Maxim and Anna Zhukov, entrepreneurs:
– I came to Poland in 2004 from Tashkent, – says Maxim. – My mother is Polish. In Tashkent, I successfully passed exams at the embassy and thus entered a Polish university. When I took the exams, I was 17 years old. The decision to get an education in Poland was made by my parents, for which I am very grateful to them today. In Wrocław, I met my love – also of Polish descent.
After me, my grandfather moved to Poland from Uzbekistan. He has been living here for several years. He came under the repatriation program and received an apartment in Warsaw. He turned 80 this year. He has been a very active person all his life, worked in senior positions. Now he is mainly engaged in gardening in Poland.
– I also came to study in Wrocław and met Maxim there, – Anna joins the conversation. – In Grodno, there are many people with Polish roots. Polish traditions, language – all this is very cultivated in our families. As long as I can remember, I always knew that I would move to live in Poland.
When you live in your own city, you think that you speak Polish wonderfully. Then you move and realize that your command of the language is far from wonderful: accent, mistakes... Probably, this primarily affects the fact that at first you do not feel very comfortable. But it passes quickly.
In 2011, we opened our own company. We export Polish-made clothing. It is in great demand in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan. We associate our future life with Poland and we are not looking for anything better, we like everything very much. Here we feel at home.
Yuri Vysotsky, journalist:
– I came here as a student in 2007. Why did I decide to come? There was always a Polish atmosphere at home. The first alphabet I picked up was Polish... My grandmother constantly talked about Poland, about how great it was there. At my grandmother's house, there was a portrait of Piłsudski. I was always interested in that. In Belarus, I studied Polish, but it was at a level where I could barely say the phrase 'I want to buy bread.' But two years passed and everything fell into place. Belarusian and Polish are very close languages, so learning was very easy.
I did not have a Pole's Card (a document confirming belonging to the Polish nation – ed.), but thanks to my Polish roots, I immediately received a residence permit. The procedure is very simple.
My journalistic career began in Poland. First at the Belarusian radio station 'Radio Racja', 'Polskie Radio', and then I got on the TV channel 'Belsat', where I started doing extreme journalism. I travel to troubled regions. The last trip was to Ukraine, to Donbas, where we made a report. In the near future, I plan to go to the Middle East, possibly Syria.
I always felt like a citizen of the world, but I knew that I had both a Polish story and a Belarusian one. By and large, these are two homelands that are equivalent for me.
Lesya Kostina, housekeeper: 
– I don't work every day now, only two days a week. The children have grown up, gone to work and said: 'Mom, that's enough, we will help you.' There were Poles in my family on my mother's side. We always celebrated Polish, Catholic holidays. I remember my mother gave me money for buns as a child, and I saved it to later buy colorful Polish magazines like 'Przyjaciółka' or 'Uroda'.
When I came to Poland, I was 39 years old. It was a difficult decision, because when I left for work, I left my children, mother, and loved ones in Lviv. The start was very hard. The driver brought me and sold me into 'slavery'. I still cannot recall this calmly. They took my phone, documents, I couldn't even communicate with my children. I lived in a basement, worked for six months cleaning that house, couldn't even go outside. When I gathered my strength and said that I didn't care, that I was leaving, the owner of the house didn't pay me, threw my things and documents on the steps at the entrance. I wanted to return to Lviv, but at the Warszawa Zachodnia station I met Ukrainian women who persuaded me to stay.
Then my visa expired and I lived illegally in Poland for seven years. That was something terrible! I was afraid to walk the streets, afraid of the police. I had a friend, also an illegal, with whom we always celebrated New Year together, making the same wish as the chimes struck – to go home. After the adoption of the abolition law in Poland, I was able to go to Ukraine and get a 'Pole's Card'. It can be said that this document changed my life. I can now stay here, my children have moved here. Ukraine will always be an important country for me, my home, relatives – everything dear. But in Poland I feel very good, safe. I just don't see myself anywhere else. Poland is my second home.