ABOUT CAFE

Meet the Team

Keith Ferguson, Western European Development Officer

For nearly fifteen years, Keith has been secretary of the Heart of Midlothian Disabled Supporters Club travelling extensively to matches in Scotland and across Europe. He is ambulant disabled (a bilateral lower limb amputee) and has a firsthand understanding of the many challenges that disabled supporters face.

Keith brings a well rounded experience to his new role previously working for the Citizens Advice Bureau and having spent many years working within the logistics industry. He continues to act as an independent advocate for the Murray Foundation, which is a UK registered charity supporting people who have been affected by limb loss in Scotland.

Much of Keith’s involvement to date with regard to access to sports stadia and the challenges for disabled supporters has been on behalf of his own club’s fans. Joining CAFE has allowed Keith to fulfill his ambition go further in supporting disabled fans and creating better conditions in football stadia across Europe.

Elena Karpukhina, Eastern European Development Officer

Elena comes originally from Russia, but for the past six years she’s been living in Kiev, Ukraine.

She has been an active participant of football movements since 2000. She started as a fan of the FC Krylya Sovetov (Samara, Russia). At the moment Elena is an official representative of the Krylya Sovetov fan club in Europe.

After moving to Ukraine, Elena also joined the football movement in that country, in 2008 she was granted the Cup for contribution to fans’ initiative in Ukraine. Sports have always been Elena’s passion. She travels a lot, visits other countries, football games and tournaments of all levels, meets different fans and initiatives. CAFE gave her an opportunity to make her hobby become her profession.

Elena used to work as Corporate Communications Manager and as a consequence developed strong relations with mass media, business communities and associations that can influence public opinion and can help promoting interests of disabled people in order to raise public awareness of the problems that disabled fans experience every day.

As CAFE Eastern European Development Officer Elena will be responsible for CAFE’s development work, support and co-ordination for the EURO 2012 in Ukraine and Poland. She applied for this position as she wishes to make her contribution to improve the situation for disabled fans in Ukraine, Russia and across Eastern Europe.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Volunteers

Volunteers are a vital part of all that we do. They are essential to developing a sustainable future and
provide practical support for CAFE’s work. Without our volunteers our work would not be possible and our website could not be fully accessible and multi-lingual in character.

Agata Szałańska

Agata Szałańska My name is Agata and I come from Poland, where I am studying at the Warsaw University of Technology. My major is conducted in English, so I have got the constant contact with this language. I read a lot and like to write, because of that, I believe that I use a pretty good language. Additionally, I am passionate about sport, especially in speedway and football. I would like to work out as a translator and I'll try to do my job the best I can.

Agnieszka Bartkowiak

My name is Agnieszka and I’m a student of German Philology at the Warsaw University. In my leisure time I like to meet my friends go to the cinema, theatre or do sports. My favourite ones are swimming, skiing and dancing. I also like to watch the International Championship on TV. I love travelling. I have visited almost all European countries and hope to go East as well. I wish to see Moscow one day. I learn also other languages to be able to communicate with people abroad. I know English, German, Polish and Russian.

Alexandra Turner

I'm a 22 year old student at the University of Bath. I have just graduated in German and Spanish with European Studies, and I am now beginning a Master’s degree in Translation. I am really interested in languages and culture, and I also love to read, write, listen to music, cook and draw.

Aneta Dąbrowska

I study Italian language and culture in the University of Warsaw. Now I'm staying in Rome in the intership for 4 months. I would like to have the opportunity to gain experience in translations. My great passion is traveling, studying languages (English and Italian) and other cultures. I'm also interested in literature, music, theatre and cinema.

Andrzej Wijas

Andrzej Wijas I am a final year student of language studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. My minor is Culture of Russia and Neighboring Nations and my specialization is Translation. I also graduated from the University of Economics majoring in International Relations and minoring in Foreign Trade. For a few years I’ve been an active member of the Eastern Circle, a student organization that promotes the culture of post-Soviet states among the Krakow student community. I participated in organization of student exchanges, cultural events and academic conferences. Currently I am responsible for administration of the organization’s website and its profiles in social networks. This voluntary service is a chance for me to excel my translation skills, gain experience, and at the same time to do something for the common good.

