My name is Jonathan Kołodziej Durand, and I'm a filmmaker from Montreal, Canada.

This February 2026, 85-year-old Irene Tomaszewski will return to the East African refugee camp she last saw in 1949, in Tengeru, Tanzania. Now one of the camp's leading historians, she's offering me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to film her extraordinary story in the place where she grew up. I need your help to be there with her.

Between 1942 and 1950, nearly 20,000 Polish WWII deportees lived in refugee camps across East Africa, a chapter of history most people have never heard of. I know this story well because my own grandmother spent her adolescence there, living in one of the traditional mud huts that served as camp residences.

Irene was featured in my 2019 documentary, Memory Is Our Homeland. The film was shown on Al Jazeera's 'Witness' and at festivals and museums around the world, bringing global attention to this forgotten history for the first time. But this new shoot is different—it's my first and only chance to film with someone who actually lived there. Time is running out to capture these firsthand accounts, and Irene isn't just an expert on the camp's history, she's a dear friend.

I have most of my own equipment, so I'm raising funds for travel costs: airfare & baggage ($2,500), accommodations ($1,500), and local travel ($1,000). Donors will receive exclusive updates as I document the journey, and their names will be included in the film's credits and on social media.

If you'd like to learn a bit more about the story of the Polish refugee camps in Africa and Irene's story, please watch the video above.

This history deserves to be remembered. Thank you for helping make that possible.