Jerry Kubica (the founding Trustee) in April 2016, Our Roots Trust was wound up and its Fund of Euro 10,000 was donated to “Księża Sercanie” - SCJ -Polish Catholic organization active in Belarus, with the funds assigned to the Parish in Postawy.

Follow the link below to view a typical Project in Postawy supported with funds from ORT

https://seminarium.scj.pl/strony/wakacje-dla-dzieci-w-postawach--bialorus-

OUR ROOTS FUND 2018 (ORF2018.org)

With the winding up of OUR ROOTS TRUST in March 2018, its dedicated website expired and is not connected to ORF2018 in any way and, regrettably, not all earlier references and project histories can now be retrieved.

We are happy to inform all visitors to this site that the work started by Our Roots Fund in 2004 is now resumed. Start-up funds are provided by Jerry Kubica from his personal resources. The new dedicated website is now www.orf2018.org

The primary objectives of the Fund remain the same

Education of the young
Working towards social cohesion
Financial and practical help for those in need

OUR ROOTS FUND https://orf2018.org email - jerry.kubica@gmail.com

A few snapshots from our history