Anna Gastol

My name is Anna and I'm 26 years old. I am a student of University of Warsaw at the Institute of International Relations. I also studied Business Management at The Blackpool and The Fylde College in the United Kingdom. I have many interests: travelling, dancing, reading books, skateboarding, football, but the most important is learning languages. I believe that good knowledge of languages in the modern world is essential, plus it provides so many opportunities. Currently as an addition to English I have been learning Spanish.

I would like to offer you my help with English translations because as I don't have a job I would like to use my free time to the benefit for other people.

Anna Wojcieszek

Anna Wojcieszek I am a student at Warsaw School of Economics where I study Quantitative Methods in Economics - I completed the first year now.
I am very keen on sports - at uni I am in an athletics group where I train sprints and long jump. I also occasionaly play football, volley and other team sports. Besides it, I like listening to the music (U2, Myslovitz) and reading books (mainly adventure stories).
I also learn very willingly foreign languages. At present I focus on enhancement of my English and German and plan to start learning a new language - maybe Russian.

Cassandra Wilde

I am fluent in Spanish and in English. I am a motivated person that has a passion for languages. I hold many volunteering posts with various different charities including the Vconnected Youth Action Team, Princess Alice hospice, Cats Protection, Outline and Dorich House Museum. However I mainly volunteer as it gives me a great sense of satisfaction to know that I am helping various types of people from different backgrounds. I strive to get the most out of life. I love spending time with my friends and family. I regularly visit museums, theatres, and book discussion groups. I have partaken in many fundraising events; the biggest being a skydive for Breast Cancer Care.

Daniel Vazquez

My name is Daniel Vazquez, I am 25 years old and I was born in the north of Spain. I am a passionate of sports since I was a kid. My favourite sport was football, although I used to practice any kind of sport. Nowadays I still play some matches with friends, and I usually train on my own.

I have studied a degree in Sport Sciences and Physical Education and I could understand how important is Physical Education, not only in schools but in a daily basis.

In the recent years I started travelling around Europe and I realise how important is being able to speak English. That is why I continue studying it and now I can help doing interesting projects like this. It’s amazing taking part in an organization like this.

Deborah Wood

I was born and raised in Milan, Italy, until the age of 17, then I relocated to Manchester, UK. At University, I studied Translation and Interpreting and, as part of my student placement, lived for 6 months in Seville, southern Spain. Once graduated, I have mainly been working within the travel industry, however my real passion remains the challenge that only translations can offer. I am now happily married and I have a beautiful baby girl, who mum plans to raise in a multicultural household.

Ernesto Cabrera

I am a 27 year old teacher from Granada, Spain. I live in Wrocław, Poland, where I teach Spanish and study Polish and Portuguese. I have also worked in Scotland. Languages are my main interest, along with music and sports, especially football. Currently I am preparing for being a translator and hopefully studying in England next year.
In my free time I record music and play football with my friends.

Fiona Hennessy

My name is Fiona, originally from the Netherlands, but since 2008 living and working in the UK (within Payroll). My time is primarily spent at work, but any free time is spent with friends, in the pub or traveling. I love reading and languages, though only fluent in English and Dutch. I have basic knowledge of French, German and Spanish.

Regarding football, my support will always be with the Dutch national team (however long I might live somewhere else), with my favourite all time player being Dennis Bergkamp. Due to a good friend I've become involved with CAFE.

Frances Jones

I’m Fran, a 23-year old student at Manchester University (UK).
I’m studying European Studies and a Modern Language, so I take politics and Italian modules.
My hometown is London and, although I love it, I adore the student experience in Manchester. There’s a real community sense and so much to get involved with! I love music of most genres, and love going to gigs. I also enjoy travelling, yoga and meditation, as well as running – I ran my first marathon in France last year! I think that sport is an incredible tool for linking people and providing physical release – it’s incredibly important that everybody should have access to these experiences and I am delighted to have the opportunity to help CAFE with their work!

