Janina Ochojska

Janina Ochojska at the Woodstock stop in 2016

Janina Maria Ochojska-Okońska (born March 12, 1955 in Gdansk ) is a Polish humanitarian activist and the founder of the Polish Humanitarian Organization (PAH).

Life

After completing her astronomy studies at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń in 1980 , she worked there in the astrophysical laboratory at the Nicolaus Copernicus Center for Astronomy. As a student, she worked in the academic pastoral care of the Jesuits in Toruń. From 1976 she joined the activities of the opposition and among other things I got involved in the development of the Independent Self- Governing Union of Solidarity in Toruń.

Since her early childhood she has been disabled and suffers from Heine-Medin disease . In 1984 she was operated on in France and it was there that she first came up with the idea of ​​humanitarian aid. She got involved as a volunteer in the “EquiLibre” foundation, not least to establish contacts and to prepare the coordination of humanitarian aid for Poland. In 1989 she was one of the founders of the Polish branch of the EquiLibre Foundation . In 1992 she organized a convoy of Polish aid to the former Yugoslavia. In 1993 she received the “Woman of the Year” award from the European Commission . In 1994 she founded the Polish Humanitarian Organization PAH and has been its chairman ever since.

Janina Ochojska has received various national and international awards, such as the Pax Christi International Peace Award, the Medal of St. George , which was awarded to her by the weekly newspaper Tygodnik Powszechny , and the Atsushi Nakata Memorial (Japan). In 2004, she was voted seventh most influential women in Poland in a weekly poll.

Web links

Commons : Janina Ochojska  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Information on the PAH website
• CV in the Solidarność encyclopedia
• Entry on Janina Ochojska in the European Parliament 's database of MEPs