The founding history of L’Arche in PoznaĹ„ starts with the community of Faith and Light which Ala Nawrocka joined in 1983. The community comprises people with and without intellectual disability who want to build relations, spend time together and organise holidays and outings together. Ala became fascinated with the relations with God and people which she experienced in the community. She also found some articles about L’Arche community in France, Trosly. She was enthralled by all she had read about L’Arche and wondered if this was some utopia or reality. A friend of hers explained that this is all real and l’Arche communities do exisit. Faith and Light camps became makeshift L’Arche for Ala. Gradually, the dream of l’Arche in PoznaĹ„ grew in her heart and mind. In 1985, during a pilgrimage to Rokitno, Ala met Marek and Robert: seventeen-year-old boys from a care home for children with intellectual disability in Rokitno. She was thinking of holidays for those two, yet that year, Faith and Light community was not ready to open up to two boys on wheelchairs and with a lot of problems. Ala then asked a friend to take Marek and Robert to a wheelchair users camp but the idea to invite Marek and Robert to a Faith and Light next summer camp stayed.Â
In 1986, with the help of a few enthusiasts from wheelchair users group and from Faith and Light, she organised a summer camp in Prochy, at a church vicarage. The parish priest turned out to be an extraordinary person: he opened up the vicarage to the camp members and set up a bedroom for Marek and Robert in his own office. At the end, he invited Marek and Robert over for Christmas provided there were people willing to help out. And so there were – a few people from the summer camp and a few new ones – all ready to offer their time, effort, ideas and money. For Ala, it was obvious that Christmas 1986 was the first Christmas for Marek and Robert and that there simply had to be more. A search for a place to spend Easter 1987 started: the place tuned out to be Zdzisia’s flat in PoznaĹ„. And so, since 1987 Marek and Robert would come to PoznaĹ„ for Christmas, Easter, holidays and some weekends. Zdzisia, Leszek, Andrzej, MikoĹ‚aj, BoĹĽena are just a few of all those who welcomed them at their homes. Others came to help cooking, cleaning, washing or going out for walks. A group of high-school goers was especially helpful. The times were hard- socialist Poland with bare shop shelves, rationed food, yet they were short of nothing. Everybody gladly offered whatever they could: money, food stamps or food itself, cleaning products.Â
So many people were involved sharing whatever they could that the dream of a L’Arche community in PoznaĹ„ and a chance for a good life for Marek, Robert and others grew even stronger and started to look real. Ala decided to see what life in L’Arche was really like and in August 1988 went to Sledziejowice - the first l’Arche community in Poland. She quickly came to the conclusion that “this is it” and spent two years there. She started convincing people gathered around Marek and Robert to join her efforts aimed at creating l’Arche in PoznaĹ„. Piotr K. was the first to be convinced and he immediately set about convincing others.Â
 The next four years were spent on enriching cooperation with l’Arche International Coordinators and Fundraisers, who helped immensely. Ala and Piotr started an intense search, they were true biblical fishers of men who could set up a seed group. Soon, this group was 40-strong, had a board and a community director was chosen.Â
A search for a house started in early spring in 1993. It was then that the fruit of fundraising cooperation with Tessa Till (a l’Arche fundraiser from GB) became apparent – in June 1993 a building was purchased at Ĺ»ytnia Street. After some reconstruction and refurbishing, it became the first l’Arche home in PoznaĹ„. On 22 June 1994 Marek and Lidka moved in to live there together with Ala, Margaretta and Mariusz (the assistants). In July, Krysia and Darek – two more people with a disability joined them. Lidka and Marek had lived in a carehome for a number of years, Krysia and Darek had been living with their parents, who needed help themselves due to old age and health problems. In 2005 the fifth person with intellectual disability moved in to live at Ĺ»ytnia Street home.Â
The construction of the second home (at Polańska Street) started in October 1996 as, after years of efforts, the community received a land lot from the city authorities. On 29 August 1997 the first residents moved in. Today, seven people with intellectual disability, together with some assistants live there.