Friederike Bodenstein-Dresler
I am twenty years old. After my graduation last summer I applied for a project of the European Voluntary Service (EVS) in Spain. Since the first of July of 2010 I am a volunteer of the EVS project “Acción Rural” in Spain; I will be staying here until the end of June 2011.
My voluntary work includes administrative assignments as well as the work with youth and children (kinder garden, youth centre) and old people. I also give English classes. Apart from my interests in languages, politics and environmental protection I like music very much; I play clarinet. Since 2008 I am a member of Lower Saxony´s Youth Brass Orchestra. I also enjoy travelling a lot. During my High School Studies I went to Canada for 5 month.

After my volunteering I would like to study “European Studies” either on a German university or in another European country.

Gosia Kwaśniak

My name is Gosia Kwaśniak and I'm 24 years old. I play violin since the age of seven. A year ago, I completed studies at the Music Academy in Łódź. I'm still studying, but these time at the University of Łódź. I'm on my fourth year of German Philology. In the future I would like to be a translator. For this reason I'm looking for every opportunity to gain experience of translate, also as a volunteer.

Hadleigh Roberts

Hadleigh Roberts is a graduate of Modern Languages and European Studies (French and Spanish) from the University of Bath, UK where he is now a Postgraduate Student of MA Interpreting & Translating.

Though a languages professional he is also involved in politics across Europe. In France, he worked for the Socialist Party and the Regional Government (Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur). In Spain, he studied in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) and volunteered for the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). In the UK, he stood for election in May 2011 where he is Vice Chair of Bath Labour Party and was formerly President of the University of Bath Labour Society.

He has participated in a number of international conferences, including a meeting of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament in which he was invited to present a speech on Euroscepticism and Social Democracy.

Iza Undrul

Hi! My name is Iza Undrul and I've just graduated from English Philology at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan and I've just got accepted into School of Translation Interpreting and Foreign Languages in Poznań where I hope to improve my translation and interpreting skills. I'm interested in Phonetics, Phonology and Second Language Acquisition (how people learn sounds in their second language) and currently I deal with teaching English (mostly business) but I consider translation and interpreting as the best career for me. Since I remember, football has always been my favourite sport, thus being a volunteer translator for you seems perfect as far as getting translation experience is concerned.

In my free time I listen to soul and funky music and watch medical series. I also love cooking and baking!

Joanna Kicinska

Since I’ve started to learn Spanish I try not to lose the contact with this language. I decided to join a voluntary translator’s organization to develop my knowledge of Spanish and to share my experience with other people. I think that doing a voluntary job I can make something good and positive to the others.

Joanna Płonka

My name is Joanna, I am a graduate of Applied Linguistics at the University of Warsaw. I speak English and German fluently, I hope to pass Dele Intermedio (Spanish exam at B2 level) and I understand some French. I spent a year on Socrates-Comenius in Great Britain and I have five years of teaching practice (private lessons and schools, teaching English, German and Polish for foreigners, adults and children). My Master’s Degree Programme at the University of Warsaw concentrated on written translation (English and German). Next year, I plan to do a post-graduate course in creative writing at the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Apart from foreign languages and creative writing, I love musicals, theatre, travelling and getting to know people from different cultures. As for sports, I play tennis, go skiing and ice-skating every winter and enjoy long walks and dancing.

Julian Pastori Rubavu

Julian Rubavu Tanzanian 40 years old. Professional Freelance Journalist, Diplomas holder: Public Relations and Administration from Dar es Salaam College of Hotel and Business studies Tanzania and British College of Journalism UK.

French and Religious studies at Saint Joseph Brothers’ Congregation, Burundi. 2001-2006: Records Management Assistant Ministry of Home Affairs Refugee Department, Tanzania. The main duties were Office management; English-French translation, French-English to Kiswahili, and security management

Karol Chęciński

Karol Chęciński I’m Polish and I’m working as a customer services expert for the sport events industry.
I have had a very good experience with CAFE and decided to continue that by volunteering for the project.
The reason was that CAFE is as passionate about people as I am.

Karolina Ginalska

I’m from Poland but have been living in England for the last 4 years. In Poland I graduated from English Language Teacher-Training College. I worked as a teacher of English in state and private schools for 3 years. Also, I took up translation. Whilst still in Poland, I started postgraduate studies. I completed them whilst living in London.

In London I work with people with epilepsy but also as an EFL teacher whenever the opportunity arises and ESOL teacher – as a volunteer. On top of that I translate, from English into Polish and from Polish into English a little. Translation is my passion and at the moment I am a volunteer translator working with various websites to get experience and in exchange for feedback. I find it extremely rewarding! I’m not afraid of any challenge! I have translated texts on astronomy, archaeology, history, medicine, law, general and many others.

I’m learning Spanish at the moment and hoping to become fluent one day. I love to read, in Polish and in English.

Katarzyna Kania

I'm 30 years old Polish woman and I love foreign languages. I want to be a translator, actually I'm already, but I don't have a lot of experience to do for a living, that's why I'm trying to get some voluntary work. I speak French fluently; English is my second language (C). I've been finishing Master Degree Studies in the Institute for French Studies (Warsaw University). I have postgraduate diploma in translation studies (French as B language & English as a C language).
I love travelling, meeting people, new cultures and places. I've been married for 1,5 year.

Kasia Pietrzak

Hi, my name is Kasia and I come from Poland. I have been huge sport fan as long as I can remember. I have been watching and supporting football for at least for 21 years now. On active side, I am training curling, skiing (cross country) and running. When I am not watching or practising any sports I enjoy listening to the music, dancing and travelling. To support all these hobbies, I work as a financial analyst.

Kerry Weight

Kerry Weight I studied French and Spanish at university and now work for a translation company in London. As well as being passionate about languages, I love all kinds of music, art and dance. I have participated in several runs to raise money for various charities, my favourite being the BUPA London 10,000 due to the fantastic atmosphere and community spirit. I also enjoy reading in my spare time and the occasional swim, cycle or game of badminton.

Lydia Hay

My name is Lydia Hay and I am a nineteen year old student. I am going into my second year at Liverpool John Moores University where I study Spanish and International Business Studies. I am interested in other cultures and in my spare time I enjoy going out with my friends and listening to music. I have a passion for learning Spanish as in the future I would like to pursue a career in either translation or teaching.

Magdalena Kowalczyk

Magdalena Kowalczyk My name is Magda and I am an English Philology student. After first year of my studies I decided to go abroad in order to improve my English. First I went to Ireland, I stayed there 2 month. Then I decided to go to England as an au-pair. I managed to find a nice family and I have been living in the UK since January 2011. I am going back home at the end of August. I need to say that it was one of the best decisions I ever made! Not only I use English every single day, but also live in the country I used to learn about and 'see' all that stuff in practice. I can see that I have improved my language skills, my English family thinks the same so I am really happy about that.

I am also happy that I can be one of volunteers, because this is something that is really important to me. I am glad I can take part in ot, especially that in this way I can join my language skills and sport, which is one of my interests. I have been always thinking about being a sport journalist or translator taking part in sport events, who knows, maybe I will manage to do it one day!

Marek Cichy

Marek Cichy I studied Portuguese Language and Culture at Warsaw University.
Currently I work as a translator and interpreter. Football is my favourite team sport. In my spare time, I like also other outdoor activities - cycling (which is also a great way of commuting in Warsaw), hiking, mountaineering, cross-country skiing.

Marta Rudnicka
I am a student of the final year of secondary school in Warsaw, where I study extended Biology, Chemistry, Physics and languages - English and French. Additionally , I’ve been learning German for 6 years. In March I am going to write IELTS exam.

I am keen on sailing, therefore I have also participated in seagoing cruise (in 2007) from Lisbon to Athens (2,000 nautical miles) on a tall ship named Pogoria, where I spent over a month at sea keeping regular watches and learning. The cruise made me more open-minded, think out of a box and flexible. Fight with the force of nature sufficiently hardened me to face our everyday life’s problems and make wise choices.
Film, photography and music are other domains, I am interested in. My adventure with photography began 5 years ago. Last year I passed exams to "Wajda’s Film Kindergarden" (A.Wajda- polish film director, Honorary Oscar recipient).

Martyna Skura

Martyna Skura I live in Gdynia (northern Poland). For many years I have been involved in local activities focused on youths, as well an active member and worker of Polish Red Cross, where I was involved in first aid and International Humanitarian Low activities. Since 2006 I am working with Centre for Youth Cooperation and Mobility, where I am realizing projects focusing on active youth from Gdynia’s region and all of the Europe.

Natalia Kocur

I have been long interested in sports but I'm only currently trying to merge my long-time interest with further career in this field. I see voluntary work as a first valuable step towards realizing this plan and as a chance to gain necessary experience and make great use of my skills to help others. In the future I would like to get a degree in Sports Management and preferably work in some of my favourite disciplines which include football, volleyball, athletics and wintersports.

Apart from sports, I enjoy Spanish and Latinoamerican culture, traveling and film. I am a graduate of Journalism & Social Communication.

Olga Socha

My name is Olga and I’m very eager to join Centre for Access to Football in Europe as a Polish translator. I enjoy football as much as working with languages and volunteering, therefore I decided to contact you immediately.
I’m happy to help you with any language tasks you have as I’m a certified translator and I’m also doing a qualification in interpreting. I have carried out a number of voluntary translations in the past (Synergo software, online children books) and I’m gaining more experience at an MA translation course I’m currently pursuing.
I have a keen interest in football, I follow major international events as well as local games. I have taken pictures for Primrose Hill, west London football team, and have them published in Camden Journal. I moved to London in 2008 and have stayed so far. I’m a very active person and I find living in London stimulating; it definitely helps to gain exciting experiences and meet a lot of great people.

Olya Hedzyk
I’m 20 years old optimistic and energetic girl from Ukraine. Currently I’m a student, future translator. I enjoy learning foreign languages, traveling and meting people from all over the world. I read lots of books, dance in the armature show-ballet and participate in the European Youth Parliament. CAFE is a great opportunity for me to practice my translation skills.

Patrycja Zygmunt

My name is Patrycja Zygmunt. I am 20, I am a student at the Institute of Applied Linguistics of the University of Warsaw, my Bachelor's degree specialisations consist of translations and glottodidactics (how to teach foreign languages), I study English and French at an academic level. I was born in Italy and I lived there for 6 years. Foreign languages are my passion as I speak English, Italian, French at proficient level and Spanish at intermediate level. I'm interested in translations, furthermore, it is a domain that is strictly connected with my university studies. I love travelling. I'm interested in the British, Italian and French culture and history. What is more, sport (football, basketball, volleyball and swimming), films, music, theatre are my other great interests.

My aim is to expand my experience in the field of translations and to be involved in the actions of the volunteer work in order to help other people.

Pawel Bobel

My name is Paul and I'm a student of distance learning at the School of Physical Education and Tourism in Bialystok in the direction of Physical Education and I'm a listener at the School for Workers Protection Technology degree in Physical Protection of Persons and Property. I interested in sport and actively cultivate it. I'm making a specialty instructor of swimming, football, athletics, aerobics, table tennis and ballroom dancing. I do not like boredom, friends say that I am the soul of the company. I love visiting different places and meet people, customs, culture, etc. I like helping others, it gives me a lot of positive energy and satisfaction that I can help. I was a volunteer at the Special Olympics European Summer Games(ELIOS) Warsaw 2010 as a physiotherapist.

I want the world to gain! :) Do not give up. "Never back down"

Zbigniew Bajer

Ever since being a little child, I was involved in some kind of sport activity. As a result, I have found out how sport can be great for people by uniting and supporting them to achieve common goals. Apparently, I was not so gifted to professionally perform as an athlete so I decided to follow news concerning all aspects of sport (political, social or economic) and run a healthy lifestyle. At present, I work as an office assistant in an accounting office where I am responsible mainly for processing invoices into the revenue and expense ledger software, accepting documents from the customers and occasionally substituting for the company’s secretary. Apart from sport, I am interested in business and keeping an eye on some new trends in marketing. The main idea of sport concerns healthy competition and integration, which translates into other aspects of everyday life. Additionally, I enjoy playing basketball and watching Premier League. The team that I fallow is Portsmouth F.C.

CAFE, UEFA launch good practice guide

TUS named as Polish implementing partner

Recent Stories

CAFE Archive

ABOUT CAFE

Meet the Team

Volunteers